Co-Chairs,

1. I have the honour to deliver this statement on behalf of the Group of 77 and China on the issues of Gender Equality, and Water and Sanitation.

2. We continue to strongly believe that gender equality and women empowerment is one of the most relevant challenges that we must meaningfully address as part of the SDGs, not only as a stand-alone goal but also as cross-cutting issue to ensure an effective success.

3. As we mentioned in our previous statements, we would like to recall that Rio +20 recognized that persistent social, economic and political inequalities prevent the realization of potential of women to benefit from sustainable development as leaders and change agents.

4. In this context, the Group re affirms its position on eliminating all forms of gender based violence, ensuring equitable distribution access and ownership of productive resources and opportunity; promoting equal opportunities in decision making in private, public and commercial life; and equal access to basic services for women and girls.

5. The group of 77 and China believes that education is one of the most relevant issues for the international community, therefore we support the equal access to education at all levels, including a commitment to universal and free education, life-long learning opportunities as well as ensure equal opportunities for participation and leadership of women in decision-making in public and private institutions.

6. Once again the Group would like to recall that improving and promoting easy access to water and sanitation production, irrigation and hydro-energy production will lead to tremendous progress in the eradication of poverty and food insecurity, in the context of formulating the SDGs. The Group of 77 concurs with the view that considerations must be given to equitable and universal access to safe drinking water, while addressing the balance between water supply and demand, including, where appropriate, non-conventional water resources, sanitation and hygiene, while ground and surface water should be developed and managed sustainably in an integrated manner to satisfy human needs while respecting the fragilities of our ecosystem and its limitations, and to implement integrated water resource management on national and basin levels. Also, in order to provide access to water, all states benefiting need to contribute to the costs involved in water infrastructure and maintenance.

7. For Means of implementation the Group believes that is important to support efforts in developing countries related to water and sanitation activities and programmes, through provision of financial resources, capacity-building and technology transfer.

I thank you.