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

1. I have the honour to address the seventeenth session of the High-level Committee on South-South Cooperation on behalf of the Group of 77 and China. At the outset, allow me to congratulate you, Mr. President, as well as the other members of the Bureau for your election to lead our Committee. I would like to convey to you and the members of the bureau the full support of the Group of 77 and China in leading our deliberations to a successful conclusion. I would also like to congratulate His Excellency Ambassador Macharia Kamau, Permanent Representative of Kenya to the United Nations, for his excellent contribution in chairing the High-level Committee for the past two years. I would like to also express our appreciation to Mr. Yiping Zhou, Director of the the Special Unit for South-South Cooperation, for his able leadership and the preparation of the pertinent documentation for this session contained in documents SSC/17/1, SSC/17/2 and SSC/17/3.

2. This session of the High-level Committee is an opportune moment to review the results of its work and make recommendations for further action. The report on the "Review of progress made in implementing the Buenos Aires Plan of Action, the new directions strategy for South-South cooperation and the Nairobi outcome document of the High-level United Nations Conference on South-South Cooperation" shows the significant progress accomplished by South-South cooperation over the past three years and that it has increased in importance and scope. As such, South-South cooperation, as stressed by the Foreign Ministers of the Member States of the Group of 77, requires a long-term vision and a global institutional arrangement as envisioned by the Second South Summit of the Group of 77 and the Nairobi Outcome Document of the UN Conference on South-South Cooperation.

3. In this context, we wish to reiterate that the conceptual framework and the set of principles for South-South cooperation contained in the "Yamoussoukro Consensus on South-South Cooperation" constitute the very foundation of South-South Cooperation.

These are:

a. South-South cooperation is a common endeavour of peoples and countries of the South and must be pursued as an expression of South-South solidarity and a strategy for economic independence and self-reliance of the South based on their common objectives and solidarity;

b. South-South cooperation and its agenda must be driven by the countries of the South;

c. South-South cooperation must not be seen as a replacement for North-South cooperation. Strengthening South-South cooperation must not be a measure of coping with the receding interest of the developed world in assisting developing countries;

d. Cooperation between countries of the South must not be analyzed and evaluated using the same standards as those used for North-South relations;

e. Financial contributions from other developing countries should not be seen as Official Development Assistance from these countries to other countries of the South. These are merely expressions of solidarity and cooperation borne out of shared experiences and sympathies;

f. South-South cooperation is a development agenda based on premises, conditions and objectives that are specific to the historic and political context of developing countries and to their needs and expectations. South-South cooperation deserves its own separate and independent promotion;

g. South-South cooperation is based on a strong, genuine, broad-based partnership and solidarity;

h. South-South cooperation is based on complete equality, mutual respect and mutual benefit;

i. South-South cooperation respects national sovereignty in the context of shared responsibility;

j. South-South cooperation strives for strengthened multilateralism in the promotion of an action-oriented approach to development challenges;

k. South-South cooperation promotes the exchange of best practices and support among developing countries in the common pursuit of their broad development objectives (encompassing all aspects of international relations and not just in the traditional economic and technical areas);

l. South-South cooperation is based on the collective self-reliance of developing countries;

m. South-South cooperation seeks to enable developing countries to play a more active role in international policy and decision-making processes, in support of their efforts to achieve sustainable development;

n. The modalities and mechanisms for promoting South-South cooperation are based on bilateral, sub-regional, regional and interregional cooperation and integration as well as multilateral cooperation.

Mr. President,

4. Let me recall that in their final Declaration, the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the Member States of the Group of 77 who met in September 2011 in New York, "reiterated their position that South-South cooperation is a complement to, rather than substitute for, North-South cooperation and reaffirmed that South-South cooperation is a collective endeavor of developing countries based on principle of solidarity and premises, conditions and objectives that are specific to the historic and political context of developing countries and to their needs and expectations and as such South-South cooperation deserves its own separate and independent promotion as reaffirmed in the Nairobi outcome document of the United Nations Conference on South-South Cooperation held in Nairobi, Kenya from 1 to 3 December 2009, and the Development Platform for the South of the G-77 mandated by the Second South Summit of the Group of 77 held in Doha, Qatar, from 12 to 16 June 2005."
         
Mr. President,

5. The G-77 and China reiterates its calls to the UN system and the international community to effectively support the South-South agenda and promoting greater integration of the South-South cooperation in the other bodies of the UN system. In this regard, we appreciate the important work being done by the UN system in fostering South-South and Triangular Cooperation. We welcome the initiatives undertaken by various UN bodies to establish new units and work programmes to support and promote South-South cooperation and we urge other entities of the United Nations system to intensify their efforts to include South-South cooperation in the mainstream of their activities.

