Excellencies,
Honourable Guests,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

1. I am honored and pleased to address this august gathering at the end of the mandate of the Chairmanship that the Group of 77 entrusted to the Republic of the Sudan for the year 2009.

2. On this occasion, allow me to thank warmly, on behalf of my country, all those who assisted the delegation of Sudan to accomplish the mandate entrusted to it in an exceptionally eventful and extremely challenging year.

3. I am duly bound to express my warmest thanks to all members of the Group of 77 and China for their precious support to my country. I am delighted with the spirit of cooperation and solidarity that prevails in our Group and which helped us to consolidate our ranks and to defend our strategic interests.

Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

4. In January 2009 when Sudan assumed the Chair of the Group of 77 and China we stated that Sudan looked forward to reaffirming the principles of the Group and to strengthen our unity, cohesion and vision of a fair and equitable multilateral system. We also assured you that Sudan would spare no effort in ensuring that we collectively enhance the development agenda of the United Nations, particularly to better serve the aspirations of the South. We hope that we have contributed to the fulfillment of these aspirations.

5. The year 2009 is no doubt the most challenging year for development since the establishment of our Group 45 years ago. Our Group had to sail through troubled waters in an extremely challenging international environment marked by the worst financial and economic crisis, of which developing countries are bearing the brunt and whose impacts are still unfolding sending millions of our people into poverty and hunger. The conference on the "World Financial and Economic Crisis and its Impact on Development" held this year was an important step, but much more needs to be done. The outcome document expresses the deep concern shared by all Member States with the adverse impact of the crisis on development. It also highlighted the acute human costs imposed on the world population, threatening the livelihoods of millions of people, especially in developing countries. It called for a more coordinated and comprehensive response to mitigate the impact of the crisis and to ensure the timely adoption of the necessary long term structural reforms needed to promote a robust and sustained recovery and prevent future economic turmoil.

6. This year also witnessed the critical and delicate series of negotiations on climate change that led to Copenhagen. Throughout 2009, the G-77 and China continued to emphasize the link between sustainable development and climate change and continued its urgent call addressed to developed countries to undertake ambitious commitments under the Kyoto Protocol for subsequent commitment periods, beyond 2012. It also continued urging the international community to assist developing countries to address the consequences of climate change and meet their adaptation needs, particularly through new, additional and predictable financial resources, capacity building, and access to and transfer of technology, under the provisions of the UNFCCC and its Kyoto Protocol.

7. The food crisis was indeed a major challenge as well. The Group continued in many fora to reaffirm its principle position that any successful strategy to defeat hunger should involve stronger institutions with better accountability, stability of the global markets, enhanced market access for agricultural products from developing countries, removal of agricultural subsidies by developed countries, and sustainable investments in agricultural production and research, and targeted support to the advancement of the agricultural sector in developing countries, including small-scale farmers and the poor.

8. Throughout 2009, there have been intense, hard and lengthy multilateral negotiations that, despite all the above global challenges, resulted in positive outcomes for the Group of 77 and China. Sudan has endeavored to continue the efforts aiming at defending our Group interests and making the international community aware of the Group's major concerns and aspirations.

9. This has been possible due to the solidarity, accommodation and collective spirit of our Members to articulate and promote our collective interests and enhance our joint negotiating capacity on all major issues.

10. We have continued to call for concerted multilateral action to achieve the internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals (MSGs), as a means towards solving economic and social problems. We have stressed the fact that in spite of appropriate measures taken, and the tremendous efforts made by developing countries to build an enabling environment for development, the support received from development partners is still insufficient to achieve substantial economic growth and development, especially given the current global challenges. We continued emphasizing the special challenges faced by LDCs, LLDCs, SIDS and Africa, and those faced by Low Income Countries and Middle Income Countries.

11. We consistently continued calling for substantial new and additional financial resources to be made available, as a matter of priority, to developing countries. In addition, we continued calling on developing countries to deliver new and additional financial resources as well as to fulfill their commitments in the areas of debt relief, increasing ODA, capacity building in addition to technology transfer as part of the package that will assist in addressing the effects of the financial and economic crisis and ensure sustained long-term growth and development.

12. We continued to emphasize the imperative need for the full and timely implementation of all the outcomes of all major conferences and summits in the economic, social and related fields in order to meet the MDGs target date of 2015.

13. The United Nations Conference on the Financial and Economic Crisis and its impact on Development" that took place in June 2009 was a remarkable effort by the Group which helped expose the fragility of the international financial and economic system and the need for structural reform. Indeed the establishment of the General Assembly Open-ended Working Group to follow up on the recommendations of the Conference Outcome Document is a major achievement and the Working Group must make concrete recommendations to the General Assembly as early as possible on actions to redress the structural failures of the international financial and economic system, and mitigate the impact of crisis on development.

