INTERVENTION ON BEHALF OF THE GROUP OF 77 AND CHINA BY H.E. MRS. CHULAMANEE CHARTSUWAN, AMBASSADOR AND DEPUTY PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF THE KINGDOM OF THAILAND TO THE UNITED NATIONS, AT SESSION 19: ENSURING THAT NO ONE IS LEFT BEHIND "UNLOCKING MOI FOR SDGS AND CREATING AN ENABLING ENVIRONMENT" OF THE HIGH-LEVEL POLITICAL FORUM ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (New York, 18 July 2016)

Mr. President,

Excellencies and distinguished panelists,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the Group of 77 and China.

1. First of all, please allow us to express appreciation to the Chair for summarizing the agreed conclusions from the FfD forum (ECOSOC forum on financing for development follow-up). We also wish to thank the moderator and all panelists for very useful information on the progress made since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda in mobilizing MOIs.

2. The achievement of the 2030 Agenda relies on the successful mobilization of both existing and additional resources for achieving the MOI targets under Goal 17 and under each of the other sixteen Goals. To achieve revitalized Global Partnership for Development, we reaffirm our strong commitment to collaborate with all stake-holders in moving towards the full implementation of this Agenda, taking into account different national realities, capacities and levels of development and respecting national policies and priorities.

3. We wish to share our thoughts on some key challenges and the way forward to ensure adequate means of implementation for developing countries.

4. Firstly, on financial resources, the Secretary-General's Report on Progress towards the SDGs indicates that seven countries met the ODA target of 0.7 per cent of gross national income and ODA increased to its highest level ever in 2015. While commending these achievements, it is imperative to also address unmet ODA commitments since North-South Cooperation is still the main channel of financing for development for developing countries. We note with concern that efforts and genuine will to address these issues are still lagging behind as reflected in this year's outcome document of the FfD forum which failed to address these important issues.

5. Secondly, on the trade front. The LDCs' share in world merchandise exports nearly doubled, from 0.6 per cent in 2000 to 1.1 per cent in 2014. However, it is essential to highlight that the global trade share of LDCs have been stagnating around 1 per cent since the early 1970's. Although the Istanbul Programme of Action called for steps to ensure that LDCs' global trade share doubles from 1 per cent by 2020, no initiatives are visible in this regard. There is abundant room for enhancing the share of exports from developing countries. We deem trade and investment as engines for development and therefore wish to bring to the attention of the HLPF the need to address the imbalances, discrimination and inequities of the global trading system, including the need for urgent correction and prevention of trade restrictions and distortions in world agricultural markets, and to find balanced outcomes that will allow developing countries to effectively engage in global trade.

6. Thirdly, on the issue of science, technology and innovation (STI), we strongly believe that technology is a key means of implementation and the most important lever of change for achieving sustainable development. However, in the developing world, we are still facing a digital divide in which fixed-broadband services are unaffordable and/or unavailable across much of the population. We wish to urge all relevant stakeholders to provide enhanced and coordinated support to address this digital divide through effective and sustainable technical assistance and capacity-building, which is tailored to the specific needs and constraints of developing countries. We also are hopeful that operationalization and effective functioning of the LDC Technology Bank will assist the LDCs to have the structural transformation that is required in the area of STI.

7. Fourthly on Capacity Building, it is alarming that financial support for statistical capacity has been declining in the recent years while the need for improving basic databases in developing countries is still tremendously important. Such needs include targeted capacity building for basic databases on birth and death registration. We therefore urge urgent and consistent enhanced financial and technological assistance to developing countries, especially Sub-Saharan Africa, to improve this deficiency in order to leave no one behind.

I thank you.