6. There is also a need to support multilateral arrangements and mechanisms for South-South cooperation. In this context, we strongly encourage all countries to pledge contributions to the Perez-Guerrero Trust Fund for South-South Cooperation and to the UN Fund for South-South Cooperation on the occasion of the annual UN pledging conference to be held in New York in November 2012. The G-77 and China would like to reiterate General Assembly resolution 60/212 in which it designated the UN Fund for South-South Cooperation managed by the Special Unit, "as the main United Nations trust fund for promoting and supporting South-South and triangular cooperation."

Mr. President,

7. The primary challenge for the expansion of South-South cooperation is the constraint of persistent inadequate resources to finance it. There is a great need for increased bilateral and multilateral funding to assist developing countries in this regard. To this end, the development partners must live up to the commitments made at international conferences and summits.

8. Another important persistent challenge is the need to review the current UN institutional mechanisms for South-South cooperation. In this context, the Nairobi Outcome Document and General Assembly resolutions repeatedly requested the UN Secretary-General, "in consultation with Member States, to take concrete measures to further strengthen the Special Unit for South-South Cooperation as a separate entity and a focal point for South-South cooperation within the United Nations system, so as to enable it to carry out its full responsibilities…". It is our hope that the present session will take concrete measures in responding to this mandate.

9. We, therefore, consider the strengthening of the Unit as one concrete measure the Secretary-General should take to meaningfully strengthen the whole UN system's commitment to and support this agenda of the South: South-South cooperation. This measure is for the G-77 and China a substantial step forward to more effectively respond to the relevant mandates of the G-77 South Summits and subsequent General Assembly resolutions as well as the Nairobi Outcome Document.

10. The report prepared by the Joint Inspection Unit on the system-wide review of the existing UN institutional arrangements in support of South-South and Triangular Cooperation contains important analyses and recommendations, including those addressed to this Committee. It is unfortunate that it does not figure in the agenda or among the official documentation of this session. This session should give the report due consideration.

11. Furthermore, we urge all the other UN organizations, specialized agencies, funds and programmes, including regional commissions, as was strongly recommended by the recent JIU report, to take similar measures and establish or strengthen existing institutional and financial arrangements within their mandates and respective areas of competence under the overall policy guidance of the High-level Committee on South-South Cooperation and General Assembly resolutions in order to meaningfully facilitate South-South and triangular cooperation, in close coordination and collaboration with the Special Unit for South-South Cooperation, in keeping with the Nairobi Outcome Document and relevant General Assembly resolutions.

Mr. President,

12. Regarding the Note by the Secretary-General containing the framework of operational guidelines on United Nations support to South-South and triangular cooperation, which has been developed pursuant to decision 16/1 of the High-level Committee on South-South Cooperation of 4 February 2010, the G77 and China is of the view that the framework of operational guidelines should be consistent with the Nairobi outcome.

13. The Group of 77 and China notes that paragraph 12 of the Note, under the sub-heading "Growing influence of South-South cooperation", it is stated that "the surge in interest is largely due to the increasing economic power of the South". The Group is of the view that since such economic indicators are in constant flux, to codify the influence of South-South cooperation on such constantly changing indicators would not be in line with this reality. On this reference, it is important to recognize that, while some of the countries have been undergoing a remarkable economic growth, this performance has been usually accompanied by persistent poverty, rising inequality, social and economic exclusion, as well as by the inability to address population challenges or achieve universal access to health care, constraints largely due to systemic macroeconomic conditions, that are particularly visible on middle-income countries, small island developing states, land-locked developing countries and the least developed countries. In spite of these constraints, some developing countries have played an increasing role in supporting development around the world through South-South cooperation, an effort that should be recognized by the international community.

14. The Group of 77 and China also notes that the outcome document of Busan is cited as offering guidance on United Nations support to triangular cooperation. This document is not the outcome of any United Nations intergovernmental process, nor is it to be considered at any United Nations forum. Therefore, it is the view of the Group of 77 and China that such document should not be considered as a source of guidance on any United Nations process. Furthermore, the Group believes that all new concepts, such as "results-based initiatives/mutual accountability", should not be part of this framework. In this regard, I wish to recall the position of the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the Member States of the Group of 77 that any policy debate outside the UN system should be guided by the agreed framework established in such internationally agreed documents as the Buenos Aires Plan of Action on Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries that was adopted by General Assembly resolution 33/144 of 19 December 1978, the Nairobi Outcome Document on South-South Cooperation and other relevant General Assembly resolutions, as well as the Yamoussoukro Consensus on South-South Cooperation.

15. Finally, the Group of 77 and China also reiterates that all aspects related to development cooperation need to be discussed by the relevant intergovernmental United Nations bodies, particularly the General Assembly in accordance with the relevant resolutions. We believe that addressing the aforementioned elements will be indispensable for the adoption of the operational guidelines, and will help in the success of our deliberations.

I thank you.