Mr. President,

1. On behalf of the Group of 77 and China, it is a privilege and pleasure to address the II Development Cooperation Forum.

2. Mr. President our group attaches great importance to the Development Cooperation Forum, as a principal forum for global dialogue and policy review on international development cooperation. We consider that the DCF could be an appropriate high level forum that allows a broader participation of key actors and promotes an effective dialogue among them.

3. The G77 strongly believes that the United Nations have a central and leading role to play to enhance international cooperation and to address international problems of economic and financial character.

4. The present situation is compounded by the ongoing, financial and economic crisis, which pose new challenges for development. It has reversed development gains in developing countries and seriously undermined the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. Moreover, developing countries as a whole continue to experience a net outflow of financial resources, which also has a tremendous impact on their capacity to mobilize resources to achieve MDGs. In this regard, the G77 and China believes that, now more than ever, the DCF should focus on priority issues for action that are based on practical outcomes and can lead to concrete results.

5. The three areas in where we will focus this year: (i) mutual accountability and aid transparency; (ii) South-South and triangular cooperation; and (iii) aid policy coherence with a view to moving from aid to more long-term sources of development financing, should be thoroughly discussed.

6. The G77 and China considers that the mobilization of adequate resources to developing countries from all available funding mechanisms, including multilateral, bilateral and private sources, is critical for the implementation of actions and measures towards overcoming the impact of the current crisis and to achieve development. It is essential that the international community provides more permanent and stable, predictable, concessional, conditionality free financial resources for developing countries, particularly the most vulnerable and least developed among them.
 
7. We consider that it is imperative that the developed countries fulfill their commitments in order to support national efforts towards the achievements of the development goals.

8. South-South cooperation is an expression of South-South solidarity that had proven its relevance by a rapid growth. It is a rising and dynamic phenomenon, an important process that is vital to confront the challenges faced by the developing countries, making an increasingly important contribution to their development. It is also clear that South-South cooperation cannot, and should not, replace North-South cooperation. As our Group has emphasized on many occasions, the North has an obligation, both in their own national interest, but also in the interest of global harmony and equity and development, to fulfill their commitments through North-South cooperation.

9. We would like to reiterate the importance and the contribution of South-South cooperation in meeting important development challenges and objectives. However, in order to realize the great potential of South-South cooperation, we need to strengthen the UN, as a democratic organization, where all countries big and small can express their views and defend their interests and where programmes and specialized agencies should be guided by south south principles towards the achievement of development.

10. The Secretary General's report on trends and progress in international development cooperation (E/2010/93) offers an interesting overview on these areas and some recommendations on how to enhance both the quantity and quality of development cooperation that the Group is still considering.

11. However, we believe that the Development Cooperation Forum should not be diverted to specific agendas pursued outside the United Nations framework. The best ways and means of enhancing international development cooperation, as well as the principles that should be applied in that regard should be discussed and decided by all Member States, in an inclusive and transparent manner, and drawing from a very wide range of experiences and practices.

Mr. President,

12. Finally, we would like to reiterate our strong commitment to work constructively in the discussions ahead.

I Thank you.