Mr. Chairman,

        I have the honour to speak on behalf of the Group of 77 and China on Agenda Item 119 entitled "Programme Planning".

2. The Group of 77 and China would like to commend the work of Mr. Yisheng Ren, Chairman of the Committee for Programme and Coordination and other members of the Committee for successfully completing a large number of important items during the 48th session of the CPC. The Group would also like to thank the Chairman of the CPC for presenting the Report of the CPC. We also wish to thank Ms. Sharon Van Buerle, Director of the Programme Planning and Budget Division, for introducing the relevant reports of the Secretary General pertaining to this item, and Mr. Mario Baez, Chief of the Oversight Support Unit, for introducing the report of the Secretary-General on the programme performance of the United Nations for the biennium 2006-2007.

Mr. Chairman,

3. The Group of 77 and China attaches great importance to the consideration of this agenda item since it goes to the heart of the working of the United Nations. Programme Planning deals with the crucial task of transforming the intergovernmental mandates into programmes for their actual implementation and thereby provides the fundamental link between the decisions of the inter-governmental bodies and their execution.

4. While considering item on Programme Planning, the Group would like to underline the critical importance of the work of Committee for Programme and Coordination (CPC), an inter-governmental body forming the core Organization's work in this regard. The CPC is responsible not only for making recommendations on the programmes design by interpreting the legislative intent but also to consider and develop evaluation procedures for use in the programme design. The work of the CPC facilitates 5th Committee's consideration of the matters related to the programming and essentially serves as the starting point of the intergovernmental consideration of the strategic framework plan.

5. The Group welcomes the Report of the Committee for Coordination introduced today and endorses its recommendations. This Report like the previous CPC reports reflects the through deliberations of the CPC and provides useful guidance for our work.

Mr. Chairman

6. This year being the off budget year, the CPC had before it the strategic framework plan for 2010-2011. The CPC successfully completed the consideration of all but one programme which had to be referred to the main Committee due to the shortage of time. While the CPC has made important recommendations for adjustments in each programme, the Group would like to highlight here, the over arching recommendation of the Report to encourage the programme managers to further improve the formulation of the expected accomplishments so as to better reflect all intergovernmental mandates.

7. The Group would also like to reiterate the importance of longer term objectives of the organization which are aimed at ensuring full achievement of its goals. Part-I or the Plan Outline of the strategic framework plan is to encompass these longer term objectives of the Organization. Given the significance of Part-I we find merit in the recommendation of the CPC calling for the future Part-I of the proposed frameworks to be prepared taking fully into the account the guidelines provided by the General Assembly in resolutions 59/275,61/235 and 62/224 as well as subsequent resolutions, so as to more accurately reflect the longer term objectives of the Organization based on all mandates that have been approved by the Member-States.

8. Just as the accurate translation of mandates for the future strategic framework plan is imperative it is equally important to assess the programme performance of the previous biennium 2006-2007. The Group recognizes the improvement in the quality of the formulation of the expected accomplishments and performance indicators and trusts that the results set out in the report on programme performance 2006-2007 will be utilized while formulating the future strategic frameworks. In this context the CPC has made a pertinent recommendation that the programme managers be held accountable for the achievements of results for their respective programmes as well as to provide more detailed information on how lessons are learned and shared.

Mr. Chairman,

9. The Group appreciates the role of the Chief Executives Board in enhancing the coordination and effectiveness in the UN System and takes note of the annual overview report of the CEB for 2007/2008.  In this regard, cooperation between the CEB, International Civil Service Commission and the Joint Inspection Unit is a welcome development and we encourage the CEB to continue to strengthen this cooperation. The Group also welcomes the efforts of the CEB to coordinate action of the United Nations system in the fight against hunger and poverty. As for the future reports of the CEB, we fully agree with the CPC that it should include information on measures taken by the Board to improve transparency and accountability as well as specific information on the main difficulties encountered in the implementation of the coordination activities.

10. Last but not the least turning to the United Nations System Support for New Partnership for Africa's development (NEPAD), the Group believes that the United Nations System play a fundamental role in the implementation of NEPAD. Therefore, CEB must continue ensure effective coordination with NEPAD.

11. We look forward to a fruitful exchange of ideas during the informal consultations on this item.

I thank you Mr. Chairman.