Mr Chairman,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the Group of 77 and China on agenda item 132: program budget for the biennium 2014-2015: Information and Communications Technology. The Group would like to thank Mr. Yukio Takasu, Under-Secretary General for Management for introducing the Secretary-General's report on Information and Communications Technology as well as Mr. Carlos Ruiz Massieu- Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions, for introducing the Advisory Committee's related report.

The Group would also like to congratulate and welcome Ms. Atefeh Riazi, Assistant-Secretary General, and Chief Information Technology Officer on her recent appointment and would like to assure her of our continued support in discharging given responsibilities.

Mr Chairman,

The Group of 77 and China has always supported management reforms initiatives which aim at increasing efficiency, effectiveness, transparency, credibility and accountability in the Organization. The Group wishes re-emphasizes the fact that any reform including on Information and Communications Technology (ICT), must aim at supporting the work of the United Nations in the areas of peace and security, development and human rights.

The Group believes that the Organisation should not continue to be consumer of the ICT equipments, systems and services but its Revised Strategy should aimed at ensuring the ICT provide support to Organisation to effectively deliver its given mandate as well as facilitate Member States in decision making processes at the most efficient, effective, user friendly, secured, reliable and cost effective manner.

Mr. Chairman,

The Group of 77 and China expresses concern on the continued existing of high level of fragmentation of the ICT environment in the organization. The Group is deeply concerned that, despite many initiatives and efforts, offices and departments continue maintain their own independent ICT units, resulting in a legacy of decentralized, non-standardized and fragmented ICT environments which has built up over decades and leading to the proliferation of duplicate, incompatible and outdated systems, a limited ability to share and process information, incomplete coverage of user requirements and a lack of transparency regarding ICT expenditure and staffing across the Organization.

The Group notes that this fragmentation also drives up and constitute high costs of operations and prevents the Organization from realizing economies of scale.

The Group of 77 and China recalls that, in the previous the Board of Auditors identified three key limitations of the ICT strategy adopted by the General Assembly in its resolution 63/262 namely, insufficient emphasis on the enterprise resource planning system; insufficient prioritization of information security issues; and insufficient recognition of peacekeeping activities, which account for some 75 per cent of overall ICT expenditure.

The Group also recalls that the Board observations on the lack of an effective governance and accountability framework for managing the ICT affairs; the lack of clarity on how the ICT changes envisaged were essential to business needs or to the core objectives of the United Nations; the lack of a clear definition and understanding across the Organisation of the role and authority of the Office of Information and Communications Technology and its Chief; an insufficient number of ICT professionals with the skills required to lead business transformation initiatives; insufficient consideration of the decentralized and autonomous nature of the entities; and the lack of a clear identification of genuinely Organization-wide activities that require strong central control and those that require or merit operational freedom.

The Group will be interested to learn in detailed as to how these observations have been addressed in the current proposed strategy.

Mr. Chairman,

With regard to the ongoing initiatives, the Group of 77 and China notes that part of the activities being undertaken by the OICT are interrelated and interdependent of ongoing reform initiatives, and emphasizes the need for harmonization and rationalization on their implementation in order to ensure coherence and synergies in planning for the future related activities. The Group also emphasizes the need for the future proposals including the 'global service delivery model' to ensure high level of harmonisation with the ongoing activities under Revised ICT Strategy and other initiatives to avoid waste and duplication of resources and efforts.

Turning to the proposal for a revised information and communications technology strategy, the Group has taken note of the key features of the strategy as well as related strategies to be carried out in five years period and looks forward for detailed discussion during our informal deliberations. The Group will also be interested to learn in details how the strategy is aligned with ongoing initiatives such as Umoja, IPSAS, GFSS and human resource management reforms. The Group will careful scrutinize the training element of the ICT in the Organisation with the aim to ensure the in-house capacity are adequately available to deliver the mandated activities;

Mr. Chairman,

While we note that the proposed revised strategy is based on a consultative approach involving all Secretariat ICT units, the Group believes that, there is a need and a room for further consultation and collaborations in particular with the offices away from headquarters, peacekeeping and other field based offices to guarantee expected benefits. The Group will be interested to learn in detail to what extent consultations reached other stakeholders working with the Organisation in the field such as agencies, funds and programmes.

With regard to ICT governance and management framework, the Group has taken note that distribution of responsibility for ICT delivery across multiple centres in numerous geographically dispersed centres may present some management challenges. In this regard we would like to emphasize the need for robust governance, management and accountability arrangements, strong leadership, comprehensive standards and procedures and effective communication and coordination to ensure risk mitigation and the successful implementation of the proposed strategy;

Mr Chairman,

Turning to the role of Chief Information Technology Officer, the Group has taken note of the information provided by the Secretary General as well as views of the Advisory Committee and we look forward for detailed discussion with the aim of ensuring the CITO deliver the given responsibilities in particular those related to the overall direction and performance of ICT activities in the Organisation in line with the given mandate.

With regard to the cost benefit analysis of the ICT Initiatives, like the Advisory Committee, the Group of 77 and China recognizes that the cost-benefit analysis will evolve over time as the implementation of the proposed strategy progresses and that it is an important tool in the decision-making process for evaluating projects and determining their feasibility and that such an analysis should be prepared at the outset of the project. It is our expectation that the information on the projected cost and benefits of the initiative will be presented to Member States in a timely manner and that any savings derived from the initiatives will be directed to support development related activities.

Mr. Chairman,

The Group attaches great interest to initiatives aimed at addressing information security in the organisation and we are on full support of the interim urgent measures to address this situation. The Group is expecting an update on the progress achieved in the implementation of recommendations to strengthening information and systems security across the Secretariat. We have taken note that the first phase of the action plan was completed in 2013 and that full implementation was expected to continue in 2014. The Group looks forward for an update on the status of implementation of the Action Plan during the seventieth session, including details on related expenditures.

In conclusion, the Group of 77 and China would like to re-assure you of our continued support to the Secretary General's efforts to reform and modernize the ICT and looks forward to engage constructively during informal consultation with the aim of reaching positive outcome that address key deficiencies facing the Organisation in this area.

I thank you Mr. Chairman.