Mr. President,

1. I have the honor to deliver this statement on behalf of the G77 and China.

2. I would like to express to you my congratulations for your election as President of the COP18 and the CMP8. We count on your experience and wisdom to guide us towards the success we hope.

3. I would like also to express my gratitude to the Government and the people of Qatar for their warm welcome and the hospitality they have shown since our arrival in this beautiful city of Doha. My thanks are also extended to the Secretariat of the UNFCCC for the help it provided.

Mr. President,

4. The international community is facing a multitude of challenges, especially amplified by successive crises, including the climate one.

5. In addition to these challenges, many others are faced by the international community. The most important is certainly the achievement of economic and social development and the improvement of living conditions of nearly a billion people that are suffering from hunger and extreme poverty. The most ironic perhaps is that the poorest are the most affected and particularly vulnerable to climate change, while they are not the origin of this phenomenon.

6. We must be guided by the high level political consensus reached by the leaders in Rio+20 that reaffirmed that Parties to the UNFCCC and the Kyoto Protocol should protect the climate system on the basis of equity and in accordance with the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities.

Mr. President,

7. In Durban, we adopted a balanced "package" based on mutual reassurances. At Doha we must ensure that the package is fully implemented to ensure the following:

- Strengthen the principles and provisions of the Convention and the Kyoto Protocol, in particular the principles of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities;
- Safeguard trust in the multilateral process through an inclusive, transparent and a party driven process
- Ensure a successful and meaningful conclusion of the two pillars of the Bali Road Map i.e. AWG-KP and AWG-LCA, through formal adoption and operationalization of a legally binding second commitment period of the Protocol Kyoto and an agreed outcome pursuant to Bali Action Plan under the AWG-LCA.

Mr. President,

8. We welcome progress made in Bonn and Bangkok, though much remains to be done.

9. We reiterate that the Kyoto Protocol is the cornerstone of the climate change regime. The second commitment period must therefore start on January, 1st, 2013 and the modalities of its implementation must ensure an effective transition to an ambitious and legally binding second commitment period to avoid any gap between the two commitment periods. We urge the Annex I parties to the Kyoto Protocol, who intend to join the second commitment period, particularly those who have so far not submitted their QELROs, to work collectively in this direction, and deliver ambitious commitments, given the urgency that takes the fight against climate change. In addition, we urge those Annex I parties who do not intend to join the second commitment period or who are not parties to Kyoto protocol, to take comparable mitigation commitments under the Convention with comparable accounting rules.

10. For the Long-term Action under the Convention, we remain deeply concerned about the slow progress that characterized sessions held in Bonn and Bangkok. We still believe that additional efforts must be made by developed countries regarding the implementation of decisions taken in Cancun and Durban on all the building blocks of the Bali Action Plan, especially adaptation, financing and technology transfer. We call for a result to enhance the effective, sustained and full implementation of the Convention that is fair, equitable and satisfactory for all and fulfills article 4.7 of the Convention. This result should give due consideration to the Bali Action Plan, the Cancun Agreements, and the Durban decisions.

11. We remain also deeply concerned by the slow progress on a number of aspects that concern the issue of funding. This includes mid-term finance, particularly the gap from now to 2020.

12. Regarding the Durban Platform, we believe that the work in this Ad-hoc Working Group should lead to a balanced, ambitious, fair and equitable outcome under the Convention. Progress depends on following a balanced approach that will include mitigation, adaptation and means of implementation, in accordance with the spirit of the Convention. We consider that before engaging in a new track of negotiations, it is important to first complete the work under the other Ad-hoc Working Groups.

13. The G77 and China reiterates the necessity of enabling the effective participation of Palestine in the UNFCCC process and to make every effort to grant Palestine access to funding from different sources and mechanisms.

Mr. President,

14. Allow me to reiterate the readiness of the G77 and China to look forward for a successful and comprehensive outcome at the COP18/CMP 8. We stress the need of the full implementation of the delicate package endorsed in Durban in all its aspects, including addressing in a balanced and effective manner the issues of adaptation, mitigation, finance, technology and capacity building.

15. I would like to assure you that the G77 and China will continue to support Qatar, in its actions to make the current Conference a much needed success.

I thank you.