Mr. President,
Members of the Executive Board,
Madam Administrator,
Distinguished delegates,

I have the honour to deliver this statement on behalf of the Group of 77 and China.

Mr. President,

Allow me on behalf of the Group of 77 and China to congratulate you and the other members of the Bureau on your election to the Presidency of the Bureau. We look forward to working with you constructively, and we are confident that you will successfully lead the deliberations of the Board throughout 2012. We also express our deep appreciation to your predecessor, H.E. Mrs. Edita HRDA and to the members of the outgoing bureau.

Mr. President,

The Group of 77 and China, greatly values the work of UNDP and its ability to respond to the development needs of programme countries in a flexible manner, and to ensure that the UN development system assistance is carried out for the benefit of programme countries, at their request and in accordance with their own priorities.

The Group of 77 and China thanks the UNDP Administrator for her comprehensive, exhaustive and analytical statement and encourage her to further refining the focus of UNDP in order to ensure bigger impact and to bring about real progress in human development at the country level.

Mr. President,

As we prepare for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), for the Quadrennial Comprehensive Policy Review, for the International Conference on Population and Development beyond 2014, as well as for the UN development agenda beyond 2015, the G-77 and China is ready to continue engaging in a constructive spirit with the Board and with all our development partners in view to improving coordination, cooperation, and for greater development effectiveness to achieve the internationally-agreed development goals, including the MDGs.

The G77 and China stresses the importance of consistent, sustained and predictable resources and notes with concern that any decline adversely impacts the quality of the delivery of the United Nations development system.

The growing imbalance between core and non-core funding of operational activities of the United Nation system constitutes a legitimate source of apprehension and should be given due consideration, in particular owing the importance of challenges to be addressed.

With regard to the programming arrangements, the Group underlines the need to find a comprehensive solution to the legitimate concerns raised by several developing countries during the previous meetings over the allocation of resources and calls for objective criterion, fair methodology and reliable and verified data.

Mr. President,

In conclusion the Group of 77 and China stresses that it could not be "one size fits all" approach to development and that development assistance by the United Nations development system should be able to respond to the varying development needs of programme countries. We value the efforts of UNDP for its attention to this highly important issue.

Thank you.