Mr. Facilitator,

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. You can count on the constructive engagement of the G77 and China.

2. I will now sum up the view of the Group regarding the issues that you suggested in the letter of 17 of February.

I. Relationship between the ECOSOC and other organs

3. In order to improve the effectiveness of ECOSOC, the G77 and China fully supports the strengthening of the relationship between ECOSOC, General Assembly, its subsidiary organs and the Peace Building Commission (PBC).

4. On the relationship with the General Assembly, there is room for improvement and we would like to stress that some efforts need to be done for coherence in that relationship. Though the fact that some issues seems to be dealt at the same time in the General Assembly and in the ECOSOC, the G77 and China considers that - without overlapping - there is a necessity to reiterate items, having a parallel treatment, particularly in Second Committee discussions.

5. With the subsidiary organs, programmes and the funds, we believe that the ECOSOC could hold more joint session and coordination meetings. We could for example have a two day Resumed Session of ECOSOC to discuss these issues, something similar to a "small Substantial Session".

6. We need additional meetings with the organs and the GA and promote closer coordinated and coherence action in all the socio-economic agenda, including the relationship with other organs of the UN system which have an operative mandate.

7. Regarding the relationship of the ECOSOC with the Peacebuilding Commission, we consider that this is a crucial organ in the overall efforts to strengthen the United Nations in the work of helping countries emerging from conflict. Consequently, we stress the need of having more coordination meetings in a flexible format, having regular interactive dialogues. Moreover, the Chair of the PBC could give regular briefing on the peace building situation in the countries on the agenda of the commission to the ECOSOC on regular basis.

II. The Specialized High-Level Meeting with the Bretton Woods Institutions, the World Trade Organization, and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development

Mr. Facilitator,

8. The G77 and China is worried that the ECOSOC Spring Meeting was losing its importance and influence over the last years.

9. We face several difficulties regarding the setting of the meeting. On the first place, the level of representation is not high enough. We need to improve the engagement both from delegations in New York (at Permanent Representative Level) and from the WTO, BWIs and UNCTAD representatives.

10. Second, to exchange views and have an intergovernmental discussion, we need more representation - especially by the WTO - in terms of national delegates, not only the Secretariat. We are aware that it would not be easy to bring the Permanent Representatives from Geneva to New York, but it is worth a try.

11. Third, regarding the meeting format, we believe that it is too early to propose significant changes. Nevertheless several suggestions can be made on this issue:

a) We need to have a more interactive dialogue. Nevertheless, we consider that it is important to maintain a balance between the opening session and the thematic debates. The opening session is important and the major stakeholders should be there. So, if we have no statements on the opening session we are preventing our senior officials from capital to attend.
b) On the interactivity of the format; the idea is that the speakers would present their ideas on the issues and then the delegations would give our reactions. We can explore the possibility of having thematic round tables with less attendance of national delegates and with representation of all the organizations invited: BWIs, UNCTAD and WTO.
c) We have to assure that the presentations of the panelists were relevant on the specific topics of the thematic debates, and that we could have at the same time the views of all the major stakeholders in each theme.
d) In order to improve the substantive discussion, we could ask the panelists to circulate their written presentation in advance.

12. Fourth, we believe that there is a space to improve the follow-up mechanisms, for example: a) we can explore the review of the implementation - by the BWIs, UNCTAD and WTO - of its commitments on major UN Conferences; b) the bureau could promote the agenda of the thematic debates the whole year; and c) we could ask the Secretariat to issue a report on what happened in the last session of the ECOSOC Spring Meeting.

13. On the other hand, with the intention of influencing on the BWIs Spring Meeting in Washington, the President of ECOSOC could present a summary and a letter highlighting the results of the ECOSOC Spring Meeting.

III. Methods of work of the ECOSOC

14. The G77 and China considers that we could explore the possibility of the ECOSOC having a stronger role in the Substantive Session in oversight the report of the Chief Executive Board.

15. Besides, there should be additional information for the Member States of the Council at the beginning of the year. In this regard, having the documents on time is very important, so we could propose the implementation of a system of early warning in order to inform the Members about the documents that are going to come in the ECOSOC sessions.

16. Regarding the bureau of ECOSOC, the Group believes that it is important for the new members of the bureau - before taking over - to have a briefing on rules of procedure and a list containing the principal decisions that have to be approved in that particular year. Besides, in order to share their experience, we emphasize the relevance of having a meeting with the members of the outgoing bureau.

IV. Other Matters

16. Regarding the coordination of the work of the ECOSOC with the broader UN agenda, the G77 and China considers that it is very difficult to have an improvement on the mechanism of follow-up of major UN Conferences, with the actual format of only one Substantive Session annually. For that reason, it could be convenient to have discussions on substantive issues on the Resumed Session of ECOSOC.

17. It is important to improve the common citizen knowledge on ECOSOC work, and to involve the parliamentarians in the discussions of the Council.

18. There is no mandate to follow-up the many commitments made during the annual event on philanthropy. In that regard, the ECOSOC could explore the possibility of having some monitoring mechanism of those commitments.

Mr. Facilitator,

19. Additionally, it could be feasible to explore the relationship of the ECOSOC with other interested actors. The G77 and China believes that it is important that the ECOSOC has a strengthened role inside and outside of the UN.

I thank you, Mr. Facilitator.