1. I have the honour to deliver this statement on behalf of the Member States of the Group of 77 and China. I would like to thank Ms. Nobuko horibe, for her presentation on UNFPA Country programmes and Related Matters.

2. Mr. President, the Group of 77 and China, would like to support the draft country programme of Cambodia, China, and Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the extension programme of Iran, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Pakistan and Vietnam.

3. Mr. President, Executive Boards are forums, where Members are expected to guide the agencies in their work about the technical aspects of the country programmes. Any politically motivated criticism of the domestic policies of the programme countries, by Board Members leads to unnecessary politicization of the development work of UN and its agencies as well its Executive Boards. We emphasize that all the issues should be discussed at the appropriate forums.

4. The overarching principle of UN operational activities is national ownership and leadership of the process, its products and results by the programme countries. We reiterate our position that UN development assistance, particularly its operational activities should not be politicized and should be carried out on the principle of national ownership. This, we believe, is essential to respect the sovereignty of the programme countries and to preserve the neutrality of the funds and programmes.

Thank you.