Mr. President,

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

The Group appreciates this dialogue on the progress in the implementation of UN development system reforms, including the structural reforms set out in General Assembly resolution 72/279, and implications of the UN80 proposals for the delivery of development mandates.

At the outset, the Group of 77 and China wishes to emphasize that the eradication of poverty in all its forms and dimensions and the implementation of development commitments, including the 2030 agenda and its goal of leaving no one behind, must remain the key focus of the UN development system agenda, while taking into account national priorities and circumstances. The Group also considers it essential that the views, needs, and priorities of programme countries be placed at the centre of any potential reform, and that any decision is directed to strengthen, rather than to weaken, the development mandates.

With less than five years remaining until the 2030 deadline, the Group of 77 and China shares the Secretary-General's concern regarding what he has described as a "development emergency". In this regard, the Group deeply regrets that, despite two iterations of the Funding Compact, the anticipated shift toward core, pooled, and flexible financing has not materialized in any meaningful way. The UN development system, including the Resident Coordinator system, should be adequately funded to operate, and do so in full conformity with national development priorities and relevant intergovernmental mandates.

The Group of 77 and China remains firmly committed to engaging actively and constructively in the discussions on the UN80 Initiative and recognizes progress made to strengthen coordination and efficiencies between development entities to maximize impact, including by sharing services, platforms, technology and data.

The Group acknowledges that some of the proposals included in Workstream 3 could build on the repositioning reform approved by Member States so far, while also providing an opportunity to mobilize urgently needed financial resources. While the Group considers these efforts to be extremely important, it believes that adequate time is needed to understand the exact challenges we face, assess the implications of any structural reforms, analyze existing alternatives and conduct inclusive and transparent intergovernmental negotiations on all actions for which intergovernmental consideration is envisaged. Ensuring respect of the diverse operational realities of field presences and avoiding disruptions to field-based support and service delivery is also key.

The Group also wishes to remind the central role of the General Assembly in setting broad policy orientations for operational activities for development and approving any structural reform.

Regarding specific UN80 proposals, the Group would like to ask whether you could elaborate on the Secretariat's vision behind work package 5 on "UNCT Reconfiguration" and work package 6 pertaining to the "Regional Reset", including by providing concrete examples of their practical impact on the UN system's country-level presence and on the regional offices, including Regional Economic Commissions. The Group would also welcome further information on the concrete differences between the Regional Collaborative Platforms (RCPs) established as part of the 2018 repositioning and the UN80 proposal to replace them with Regional Platforms of Integration (RPIs).

To finish, let me reassure you that the Group of 77 and China is aligned with the vision and ambition of the UN80 initiative to deliver better on the ground.

Thank you.