Co-Chairs,

Thank you for giving me the floor. I have the honor to deliver this statement on behalf of the Group of 77 & China.

Let me start by congratulating you on your appointment by the President of the General Assembly for conducting informal intergovernmental consultations to achieve agreement on the organizational modalities for the Summit that will take place in September 2015 at the level of Heads of State and Government for the adoption of the post-2015 development agenda.

The Group of 77 & China looks forward to engaging constructively in this process under your leadership for agreeing on the modalities for the Summit.

Co-Chairs,

The Group of 77 & China attaches great importance to the adoption of the post-2015 development agenda. The member states of the Group have a direct stake in a development-focused agenda respecting the Rio principles including the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities.

The Group will engage proactively and constructively as the collective voice of all developing countries in discussions on both the process as well as substance of the post-2015 development agenda.

Co-Chairs,

We are happy to engage in today's first informal consultations. We will present our preliminary views on some of the aspects relating to organizational modalities for the 2015 Summit. At the same time, we will also be listening to the views of others on this process.

For the purpose of today's consultations, the Group of 77 & China would like to make the following five points:

First, the Group will benefit from some further guidance and clarity from you on this process. Clarity on issues like how you foresee this informal consultation process to proceed, the issues to focus on, a tentative timetable for discussions and the overall objective of consultations will help member states in engaging constructively with this process. We would request that these meetings do not overlap with other second committee related meetings.

Second, the mandate of our leaders as articulated in the outcome document of the MDG Special Event of September 2013 is for intergovernmental negotiations for the adoption of the post-2015 development agenda, it is important the engagement from our capitals in the negotiation process, developing countries would need the necessary support to get the financing for this engagement. It is therefore of primary and fundamental importance for the Group that the intergovernmental nature of the negotiation process is fully maintained. We value of course the inputs from other stakeholders which can be incorporated by way of separate and inclusive informal interactive hearings with them with provision of reporting back to the formal negotiation track.

Third, in deciding the format, duration and structure of the Summit itself, we can usefully follow past precedents in crafting an approach to the 2015 Summit, including the organizational modalities for the 2005 Summit, the 2010 Summit and more recently the Rio+20 Conference, open to all States.

Fourth, it is of utmost importance that the ongoing processes relevant to the 2015 Summit complete their work in a timely manner in order to feed into the negotiation process for the 2015 Summit. These include the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals, the Intergovernmental Committee on Sustainable Development Financing and the results of the Structured Dialogues on a Technology Facilitation Mechanism. In addition, it is critical that agreement is reached as early as possible on holding the FfD Review Conference in 2015 in order for its results to also feed into the post-2015 development agenda.

Fifth, it is extremely important to ensure a transparent, inclusive and member-driven process for intergovernmental negotiations for leading up to the 2015 Summit and arriving at the outcome document. This process of intergovernmental negotiations must start early in the 69th session of the General Assembly in order to give adequate time for constructive discussions among member states.

I thank you Co-Chairs.