Mr. Chairman,

1. I have the honour to deliver this statement on behalf of the Group of 77 and China. Allow me at the outset to express sincere appreciations to the Government of The Peoples Republic of China for hosting this meeting, and for the Convention's Secretariat for organizing it.

Mr. Chairman,

2. The Group of 77 and China reiterates its serious concern with respect to the extremely slow progress of the AWG-KP in completing the essential tasks of its work programme. The primary objective of the AWG-KP, since the April session of last year, as was accorded in the Poznan Work Program, was to adopt conclusions on the scale of emissions reduction for Annex I Parties in aggregate and individual Annex I Party contributions to this aggregate scale; however, this work delayed up till now. Therefore, we appeal to Annex I parties to show the necessary political will and leadership in combating climate change and move step forward and accelerate the negotiations to set the scale of emission reduction in the light of the historical responsibility and equity and in accordance with science.

Mr. Chairman,

3. The Group believes that ambitious quantified emission reductions are needed for the second Kyoto commitment period. The continuity of the Kyoto Protocol is an essential element for any future of the climate change regime. We need to avoid a gap between commitment periods. Any gap between the first and second commitment periods would have serious implications. For this reason, we must deliver our work in Cancun, and we therefore need as much agreement as possible at Tianjin. The definition of new quantified emission reduction commitments for Annex I parties under the KP is a legal obligation that must be met and is fundamental success of the Cancún outcome as a whole. In this regard, the group insists and will not compromise on the requirement of the second commitment period by annex I parties. The group will not compromise also on the basic principles of the climate change regime, as well as, on the interests of developing countries. The G77 believes that at this session we should be able to reach agreement on a five-year commitment period, with a single, legally binding base year of 1990.

Mr. Chairman,

4. We must focus on the amendment of Annex B and the definition of Annex I Parties' commitment. Time is short and it is now more urgent than ever that we progress as quickly as possible to quantified emission limitation and reduction commitments for Annex I Parties. Failure to do so would send a negative signal regarding the readiness of Annex I parties to take forward their legal obligations under the Protocol, and their readiness to contribute to a strong climate change regime. It is imperative to strengthen the global effort to address the challenge of climate change.

5. Because we need both balance and ambition to strengthen the global effort in climate change, there is an urgent need to make real and timely progress in fulfillment of the legal obligations of Annex I parties under the KP negotiation process. The insufficient level of ambition expressed in the current mitigation pledges of Annex I parties is an obstacle we must overcome, for it is blocking significant progress in our negotiation as a
whole both in the AWG-KP and AWG-LCA.

6. We have every confidence that our partners will soon show the real leadership urgently needed, in order to ensure that the AWG-KP delivers the results of its work pursuant to decision 1/CMP.1 for adoption by the CMP at its sixth session.

Mr. Chairman,

7. Finally, The Group of 77 and China would also like to appeal to all Parties, particularly Annex I Parties, to use the actual text as the basis for negotiations in order to build a strong Kyoto Protocol.

I thank you.