Distinguished Chair,

Ecuador has the honour to deliver these remarks on behalf of the Group of 77 and China:

1. First of all, allow me to convey the warm welcome of the Group of 77 and China to Mrs. Amina Mohamed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, and our appreciation for the leadership in the process towards the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which is already a fundamental asset for the role that she can play in her new position, in the implementation of the SDGs at all levels.

2. SDG13 by which all our Heads of State and Governments re-committed to take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts, is an integral and indivisible part of sustainable development, and a crosscutting requirement for the achievement of all 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

3. We recall that the 2030 Agenda describes climate change as one of the greatest challenges of our time and its impacts, while acknowledging that the UNFCCC is the primary international intergovernmental forum for negotiating the global response to climate change. Therefore, all other activities on climate change in the UN system should be consistent with the objective, purpose and principles of the Convention, the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement.

4. The year 2015 was truly historic, as the world adopted 4 landmark documents: The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development, and the Paris Agreement. The four are closely interlinked and represent a global architecture for a better future for all, where no one is left behind.

5. On Agenda 2030, we emphasize the importance of building a culture of thematic integration, in order to avoid the "silos approach", which could prevent the fulfillment of Agenda 2030 in its entirety. We support an integrated approach to the SDGs implementation.

6. The UNFCCC is a legally-binding Convention with related legal Instruments. The Paris Agreement adopted under the UNFCCC is the collective achievement of all Parties, which seeks to enhance the implementation of the UNFCCC, in accordance with its principles and provisions, in particular equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, in the light of different national circumstances, and the right to development, in the context of sustainable development and efforts to eradicate poverty. The global effort to fight climate change is an irreversible process that cannot be postponed.

7. In effectively implementing their commitments under the Convention and the Paris Agreement, developing country Parties will require support from developed country Parties, including through the fulfilment of their commitments and obligations under the Convention related to the provision of financial resources, based on their responsibilities for historical emissions. Economic and social development and poverty eradication are the first and overriding priorities of the developing country Parties.

8. We have reiterated the importance of preserving the delicate balance of all the issues that was achieved in Paris at COP21 and in Marrakesh at COP22. These outcomes are not to be renegotiated nor reinterpreted, as the process under the Paris Agreement is irreversible. We have stressed the importance of moving from conceptual discussions to textual negotiations by COP23 while maintaining the balance struck in the Paris Agreement between mitigation, adaptation and means of implementation.

9. Effective implementation of the Paris Agreement and the attainment of pre-2020 commitments will significantly contribute to the achievement of the SDGs. Urgent action is required since our countries are currently experiencing the adverse impacts of climate change, that seriously affect our natural environment, the survival of many societies, the biological support systems of the planet, and undermine the ability of our countries to achieve sustainable development.

10. In spite of that, developing countries are already making a significant contribution to the fight against climate change, even if constraint by limited financial and technological support. The challenge of implementing the Paris Agreement for this group of countries is therefore means of implementation: the provision of financial and technological resources in a scale that meets the ambition of the commitments made in the Paris Agreements through NDC.

11. We underline that both the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement stress the importance of means of implementation, which should be simplified and granted to ensure proper implementation of climate action plans and the achievement of the objectives of the convention and of SDG's. We also recall that the SDGs has set the target to implement the commitment undertaken by developed country parties to the UNFCCC to a goal of mobilizing jointly USD100 billion annually by 2020 from all sources to address the needs of developing countries. We thus call on a strengthened and genuine global partnership to achieve this.

12. This mobilization of resources must be accompanied by even more ambitious and urgent measures by developed countries, which have the greatest responsibility for the problem, have a greater capacity to cope with it and should continue taking the lead by undertaking economy-wide absolute emission reduction targets.

13. The G77 and China reaffirms its determination to take concrete and urgent actions to continue engaging the fight against climate change, a common treat that is directly linked to economic growth, reduction of inequalities, protection of the environment, and sustainable development for all.

Thank you.