STATEMENT ON BEHALF OF THE GROUP OF 77 AND CHINA BY MR. ABDULLAH ALI FADHEL AL-SAADI, DEPUTY PERMANENT REPERSENTATIVE OF THE REPUBLIC OF YEMEN TO THE UNITED NATIONS, ON AGENDA ITEM 9: REPORT OF THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL; AND AGENDA ITEM 13: INTEGRATED AND COORDINATED IMPLEMENTATION OF AND FOLLOW-UP TO THE OUTCOMES OF THE MAJOR UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCES AND SUMMITS IN THE ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND RELATED FIELDS, IN THE PLENARY OF THE 65TH SESSION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY (New York, 20 October 2010)

Mr. President,

1. On behalf of the Group of 77 and China, I wish to thank the Secretary-General for the report contained in document A/65/84, and welcome the Report of the Economic and Social Council for 2010 in document A/65/3.

2. Indeed, 2010 has been another critically eventful year. The Group would like, at the beginning, to recognize the dynamic leadership of the President of the Council, H. E. Ambassador Hamidon Ali, and his Bureau in guiding the work of the Council in 2010. His leadership brought an innovative spirit and invigorated the work of the Council during this year. Our gratitude goes also to all the facilitators of draft resolutions for their tireless efforts.

Mr. President,

3. The High-level Plenary Meeting on the Millennium Development Goals, held from 20 to 22 September 2010, has offered an opportunity to renew commitments, rally support and spur collective action to reach the MDGs by 2015. At the summit, it was clearly demonstrated that there is an urgent need to scale up the global partnership for development to mobilize additional resources to address the remaining gaps, and the continuing challenges facing the developing countries. We consider the outcome document of the Summit to be a plan of action that demands immediate implementation. Likewise, we stress the need for an annual review of this plan of action within the UN system to make the achievement of the MDGs a reality by 2015.

4. The annual Spring meeting of the ECOSOC with the Bretton Woods Institutions, the World Trade Organisation and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development has provided us with the opportunity to review and strengthen the relationship between the UN and the BWIs, as set out in the Monterrey Consensus by pursuing a constructive and conducive debate with them in order to find ways and means to remedy the world financial and economic crisis.

5. During that meeting the Group reiterated its call for the governing structures of the BWIs to be reformed, insuring the promotion of fair and equitable representation by developing countries and improving transparency and credibility and the appointment of senior leadership of BWIs through transparent and merit-based selection process. We have also emphasized the urgent need for the mobilization of adequate resources at the national level as well as new and additional resources to developing countries from all available funding mechanisms, including multilateral, bilateral and private sources, for the implementation of actions and measures towards overcoming the impact of the current crisis.

6. The Group stresses once again that the United Nations is the only global body with universal membership and unquestioned legitimacy and is, therefore, well positioned to address global economic governance with the objective of reaching sustainable and socially balanced economic development. It is critical that member states commit to the United Nations processes, multilateralism and its underlying values in order to fulfill its role in global economic governance.

Mr. President,

7. Another important event was the high-level segment on the Development Cooperation Forum, a principal forum for global dialogue and policy review on international development cooperation. The DCF could be an appropriate high-level forum that allows a broader participation of key actors and promotes an effective dialogue among them. Our focus this year was at 3 levels: (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.

8. The Group of 77 and China is of the view 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.

9. The 2010 Substantive Session of ECOSOC marked the first full cycle of implementation of the new intergovernmental follow-up mechanism of the financing for development process, adopted last year. We were therefore pleased by the adoption, by consensus, of the resolution entitled "Follow-up to the International Conference on Financing for Development and the 2008 Review Conference".

10. The high-level segment of the Economic and Social Council also focused on the implementation of the internationally agreed goals and commitments on gender equality and the empowerment of women. This segment provided us with a timely opportunity to assess the progress made, share experience and lessons learned and find appropriate ways to overcome remaining obstacles and challenges to the gender issue. In this regard, the Group welcomes the establishment of a new United Nations entity on gender equality and the empowerment of women (UN Women) and pledges its full support to its operationalization. We hope that this new entity will strengthen the United Nations' ability to support the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women in the world.

Mr. President,

11. This year's coordination segment of the Council allowed us to focus on the implementation of existing mandates on coordination. We have lengthily discussed the role of the UN in implementing the ministerial declaration of last year's high-level segment of ECOSOC, which dealt with implementing the internationally agreed goals and commitments with regard to global public health. Our discussion provided a useful contribution to the MDG Review Summit, which was held last month.

12. The humanitarian affairs segment of the Council offered a valuable opportunity to discuss the challenges, obstacles and lessons learned related to the strengthening of the coordination of emergency humanitarian assistance of the United Nations. The humanitarian challenges resulting from complex emergencies and natural disasters continue to increase especially in developing countries. Moreover, these challenges have been compounded by the negative impact of the global economic and financial crisis, world food crises and continuing food insecurity, energy crises and the challenges posed by climate change. The Group reaffirms the urgent need to redouble our efforts to address these challenges.

13. Given the fact that this year marks the end of the decade of the Brussels Programme of Action, the Group expresses its concerns at the uneven and insufficient progress in achieving the targets and implementation of the Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2001-2010, especially with respect to alleviating poverty, combating hunger, achieving gender equality and reducing maternal mortality, among others. We, therefore, reiterate our call for enhanced productive capacity of LDCs, particularly in the agriculture sector, and for greater investment in physical infrastructure and technological development.

14. The UN operational activities segment constitutes one critical element fundamental to strengthening the development pillar of the United Nations. The Group reiterates the need for a strengthened global partnership for development, based on the recognition of national leadership and ownership of development strategies which should be a guiding principle of UN operational activities at the country level.

Mr. President,

15. Among other agreements reached this year by the Council was the resolution entitled "Recovering from the World Financial and Economic Crisis: a Global Jobs Pact". The resolution reaffirms that employment creation is essential to recovery efforts; and recognizes that the Global Jobs Pact is an important instrument to promote job-intensive growth. We are pleased by the progress registered in that regard by ILO and UNDP and we encourage other UN system entities to work towards meeting the objectives of the United Nations Second Decade for Poverty Eradication whose theme is Decent Work and Full Employment for All.

16. In conclusion, let me stress once again that the Group of 77 and China welcomes the new format of the ECOSOC High-level Meeting with the BWIs, UNCTAD and WTO since it represents a clear improvement with relation to our past experience with the financing for development process. We particularly welcome the participation of the President of ECOSOC in the Spring Meetings of the BWIs, and hope this practice can be regularized and expanded in the future.

I thank you.