Mr. President,

I have the honour to introduce, on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, the draft resolution on the "Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2011-2020", contained in document A/65/L.75, under Agenda item 23 (a).

The Group would like to expresses its profound gratitude to the Government and the people of the Republic of Turkey for hosting the Fourth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries in Istanbul from 9 to 13 May 2011, and for providing all the necessary support for the successful conclusion of the meeting.

Mr. President,

It is our intention that the General Assembly endorses the Istanbul Declaration and the Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2011-2020 adopted by the Fourth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries, in order to reduce poverty and promote growth and sustainable development.

We also would like to call upon all the relevant stakeholders to commit to implementing the Programme of Action. Particularly, it is important to highlight the crucial role of the developed countries as "development partners" in implementing the Istanbul Programme of Action, investing in physical and human capital. The United Nations system, including the Bretton Woods institutions, other multilateral institutions and regional development banks are also called upon to support the LDCs in these efforts.

In that regard, we must bear in mind that the success of the new Programme of Action highly depends on the LDCs taking the ownership and leadership role in making and implementing effectively the relevant policy choices, each according to its own conditions and requirements, with the enhanced, predictable, definite and targeted support of the development partners.

Guided by the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities of developing and developed countries and by the spirit of solidarity, we -as developing countries- feel proud of being able to support this Programme of Action through South-South Cooperation. In that sense we would like to highlight the united efforts of developing countries in supporting each other, despite their own social and economic difficulties.

Mr. President,

The Group reiterates, once more, its strong support to LDCs and hopes that the Istanbul Programme of Action will give place to a strengthened partnership aimed at overcoming multiple development challenges being faced by LDCs, to support them in eradicating poverty and integrating beneficially into the global economy.

For those reasons, the G77 and China hopes that this draft resolution would be adopted by acclamation during this session.

I thank you.