Mr. President,

1. I have the honour to speak on behalf of the Group of 77 and China. I would like to thank you for convening these informal consultations on the review of the implementation of resolution 61/16 of the General Assembly on the strengthening of the Economic and Social Council.

2. At the outset, we would like to commend the tireless efforts of H.E. Ambassador Octavio Errázuriz, Permanent Representative of Chile, who has been appointed to serve as facilitator by the President of the General Assembly and who has led consultations on this important process.

3. In this regard, we believe that the Development Cooperation Forum (DCF) should, together with the Annual Ministerial Review (AMR), enable the ECOSOC to:

i) Conduct a comprehensive review of the status and developments in international development cooperation with a view to developing integrated policy responses and identifying and addressing key gaps and challenges;
ii) Strengthen linkages between the analytical, normative and operational work of the entire UN system and other relevant organizations;
iii) Promote closer linkage between system-wide operational activities and the implementation of Internationally Agreed Development Goals (IADGs), including MDGs;
iv) Promote exchange of information on best practices and develop innovative approaches to development problems and challenges.

4. In that context, it has to be noted that the AMR is designed to review the progress in implementation of the entire range of the IADGs, including the MDGs, and to provide policy guidance for Member States, international organizations and other actors. On the other hand, the DCF is designed to focus on international development cooperation in all its aspects and improve its governance, effectiveness and impact to enhance the agreed development goals.

5. Therefore, we consider that the DCF should become the main international forum to discuss cooperation policies. In that regard, we consider that the Forum should continue to promote high-level participation and broad interaction among all stakeholders and allow for an effective dialogue among them. Then, while maintaining the current segment structure of the substantive session of the ECOSOC and preserving the distinct identity of the DCF, we believe that the Forum could gain more visibility, including through improving its advocacy, promoting high-level participation.

6. Taking into account the impact of the ongoing financial and economic crisis on the quantity and quality of development financing of the cooperation, we believe that the DCF should work on further prioritizing issues for action that are based on practical outcomes and can lead to concrete results.

It is essential that the international community provides more permanent and stable, predictable, concessional, conditionality free financial resources for developing countries, particularly to the most vulnerable and least developed among them.

7. The overall purpose of the DCF should be to ensure that:

i) The trend and progress in international development cooperation are duly reviewed, with gaps and obstacles identified, to make sure that development cooperation is responsive to the needs of the developing countries, as set out in their national development plans and strategies and to their efforts to achieve the IADGs and MDGs;
ii) the quantity and quality of development financing is adequate and appropriate to the needs of the recipient countries;
iii) development cooperation achieves the desired objectives and results;
iv) Such cooperation is pursued in a coordinated and coherent manner at the international level.

8. In this sense, Mr. President, we also believe that the effectiveness and relevance of the DCF will depend to a large extent on the ability to follow up on the discussion conducted therein. The DCF can be improved if we give continuity to its work establishing a mechanism of follow-up for the topics discussed in the Forum.

We would advocate for the fulfillment of internationally agreed commitments and benchmarks to measure the implementation of development cooperation. This can and should be done within the DCF, not in other mechanisms established outside the UN framework.

9. Mr. President, we could explore some mechanism for having the Forum on a more frequent basis.

Nevertheless, the issue of the frequency of the DCF meetings has to be discussed on a broader basis, taking into account that if the meetings will take place in Geneva and New York, the developing countries, especially the LDCs, could face several difficulties in terms of human and financial resources to fully participate in its sessions.

10. Regarding the topics that could be included in the DCF agenda, we believe that the Development Cooperation Forum should not be diverted to specific agendas pursued outside the United Nations framework. Therefore, the G77 and China wants to focus on the areas most critical to the attainment of the MDGs.

We also believe in the value of exploring the possibility of having a negotiated document.

11. Regarding the AMR, the G77 and China believes that it is important that the mechanism of national presentations remains voluntary. Nevertheless, the Group would like to invite the developed partners to take advantage of the opportunities that the presentations give to share approaches and specific topics.

The effectiveness of the AMR will also depend considerably on the dissemination of best practices presented there.

12. Additionally, in order to advance the level of representation in the Review, the Group would like to highlight the relevance of deepening the preparatory process on the topics to be discussed, particularly at regional level, though the appropriate involvement of the Regional Commissions.

13. In conclusion, Mr. President, we believe that the review of the implementation of the resolution 61/16 could be an opportunity to improve the relationship between the DCF and the AMR in order to strengthen the Economic and Social Council.

I thank you.