Mr. President,

The Group of 77 and China believe that the successful convening of this first High-level Political Forum (HLPF) after the adoption of the 2030 Agenda is in itself a testimony that we are going beyond rhetoric and earnestly working to achieve real progress in all three dimensions of sustainable development - economic, social and environmental.

The role of the HLPF in providing political leadership, guidance and recommendations for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda is crucial to eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty. The HLPF, in overseeing a network of follow-up and review process at the global level, must also endeavour to improve the coherence and coordination within the United Nations system and the participation of all countries and all stakeholders to intensify collaboration to attain all the 17 Goals and their targets, building upon the Millennium Development Goals with the aim to complete their unfinished business. This enormous undertaking can benefit more from a bottom-up approach, greater transparency and ownership of the process at all levels.

This year's HLPF reaffirms our strong commitment to leave no one behind. We must identify the "how" in reaching out to those furthest behind, in particular African countries, least developed countries, landlocked developing countries and Small Island Developing States, as well as countries in conflict and post-conflict situations, while recognizing the specific challenges of middle-income countries. We must also not forget the universal realization of the right to self-determination of peoples living under colonial and foreign occupation, which adversely affects their social and economic development and respect for the independence of States, national sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity and non-interference in the internal affairs of States.

To make this real, we cannot simply reaffirm all the principles recognized in the Agenda, including the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, but must earnestly implement them in all our endeavours. Additionally, we must honour that every State has and shall freely exercise, full permanent sovereignty over all its wealth, natural resources and economic activity. Furthermore, we reaffirm our firm rejection of imposition of laws and regulations with extraterritorial impacts and all other forms of unilateral, economic and financial coercive measures by developed countries against developing countries contrary to international law and the United Nations Charter which constitute a serious threat to the effective implementation of the 2030 Agenda. In this regard, we urge developed countries to adopt urgent and effective measures to eliminate these kind of measures.

Implementing the 2030 Agenda requires a revitalized global partnership. We reiterate that enhancing support to developing countries is fundamental, including through provision of development financial resources, transfer of technology, enhanced international support and targeted capacity-building and promoting a rules-based and non-discriminatory multilateral trading system. We urge the international community and relevant stakeholders to make real progress in these issues, including through the G20 Summit in China which will focus on developing action plans to support the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

We also stress the need to address adverse impacts of and reduce vulnerability to climate change and look forward to the mobilization of new and additional resources, with developed countries continuing to take the lead through provision of finance, technology transfer and capacity building to developing countries.

Resilient, integrated and people-centred infrastructure is a catalyzing factor for all dimensions of sustainable development. In this regard, more support to pursue coherent policy frameworks conducive to sustainable infrastructure, mobilize political commitment and additional investment to address infrastructure gap and promote inter-connectivity and regional economic integration are required. We also emphasise that tackling illicit financial flows is very important for the implementation of the SDGs and that those resources must be repatriated to their countries of origin.

Mr. President,

Peer learning and South-South Cooperation can support the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. On our part, at the G77 and China's upcoming Ministerial Meeting in September, we will be learning and sharing experience among members of the Group on approaches to implementing of the SDGs, particularly through a thematic focus on "Sufficiency Economy Philosophy", which seeks to provide an understanding and cultivation of a sustainability mindset in respect of people by giving full consideration for future generations, planet by preserving our environment and prosperity by ensuring that all human beings can enjoy prosperous and fulfilling lives within ones' means and that economic, social and technological progress occurs in harmony with nature.

I thank you.