Mr. Chairman,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

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

2. Let me at the outset thank the Co-chairs H.E. Ambassador Macharia Kamau, Permanent Representative of Kenya and H.E. Ambassador Martin Grunditz, Permanent Representative of Sweden to the UN, for their leadership of the ongoing process.

3. I would like also to thank the Secretary-General for providing us with a comprehensive Report on the monitoring mechanism to review commitments towards Africa's development needs.

4. In his Report entitled "keeping the promise", the Secretary General concluded that, while some progress has been achieved, African countries will not be able to achieve all the MDG's by 2015. Africa is still lagging behind other regions in terms of the progress to achieve the MDG's and its full integration to the global economy. The global financial and economic crisis has worsened the situation in the continent and affected the progress already made. Moreover Africa continues to face serious challenges of poverty eradication and hunger, high unemployment in particular among youth, climate change, land degradation and desertification, rapid urbanization, lack of adequate water and energy supplies, HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and other endemic and non communicable diseases, which further undermine the achievement of the Internationally Agreed Development Goals including the MDG's.

5. While appreciating the efforts and engagement of the development partners towards the development of Africa, it is important to highlight that previous commitments have insufficiently been addressed, including:

- The commitment by many developed countries to achieve the target of 0.7 of GNP for ODA to developing countries;
- The commitment of the G8 countries during their Summit in Gleneagles to double the ODA to Africa;
- The commitment of the G8 countries during their Summit in L'Aquila in 2009 to mobilize USD 20 Billion to enhance sustainable agricultural development in developing countries;
- The G8 commitment in the framework of their initiative on maternal, new born and child health to spend additional USD 5 billion between 2010-2015 to achieve MDG's 4 and 5 in developing countries.
- The recent commitment emphasized in the Istanbul Program of Action on the Least Developing Countries (LDCs) to enable half of the LDC's to graduate by 2020, knowing that 33 out of 48 LDCs are African countries;

6. While these commitments have insufficiently been addressed by the partners, African countries have made important progress in terms of improving good governance, democracy, human rights, including through the adoption of the NEPAD as well as the African Per Review Mechanism.

Mr. Chairman,

7. The G77 and China believes that addressing the special development needs of Africa is central to the success of our collective efforts to eradicate poverty and achieve all Internationally Agreed Development Goals, including the MDGs. In this regard, the Group attaches great importance in the establishment of an effective and comprehensive monitoring mechanism of the commitments on Africa's development, in order to ensure a periodic review for the full and timely fulfillment of commitments, in accordance with the Political Declaration on Africa's development needs.

8. This new mechanism should benefit from a high political support of the African countries as well as from the development partners. It should build on the existing mechanisms and should complement the work of other institutions in terms of the mobilization of the international support for the achievement of the Internationally Agreed Development Goals, including the MDG's.

9. The G77 and China believes that African countries have the primary responsibilities over their economic and social development and policies, in accordance with their national priorities and capacities. Therefore, it is important to highlight that this new mechanism should not lead to any kind of conditionalities or new burdens on Africa and should not be used as a pretext to interfere in the internal affairs of African countries.

Mr. Chairman,

10. In conclusion, the report of the Secretary-General entitled "A monitoring mechanism to review commitments towards Africa's development needs" is under consideration of the G77 and China, and the Group is looking forward to engaging constructively in the consultations leading to the establishment and operationalization of this mechanism before the end of the 66th session of the General Assembly.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.