Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates,

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

At the outset, I wish to congratulate the Permanent Representatives of Iceland and Maldives on their appointment as co-facilitators of the outcome document of the 2026 ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development Follow-up. The Group assures you of its full cooperation and constructive engagement throughout this process.

While taking note of the roadmap presented, the Group wishes to express its concern regarding the proposed timeline. We believe it is essential to ensure a process that is inclusive and allows for sufficient time to address the substantive priorities of developing countries.

The Group wishes to underscore that the Sevilla Commitment stands as a landmark achievement for the Global South-a hard-won consensus that the Group celebrated as a turning point for the development agenda. Consequently, given the Sevilla Commitment's recent adoption, the Group underscores that the 2026 outcome document should be concise, streamlined, and action-oriented focused on implementing the Sevilla Commitment deliverables rather than renegotiating or backsliding on the high level of ambition and landmark gains we have already secured. We should avoid an unbalanced approach that could undermine the development pillar.

The upcoming FfD Follow-up Forum provides an appropriate opportunity to reflect on the implementation of the Sevilla Commitment and to explore?viable avenues for its financing. It will also be an opportunity to take stock of progress made by the wider financial ecosystem on the FfD agenda, and explore ways to enhance coherence between different actors and workstreams within the context of the Forum and ECOSOC. The Group highlights the following essential elements for the outcome document:

i. emphasizing the central role of mobilizing and effectively using domestic public resources to finance sustainable development, including through enhancing transparency and and accountability in fiscal systems and combatting illicit financial flows;
ii. the continued commitment to reform the international financial architecture, enhancing its resilience, coherence and effectiveness in responding to present and future challenges and crises;
iii. addressing debt sustainability challenges of developing countries and ensuring equitable trade remains an engine for development;
iv. reaffirming the commitment to enhance access to capacity-building, and supporting demand-driven technical assistance to promote sustainable and inclusive industrialization and skills development.
v. addressing unilateral coercive measures as a major obstacle to the economic and social development of developing countries, which hinders their capacity to mobilize resources for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

Taking into account that the Sevilla Commitment calls for a biennial review cycle, the Group considers it relevant to link this year's outcome document with the 2026 action areas selected for 2026 in the Sevilla Commitment, namely: domestic and international private business and finance; international trade as an engine for development; international financial architecture and systemic issues; and data, monitoring, and follow-up. This would allow us to link the outcome document more directly with our discussions in the Forum.

Without removing the focus from the 2026 action areas, the group wishes to reaffirm the importance of official development assistance as a key component of international development cooperation in helping developing countries to achieve sustainable development, as well as the need for MDBs to further increase and optimize their annual lending capacity with the view to potentially tripling it to generate real momentum for effective implementation.

In conclusion, the Group remains ready to engage proactively in the negotiations towards the outcome document, maintaining the high level of ambition set in Sevilla. We look forward to a document that contributes to the full implementation of the Sevilla Commitment and addresses the financial gaps for sustainable development faced by the Global South.

I thank you.