2018 Forum on Financing for Development

STATEMENT ON BEHALF OF GROUP OF 77 AND CHINA BY MR. MOHAMED GAD, MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY OF THE PERMANENT MISSION OF EGYPT TO THE UNITED NATIONS, ON THE AGREED CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF 2018 ECOSOC FORUM ON FINANCE FOR DEVELOPMENT, AT THE FIRST INFORMAL CONSULTATIONS ON THE DRAFT CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ON 2018 FORUM ON FINANCING FOR DEVELOPMENT (New York, 2 March 2018)

I have the honor to deliver this intervention on behalf of the Group of 77 and China.

At the outset, the Group wishes to congratulate H.E. Mr Courtenay Rattary, Permanent Representative of Jamaica and H.E. Mr. Francisco Duarte Lopes, Permanent Representative of Portugal to the UN to act as co-facilitators for the preparation of draft conclusions and recommendations of the 2018 FfD Forum and to facilitate consultations among Member States with a view to reaching an intergovernmental agreement on that draft. We Would like also to congratulate MR. Navid Hanif for his appointment as Director of Finance for Development Office.

The Group of G77 and China looks forward for a substantive outcome oriented towards unlocking the resources needed to finance development. The Group reiterates its commitment to work constructively in this regard.

The Group notes that the IATF's report is an important element for informing Member States' deliberations on the aspired intergovernmental agreed conclusions and recommendations of the Forum. In this context, the Group welcomes the IATF technical briefings that have been scheduled during the next week.

Given that the IATF report was just issued today morning, it might be difficult to have an extensive substantive discussion during this meeting. The group needs to have an internal substantive deliberations on the report's content

The Group is of the view the upcoming consultations must be structured around the relevant substantive areas of Finance for Development. The group looks forward for more clarity on the modalities and the way forward of the process, which should take into account sufficient time for internal consultations by the groups.

Moreover, the group wishes that the co-facilitators coordinate closely with UNDS co-facilitators in order to avoid parallel meetings of the two processes taking into consideration that same experts of many delegations cover both tracks.

The Group looks forward to briefing by the UN Secretary-General to the joint meeting of the Second Committee and the ECOSOC later this year on the issues to be addressed in the thematic chapter of the 2019 and 2020 reports of the Inter-Agency Task Force, with the aim to summarizing those discussions by producing a report to guide the Inter-Agency Task Force on the thematic issues to be covered in those reports.