14. The year 2009 was indeed significant in the work of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).Our Group was actively involved in three of the five Annual Ministerial Reviews organized by ECOSOC this past year which were dealing with global public health, a key component of the MDGs. We reiterated the importance of addressing successfully the health goals which depends on financial resources to build strong healthcare systems, including strong basic science and research capacity as well as infrastructures.

15. The G-77 and China this year played a central role in negotiating a landmark Ministerial Declaration, the first of its kind, which was adopted by consensus by ECOSOC during its substantive session in Geneva in July 2009 and securing the G77 and China's core intersects. The Declaration has called for concerted action on critical issues related to global health, and the need to strengthen international cooperation to confront unforeseen threats and epidemics, such as the current H1N1 pandemic, and for strengthening political will to achieve MDGs 4 and 5. Most importantly, the Declaration acknowledges the impact of the global financial and economic crisis on developing countries, and calls for strengthening the global partnership for development. It further stresses that international cooperation and assistance, in particular external funding, need to become more predictable and better-aligned with national priorities.

Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

16. Sustainable development in 2009 witnessed many remarkable tangible achievements for our Group. The G-77 and China actively and effectively participated in the Seventeenth Session of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD-17), which focused on the thematic issues of agriculture, rural development, land, drought and desertification, and Africa. These issues are fundamentally important for sustainable development, and poverty eradication, and acquire significant importance under the current global crisis.

17. The Group made significant contributions to the discussions in CSD-17, which culminated in the adoption by consensus of an historic agreement, which covers a wide range of policy options and measures, and their means of implementation, the provisions of which the outcome document makes clear will be critical to ensure its implementation by developing countries. The outcome while underscoring the main concerns of developing countries, and the need to provide the much needed support, it also signaled convergence between developing and developed countries on some key issues related to the thematic clusters. Indeed CSD-l7 in 2009 lived up to its full potential as a timely platform for Governments, UN, and Major Groups to reinvigorate their resolve to tackle the global crisis, meet the hunger and malnutrition challenge and contribute to the achievement of the internationally agreed development goals, including the MDGs.

18. The Group made tangible contributions to the cause of sustainable development by pioneering the global discussions at the General Assembly which culminated in the adoption of the resolution which decided to convene a UN Conference on Sustainable Development in 2012 in Brazil. The Conference will review the implementation gaps to date and progress made, as well as to address new and emerging challenges that need to be framed under the sustainable development agenda. This resolution further outlines the modalities of the Conference and the preparatory process, including the establishment of a preparatory Committee.

19. The G77 and China in 2009 made remarkable achievements on the issue of forests. The United Nations Forum on Forests in its Eighth Session (UNFF 8) reached an historic agreement that has been elusive for many years on the means of implementation for sustainable forest management, in particular on financing for sustainable forest management (SFM). This agreement is a milestone in the global policy debate on financing for sustainable forest management. Countries have been at odds on the options since the start of these discussions at the Earth Summit in Rio in 1992. The year 2009 witnessed the success at achieving a common position for the G77 and China on the means of implementation on sustainable forest management at UNFF 8. The decision, adopted by consensus in October 2009, after delicate long negotiations that lasted months, has multiple advantages and long-term implications for other major global processes. It consists of two sets of actions: establishment of an Open ended Intergovernmental Ad hoc expert Group, to examine current funding mechanism, including the establishment of a Global Forest Fund, which was proposed by the G77 and China, and initiate a facilitative process aimed at improving access to current funding and facilitating technology transfer.

20. Indeed Climate Change remains a profound challenge. In this context the Group utilized the Secretary-General's Summit leading up to Copenhagen meeting to reiterate its position on the need for a global response to climate change taking into account the principles of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capacities. We also reiterated our call to developed countries to undertake ambitious commitments under the Kyoto Protocol, given their historical responsibilities. At the UNFCCC negotiations, the G-77 and China fought a fierce battle to save the Kyoto Protocol after we received indications that the developed country members of the Protocol were planning to abandon it in favour of a lower-quality agreement under which they would not have to make internationally binding commitments. The G77 and China worked very hard to advance developing countries' interests in the two working groups of the UNFCCC, namely the Ad Hoc Working Group on Further Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol (AWG-KP) and the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under the Convention (AWG-LCA), and this hard work continued for most of the two weeks of the Copenhagen Conference.

21. You will agree that the outcome was disappointing and left a lot to be desired. The Conference only took note of this Accord. The G-77 and China has reiterated that the negotiating process for climate change should remain on the multilateral track of the UNFCCC. It must be inclusive and allow the participation of all countries. The G-77 and China also insisted that the Kyoto Protocol be preserved and that the principles of the Convention be adhered to in any future final outcome of the climate negotiations, and that the participation of all developing countries been ensured. I am confident that our Group will continue its participation with the same zeal in the forthcoming events leading up to Mexico.

