Mr. President,

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

2. At the outset, we would like to thank the UNDP Associate Administrator Rebeca Grynspan, as well as the Director of the UN Office for South-South Cooperation, Mr. Yiping Zhou, for their introduction of the Strategic Framework of the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation, 2014-2017 (DP/CF/SSC/5), and for their commitment and strong support to South-South cooperation.

Mr. President,

3. Let me begin by recalling the Declaration by the Foreign Ministers of the G-77 and China adopted on 26 September 2013 at the UN Headquarters, in which they "stressed that the UNOSSC is the articulator for South-South cooperation in the UN System and UNDP should not duplicate, overlap or undertake the UNOSSC´s UN system-wide functions and responsibilities. In this context, the Ministers invited the UNOSSC to develop its own Strategic Framework for 2014-2017 according to its General Assembly's mandate, consistent with the principles, priorities and objectives set by Member States in the Buenos Aires Plan of Action, the Nairobi Outcome Document and other relevant General Assembly resolutions and South Summits' outcomes, taking into consideration the outcome of the review of the report of the Joint Inspection Unit on South-South and Triangular Cooperation in the United Nations system (A/66/717), the evolving Post-2015 UN agenda discussions, the UN Secretary-General's operational guidelines on UN support to South-South cooperation, and other UN entities' strategic plans."

4. Before commenting on the UNOSSC Strategic Framework document, I wish to put on record, on behalf of the G-77 and China, our deep appreciation to the UNOSSC and its very dynamic leadership for being an all-around and responsive partner with the Group, and for the achievements during its pervious framework period ending 31 December 2013. Over the years, we have all witnessed the dramatic transformation in the way the United Nations system meaningfully supported the multilateral agenda for South-South cooperation.

5. We have all seen that South-South cooperation today is not only a topic in most of the UN deliberations, but a practice in most of UN system organizations' policies, strategies and programmes. It is only fair to say that the UNOSSC has played a critical role in leading such a system-wide transformation. The UNOSSC has indeed created a much needed multilateral South-South support architecture that enabled all relevant UN system organizations, national South-South cooperation entities and the civil society to meaningfully engage in promoting expertise, sharing successful development solutions and transferring appropriate technologies to achieve the MDGs and sustainable development.

6. In this regard, the G-77 and China is pleased that the UNOSSC Strategic Framework 2014-2017 is built upon its past successes with a clear vision and strategy (1) to enable Member States to make informed decisions on South-South cooperation; (2) to enable national governments, the UN system organizations and other partners to effectively use such a multilateral support architecture to build or strengthen their own mechanisms and capacities for SSC and triangular cooperation; and (3) to enable and assist all relevant partners to develop their own innovative, self-sustained and mutually beneficial South-South and triangular partnership initiatives to scale up such cooperation to achieve the remaining MDGs and the Post-2015 sustainable development objectives.

7. The G-77 and China finds the UNOSSC Strategic Framework 2014-2017 responds very well to Member States concerns and priorities. It is consistent with the principles and objective set by Member States in the Buenos Aires Plan of Action, the Nairobi outcome document, as well as relevant GA resolutions. The G-77 and China, therefore, fully supports the approval by this Board of the UNOSSC Strategic Framework 2014-2017.

8. As the Group has underscored before, as a host for UNOSSC, UNDP's own contributions to South-South cooperation lies not in trying to represent, duplicate, overlap or replace the mandate and functions of the UNOSSC given by the GA as an independent entity and coordinator for SSC on a global and UN system-wide basis. Rather, UNDP's comparative advantage for support to South-South cooperation is through its own global, regional and country programmes within the mandate and areas of focus approved by this Board. The G-77 and China is pleased to note that this issue has been addressed first in the UNDP Strategic Plan 2014-2017 and now further clarified in the UNOSSC Strategic Framework 2014-2017 and UNDP's Global Programme along with its five regional programmes for RBA, RBAP, RBLAC, RBAS, RBEC, as well as in the UNDP Gender Strategy and the UNCDF's Strategic Framework 2014-2017 before the Board.

Mr. President,

9 The G-77 and China wishes to recall General Assembly resolution 67/227 of 21 December 2012 (Op. 3), in which the Assembly "Encourage[d] the funds, programmes, specialized agencies and other entities of the United Nations system to take concrete measures to effectively mainstream support to South-South and triangular cooperation in their policy and regular programming work, and in this context requests those organizations and the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation to leverage each other's institutional and technical capacities."

10. In this regard, we are therefore extremely pleased to note, in the Strategic Framework, that UNOSSC is establishing a multi-agency Outcome Board consisting of representatives from UNDP and other UN agencies to ensure the coherence and coordination of UN support to South-South cooperation during the Strategic Framework period. We are also pleased to note that UNDP's Regional Bureau for Africa, likewise, also invited UNOSSC to its Advisory Board. We would like to encourage UNDP's other programming units and UN system organizations to do the same. This is especially important since the QCPR GA resolution 67/226 (Op.79) also "Request[ed] the heads of the specialized agencies, the United Nations funds and programmes and the regional commissions to pay special attention to the implementation of South-South cooperation projects managed or supported by the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation."

Mr. President,

11. In conclusion, the G77 and China wishes to thank UNDP for having provided the UNOSSC with the policy space, institutional infrastructure and financial and operational support that enabled the Office to carry out its responsibilities in promoting, coordinating and facilitating South-South and triangular cooperation on a global and UN system-wide basis as mandated by the General Assembly. The Group considers that sufficient and sustainable funding of the UNOSSC is extremely critically for the successful implementation of its Strategic Framework 2014-2017. We therefore strongly urge Member States, in a position to do so, to contribute more generously to the work of the UNOSSC through its United Nations Fund for South-South Cooperation, as reiterated in General Assembly resolution 60/212 in which it designated the UNFSSC "as the main United Nations trust fund for promoting and supporting South-South and triangular cooperation."

Thank you.