Draft rules of procedure for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in 2012

STATEMENT ON BEHALF OF THE GROUP OF 77 AND CHINA ON THE DRAFT RULES OF PROCEDURE FOR THE UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN 2012, AT THE FIRST PREPARATORY COMMITTEE MEETING OF THE UN CONFERENCE ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT (New York, 19 May 2010)

Mr. Co-Chair,

1. I have the honor to deliver these remarks on behalf of G-77 and China regarding the Contact Group on Rules of Procedure. G-77 would like to express its appreciation for the efforts made by the members of the Bureau of PrepCom in guiding this Contact Group.

2. The G-77 and China would like to reiterate its commitment to the success of the Preparatory Process and to UNCSD. We would like, therefore, to express our deep disappointment with the manner in which our concerns were addressed during the discussions in the Contact Group´s morning session. In this exercise, the entire membership should be guided by Article 2.1 of the UN Charter, the principle of sovereign equality of its members. The G77 and China approached these discussions in the Contact Group in an open, constructive and transparent manner, guided by the Resolution A/RES/64/236, which states that the PrepCom should discuss procedural matters.

3. The G77 and China came prepared and willing to speed discussion with proposals on the whole document and a legitimate legal question, to which it needed a clear answer. This question was not reflected on the document nor did it get a response to. The G77 and China inquired as to the legal status of the European Union within the United Nations and the rules of procedure of its bodies.

4. Nevertheless, the Group expressed its willingness to proceed with the discussion of the document, so as to report on the status of the debate to the next PrepCom.

5. The G77 and China calls for the bracketing of the entire document, as contained in A/CONF.216/PC/4 and to resume the discussions during the next session of PrepCom. The G77 and China also expect that its concerns are duly reflected in the Final Report of this session.

6. Finally, Mr. Co-Chair, while the G77 and China wishes to reaffirm its commitment to the success of the UNCSD and a constructive dialogue to that end, it wishes to stress that at no stage of this negotiation process will it be in a position to accept any imposition that derails the process of building consensus.

I thank you.