22. In support to ongoing South-South initiatives, the Group of 77 held its first Ministerial Forum on Water in February of last year according to the mandate given by the Second South Summit and considering the successful outcome, we are strongly encouraged to undertaken activities to promote such cooperation among our countries. The Forum adopted the "Muscat Declaration on Water" which emphasized the need for developing countries to work together to strengthen strategic partnerships so as to contribute to the sharing of knowledge, innovation and transfer of technology for better access to improved water resources and sanitation.

23. Another important achievement that needs to be reported was the launching ceremony of the G-77 Consortium on Science, Technology, and Innovation for the South (COSTIS) on 4 November 2009 on the occasion of the World Science Forum held in Budapest (Hungary) in a strategic partnership with UNESCO. The Consortium was provided with the means to function as an institution that will promote science-driven economic development in developing countries, and develop South-South and North-South partnerships in the advance and application of science and technology in the South. In this context, we call on UNESCO to speed up the operationalization process of COSTIS during this year as mandate by our Ministers.

24. More recently, we were actively involved in the High-Level United Nations Conference on South-South Cooperation, pursuant to General Assembly resolutions 62/209 and 63/233. We seized this occasion to remind our development partners of the principles of South-South cooperation and we reaffirmed the importance of South-South cooperation as an expression of South-South solidarity and the promotion of two-way learning and cooperation based on true partnership for mutual development. We look forward to the follow-up and effective implementation of the Nairobi outcome document in order to realize the full potential of South-South cooperation.

Excellencies,

25. On other issues, the Group of 77 made its contributions felt in the continued debate on system-wide coherence, in full coordination with NAM through the Joint Coordination Committee (JCC), reaffirming the unique role of the United Nations as an inclusive forum to promote a better understanding of the social and economic impact of the financial crisis and fashion appropriate response. We emphasized the need for the achievement of the internationally agreed development goals including the MDGs to remain the over-aching framework of the development activities of the UN system.

26. The Group's success in the very difficult negations on the methodology for the scales of assessments and the Organization's biennial budget in the Fifth Committee of the General Assembly would not have been possible without the unity and solidarity of the entire membership of the G-77 and China, which stood firm to overcome many challenges and trying moments. The Group succeeded in rejecting any changes to the elements of the methodology for the preparation of the scale of assessments for the regular budget aimed at increasing the contributions of developing countries and reaffirmed that there is a clear difference between developed and developing countries when it comes to contributing to the budgets of peacekeeping operations. The Group upheld its long-standing position that the financial resources provided to the Organization must be commensurate with its legislative mandates.

27. In addition to the above preoccupations, the G77 and China actively and effectively participated in the relevant issues of the various General Assembly committees, from coordination of the resolution adopted by consensus today on "International Cooperation on humanitarian assistance on the field of natural disasters, from relief to development", and the field of information, to social issues, as well as legal and technical ones. The Chair was honored to represent the Group in different fora in and outside of New York.

Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

28. The past year was not only a busy one in terms of activities in the UN system, it was also a historic one in view of the commemoration of the 45th anniversary of our joint establishment with UNCTAD. This provided an excellent opportunity to renew the historic links between the Group of 77 and UNCTAD and the importance of forging closer institutional ties between the Group of 77 in New York and UNCTAD in order to further strengthen our strategic partnership for mutual cooperation and a common platform. We look forward to concrete steps being taken by the Secretary-General of UNCTAD in 2010 to give expression to this mutually beneficial partnership.

29. Meanwhile, we value and appreciate our strategic partnership with UNDP and remain fully supported and committed to its sustenance. We are confident that the Administrator of UNDP will not only continue supporting the work of the G-77 but also give serious consideration to addressing the issue of institutional and substantive support to better serve the increasing needs of the Group and the expanded responsibilities of our Secretariat. We appreciate the important role played by the Special Unit for South-South Cooperation and we hope that it will be adequately strengthened. In this regard, the Chair is grateful for the South-South Cooptation Award for the year 2009 recently bestowed upon him by the High-level Committee on South-South Cooperation to which our Group is committed to support.

30. As we conclude the Chairmanship of our Group for 2009, we must look with optimism and vigilance to a series of upcoming high-level event which the Group must seize to further its development agenda and strategic interests, these include the sixteenth session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the UN High-level event on the MDGs, the preparations for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, the Intergovernmental preparatory committee for the Fourth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, the High-level review meeting on the follow-up to and implementation of the Mauritius Strategy for the Further Implementation of the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States, the High-level Meeting to Mark the International Year of Biodiversity, and the long- awaited Third South Summit of the Group of 77.

31. I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to all delegations of the Group of 77 for their most valuable support over the past months. I am pleased to commend the excellent work done by the Secretariat of the Group, under the able leadership of our Executive Secretary Mr. Mourad Ahmia and his competent team. On this occasion I wish convey our appreciation for the publication of the Group's major achievements in a special three-volume set entitled "The Collected Documents of the Group of 77", edited by our Executive Secretary as a fitting occasion to mark the Group's 45th anniversary.