Mr. Co-Chairpersons,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the Group of 77 and China.

1. First of all, I would like to congratulate you on your appointment as Co-Chairpersons of the eleventh meeting of the United Nations Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and the Law of the Sea (ICP). The Group of 77 and China assures the Co-Chairpersons of its support as they undertake to lead the ICP in its work for this session. We are confident in their ability to lead us to a successful outcome.

2. I would also like to thank the Secretary-General for the initial reporting material on capacity-building in ocean affairs and the law of the sea, including marine science.

Mr. Co-Chairpersons,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,

3. The Group of 77 and China has been supportive of the ICP as a process established by the General Assembly in 1999 to facilitate its annual review, in an effective and constructive manner, of developments in ocean affairs and the law of the sea.

4. The Group of 77 and China recalls that the General Assembly decided, in paragraph 193 of resolution 64/71, that the consultative process at its eleventh meeting would focus its discussions on the topic: "Capacity-building in ocean affairs and the law of the sea, including marine science". In this regard, the Group welcomes the opportunity to focus on this issue as it is of great importance to developing countries.

5. The need for capacity-building and assistance to developing States was identified in most of the ICP meetings. Since this need still exists and has in some cases become even greater, it is hoped that discussions at the current meeting, under the theme of "Capacity-building in ocean affairs and the law of the sea, including marine science", will examine the issue at length and in depth. To achieve inclusive deliberations, the Co Chairpersons are urged to ensure the participation of panelists from developing countries since their presence will result in comprehensive discussions and reflect the perspectives of developing countries on this topic, including sustainable development. The G-77 and China is committed to suggest to the Co-Chairpersons panelists from developing countries that could participate in the ICP.

Mr. Co-Chairpersons,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,
        
6. The Group of 77 and China considered the framework for discussion proposed by the Co-Chairpersons of this year's United Nations Open-ended Informal Consultative Process on Oceans and Law of the Sea and would like to make some comments on Annex C, item 3: Draft areas of concentration for the discussion panel on "Capacity-building in ocean affairs and the law of the sea, including marine science".

7. The title of the first panel segment, paragraph 3(a), seems not to reflect with accuracy the objective of this topic of the ICP. We believe that, knowing that the need for capacity building exists, the aspect in which we should focus on is "assessing". To that end, the G77 and China proposes:

A. to add the word Assessing to the beginning of para. 3(a), so the title would be read as follows "Assessing the need for capacity-building in ocean affairs and the law of the sea, including marine science".

B. to replace the word highlight, in para. 3(a) bullet 2, with the word assess.

8. In addition, the Group has concerns about referring to a specific issue, such as climate change, in the description of the first panel discussion segment. We prefer a more general reference that would enable us to touch upon all the aspects in which capacity building is necessary. Therefore, we propose the deletion of the expression "climate change" so as to maintain a general reference.

9. In the same paragraph, Co-Chairpersons, we would prefer specificity as to what "legal regime" we are referring to. We propose, thus, to replace the expression "of the legal regime" by "of the law of the sea".

10. Secondly, the transfer of technology (TT) is critical to capacity-building, in particular in what relates to marine science, as TT is the most important tool for building capacity in the sphere of science. We believe that TT has to be addressed when dealing with capacity building in marine science. Therefore, the Group proposes the addition of "in the context of transfer of technology" to the end of the titles of the second and third panel segments, paragraphs 3(b) and 3(c) respectively.

Mr. Co-Chairpersons,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,

11. On the organization and the structure of the agenda, the draft agenda could be better balanced.

12. When we deal with a review of capacity building activities we would like a panelist from the International Seabed Authority (ISA) to describe the ongoing capacity building programs of the Authority. This would be beneficial for promoting the participation of developing countries with a view to building their capacity.

13. ISA plays an important role in strengthening capacity-building activities in the field of marine scientific research, in particular in developing countries. This includes, among others, training personnel to develop and enhance relevant expertise, particularly through the mechanism of the ISA Endowment Fund for Marine Scientific Research in the Area which was established on 16 August 2006. The Endowment Fund aims to promote and encourage the conduct of marine scientific research in the Area for the benefit of mankind as a whole, by supporting the participation of qualified scientists and technical personnel from developing countries in international cooperative marine scientific research programs and capacity building through training and technical assistance.

14. At the same time, having seen at the last negotiations of the LOS resolution that the Amerasinghe Fellowship for the Law of the Sea could not be awarded for the last 3 years due to lack of funds, we propose that officers from DOALOS take part in the first panel (on existing activities…) to enlighten as to the purposes of the Fellowship. This in turn could encourage States to make contributions to the Trust Fund.

Mr. Co-Chairpersons,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,

15. As we are all aware, in addition to North-South cooperation, which is still very important, South-South cooperation is a rising and dynamic phenomenon, an important process that is vital to confront the challenges faced by developing countries in all fields, including oceans and the law of the sea, and an increasingly complementary contribution to their development. There is consensus that development cooperation must be result-oriented and demand-driven. We believe that South-South cooperation has a good record on that, including in issues related to oceans and law of the sea. The sharing of good practices on these issues is a vital component of that good record.

16. In this context, the G77 and China believes that the theme of the eleventh meeting of the ICP provides a valuable opportunity to explore and promote South-South cooperation. To that end, the Group is of the view that South-South cooperation should be addressed by a panelist during the ICP meeting under "new approaches", so as to highlight the initiatives of enhancement of capacities between developing countries in areas related to oceans and the law of the sea, to identify new opportunities for South-South cooperation, as well as to ascertain areas where support for South-South cooperation will have the greatest impact. The Group of 77 and China is ready to coordinate and provide panelists and topics for this item.

Mr. Co-Chair,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,

17. There are also other important issues which need our attention. The G77 and China considered the time schedule elaborated in Annex-B of the Co-Chairpersons' letter. On the basis of our previous experience, the Group is of the view that time provided for "consideration of the outcome of the meeting" can be compressed to one plenary session on Friday afternoon and to allocate the morning plenary session for presentations on South-South cooperation and ISA activities in capacity-building as mentioned above. We also need to dedicate some time to deliberate on the selection of topics by means of a transparent and inclusive process that will facilitate the debate within the consultations of the General Assembly in the fall.
 
18. In conclusion, it is expected that the Consultative Process shall henceforth advocate more pragmatic approaches for the enhancement of the coordination and implementation of ocean affairs-related activities in developing countries, most of whom need to enhance capacities as a condition for sustainable development.

19. Finally, I would like to reiterate our best wishes for the success of your work and I assure you of the full cooperation of the G-77 and China during the process.

Thank you.