Mr. President,

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

Mr. President,

2. At the outset, the Group wishes to thank you for convening this important forum to provide a platform for discussion on partnership. We took note with appreciation of the theme of this year's forum, namely "From commitments to results: leveraging partnerships for the 2030 Agenda" which coincides and go along very well with our theme the Group of 77 has adopted to guide our work for the year 2016: "From vision to action: inclusive partnership for sustainable development". Both themes suggest our strong commitments to work in partnerships towards the implementation of the 2030 Agenda as well as other internationally agreed development goals.
 
3. The Group wishes to share our views on partnerships as follows:

4. First, we attach high importance to enhancing the global partnership for sustainable development, including through multi-stakeholder and, especially public private partnerships that mobilize and share knowledge, expertise, technology and financial resources, to support the achievement of the sustainable development goals in all countries, in particular in developing countries. We further welcome the nexus approach for partnerships which reflects the cross-sectoral, interlinked and indivisible nature of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and aims at breaking the silos by promoting integrated development. It is important to foster implementation of all the goals through partnership approach without leaving any goal behind.

5. Second, to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals within the required timeframe, partnerships are instrumental and should primarily build upon North-South cooperation with South-South cooperation and partnerships as support and complementary engine to propel the dynamics of the SDGs implementation machinery.

6. Third, while we fully support multi-stakeholder partnerships, we would like to also emphasise the importance of partnerships between governments and stress the need to improve the coordination between countries on this issue.

7. Fourth, to engage more potential partners to work together on our shared goals, more should be done on coordination across the UN System to leverage and facilitate new partnerships as well as strengthen the existing ones for more effective implementation of the SDGs. There should be a clear division of roles as well as labor among the UN System in dealing with partnerships, according to each entity's respective mandates. The ECOSOC as the main coordinating organ for partnerships can play a more significant role on this issue. To this end, UNDESA could take lead in undertaking a mapping exercise of partnerships initiatives.

Mr. President,

8. As the outcomes of the Partnership Forum will be part of the upcoming High-level Political Forum under the auspices of the ECOSOC, we wish to highlight the following points to further promote accountability and transparency of partnerships.
 
9. First, we look forward to action-oriented outcomes and concrete suggestions on ways to enhance Member States' oversight of partnerships involving the UN, with a view to enabling Member States to examine and adopt guidelines to ensure coherence, impact, accountability and due diligence of the partnerships between the UN system, including the Funds and Programmes and specialized agencies and the private sector, philanthropic organisations, academia and other related stakeholders.

10. Second, to ensure transparency of partnerships, it would be highly appreciated if information could be made available regarding partners, their contributions and matching funds and projects for all partnerships with the UN, including at the country level. It would also be helpful if systematic reporting on such partnerships to the relevant Executive Boards could be strengthened.

11. Third, in the light of the increasing imbalance of funding structure for the UN development system, we emphasise that all kinds of partnerships between entities of the UN development system and other stakeholders should aim to prevent further imbalance between core and non-core resources while giving priority to core resources.

Mr. President,

12. The Group of 77 and China wishes to reassure to you our readiness to work with you and all stakeholders in encouraging and promoting effective partnerships including public, public-private and civil society partnerships with the aim to enhance synergy of our joint efforts for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

I thank you.