Excellencies, Distinguished Panelists, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I have the honour to deliver this statement on behalf of the Group of 77 and China. At the outset, the Group wishes to congratulate the World Bank Groups for the Inauguration of the Global Infrastructure Forum 2016 and thank the Groups for the invitation for the Group of 77 and China to speak on behalf of the 134 Member and Observers States on how very much this Forum is important to us.

First and foremost, both Addis Ababa Action Agenda and 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development stress the importance of infrastructure development since the lack of sustainable and resilient infrastructure could cause a derail from achieving sustainable development and comes at tremendous economic, social and environmental cost, particularly to developing countries which are members of the G77 and China. We urge the international community to enhance the cooperation in infrastructure construction and regional interconnectivity.

Second, over 1.3 billion people still have no access to electricity. About 768 million people lack access to clean water; and 2.5 billion do not have adequate sanitation; 2.8 billion people still cook their food with solid fuels; and one billion people live more than two kilometers from an all-weather road. These numbers only partially imply how big the need for infrastructure still prevails, especially in the developing world. We wish to emphasize that it is estimated that over USD 1 trillion per year is required for this unmet demand for infrastructure investment in developing countries.

Third, we, developing countries, are affected the most by the lack of sustainable and resilient Infrastructure, and facing grave financing challenges given constraints on available resources, both in the public and private sectors, which make more difficult to bridge the global infrastructure gap.

Fourth, to help bridging this financing gap, the role of Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), as mandated in AAAA to lead this Forum, must be dominant than ever before in providing financing resources by means of enhancing access to and improving quality of infrastructure services which are environmentally, socially and economically sustainable.

Therefore, this Forum is a light at the sea of darkness. We earnestly hope that this morning panel discussion as well as specific discussions to take place later today will genuinely identify the "what" and the "how" to address infrastructure gaps while highlighting opportunities for investment and seeking to further improve alignment and coordination among MDBs and development partners to facilitate the development of sustainable, accessible and resilient quality infrastructure in developing countries through enhanced financial and technical support.

We stress the need to address the challenges to mobilize public resources, and better leveraging public and private investments, including through tools and mechamisms such as public-private partnerships and blended finance. We further call for enhanced roles of the MDBs to provide the soft infrastructure through technical support and capacity building programmes. We cannot overemphasize that more collective efforts are needed and the quality of today's deliberations will help paving the rough way for developing countries to arrive at the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

G77 and China wishes to reiterate the essential elements needed for improved coordination between this Forum and UN system, as well as for enhanced organizational structure of the Forum: First, the need to establish a clear reporting mechanism of the Global Infrastructure Forum to the annual ECOSOC forum on Financing for Development follow-up, through which member states give political guidance; Second, an establishment of institutionalized system led by the MDBs, of which the chairmanship is passed between its members on a rotational basis. Lastly, we are looking forward to an annual exchange of ideas to improve alignment and coordination among multilateral and national development banks, established and new infrastructure initiatives, United Nations agencies, and national institutions, development partners and the private sector at future forums on Financing for Development follow-up.

I thank you.