Mr. Chairman,

1. I have the honor to deliver this statement on behalf of the G77 and China.

2. Allow me at the outset to congratulate you and the members of the Bureau on your election to steer the work of this important Committee during the 66th session of the General Assembly. The Group of 77 and China is confident that through your wise leadership, our deliberations and negotiations will be fruitful.

Mr. Chairman,

3. It has to be noted that while growth has been resilient in some developing countries, it remains lower than pre-crisis levels in most other developing countries. The majority of developing countries is still confronted by numerous shared and common problems and great challenges such as extreme poverty, global food crisis and continued food insecurity, high levels of unemployment, external debt burden, insufficient financial aid and the negative effects of climate change. The crisis has affected developing countries, not only in economic terms, but also on social development, leading to a major loss of jobs and difficulties faced by governments to finance social programmes. In addition, the aggravation of barriers to trade as well as finance and anti-crisis measures adopted by some developed countries have undermined the capacity of our countries to effectively compete al global level. The aggregate impact has contributed to the difficulty of developing countries to address poverty or to provide basic amenities. All of this threatens the attainment of the internationally agreed development goals including the Millennium Development Goals.

4. Strong and sustainable growth is critical for developing countries to meet the internationally agreed development goals including the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). We reaffirm the urgent need for an effective response to the current economic crisis which requires timely implementation of existing aid commitments by developed countries. A strengthened United Nations framework for enhancing coordination and complementarities should be at the centre of efforts to bridge this gap, building consensus on efficient and effective solutions for global economic, social and environmental issues.

5. In this context, we consider that the global financial and economic crisis is not over and the recovery process has been seriously threatened by new circumstances that clearly show its continuity. The systemic problems facing the global economy have to be resolved, including through the full accomplishment of the reform of the global financial system and architecture.

Mr. Chairman,

6. We call for an integrated and more systemic approach towards sustainable development and look forward to place this call high on the agenda of the Second Committee. Our commitment to sustainable development and the eradication of poverty are overriding priorities for developing countries. In this context, we would like to reiterate our concern about overconsumption and other development patterns that are unsustainable in developed countries and urge them to take the lead adopting more sustainable patterns of production and consumption.

7. The G77 and China looks forward to the convening of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), Rio+20, in Brazil in 2012. We believe that Rio+20 and its preparatory process offer an important opportunity to secure political commitment for sustainable development and to assess the progress and the remaining gaps in the implementation of the outcomes of the major summits on sustainable development. In our view, this exercise will show the failures so far and how to move forward focusing on implementation, avoiding the repetition of mistakes and paving the way for sustainable development.

8. We reiterate our commitment to the success of the Conference, in accordance with the Rio Principles, Agenda 21, the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation and the outcomes of the major Conferences in the field of sustainable development. We also emphasize our belief that the multilateral arena needs to give a multilateral response, based on international cooperation from developed countries, to the outstanding as well as the new and emerging issues.

9. Climate change, one of the most serious global challenges of our times, threatens not only our development prospects but also the very existence of many societies; we believe that the international community, particularly the developed countries, given their historical responsibility, need to address it within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and with a second commitment period in its Kyoto Protocol (KP), the primary international, intergovernmental forum for negotiating the global response to climate change. This would only be consummated by adhering to the provisions and principles of the Convention, particularly the basis of equity in accordance with the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities. We recall that an appropriate response to this challenge should address mainly the roots of the problem and not the consequences alone. We reiterate the need for enhanced and urgent actions in the provision of financial resources and investments to support actions on mitigation, adaptation and technology transfer to developing countries. In this regard, the G77 and China calls for the full operationalization of the Standing Committee of the Financial Mechanism of the Convention, the Technology Mechanism and the Adaptation Committee in the next Conference of the Parties to be held in Durban, South Africa.

10. We reiterate also that Parties included in Annex II of the Convention should intensify their efforts aimed at fulfilling their commitments on the provision of adequate, predictable, new and additional financial resources, enhancing technology development and transfer, meeting costs of adaptation, and strengthening capacity building in developing country Parties in accordance with articles 4, paragraphs 3, 4, and 5 of the Convention. The historical imbalance in financing to the detriment of adaptation must be redressed, and adaptation financing be treated in an equal manner as for mitigation.

11. Desertification, land degradation drought, dust and sand-storm also represent a serious concern for developing countries, as emphasized by the recent High Level Meeting held at the General Assembly. International action is therefore urgently required to address these challenges. The Group of 77 and China attaches great importance to the UNCCD because desertification, land degradation and drought (DLDD) corrode the three pillars of sustainable development. Addressing DLDD enables countries to deal with several global policy challenges such as food security, adaptation to climate change and forced migration.

12. G-77 and China recalls that the multilateral framework of the Convention on Desertification requires international cooperation and that the application of the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities demands that developed countries provide new, additional, predictable and stable finance, transfer of technology and capacity building for the implementation of actions on the ground.

Mr. Chairman,

13. The G77 and China believes that global governance should be addressed within the context of a fair and inclusive globalization supported by strengthened multilateralism. Achieving more sustainable and balanced global growth will require close coordination of macroeconomic policy decisions with other areas of global governance, including those related to the multilateral trading system; aid architecture; external debt, poverty eradication and sustainable development, including climate change. In this regard, international financial institutions need a more coherent, representative, responsive, development oriented and accountable governance, reflecting the realities of the twenty-first century.

14. The status of international trade negotiations remains an issue that this Committee needs to discuss. We reiterate the call to the developed countries to demonstrate the flexibility and political will necessary for breaking the current impasse in the negotiations with a view to concluding the Doha Round this year and achieving an early, balanced, successful and development oriented outcome that addresses the needs and priorities of developing countries as its highest priority.

15. We also expressed full support to the thirteenth session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD XIII), scheduled in Doha, Qatar from 21 to 26 April 2011. Its theme, "Development-centered globalization: Towards inclusive and sustainable growth and development", is timely and relevant for the economic challenges facing all countries. We urge all members and other international organizations in the United Nations system to provide the fullest support and cooperation to the preparatory process and the deliberations at the Conference, and look forward to concrete and successful outcomes.

16. Regarding the Financing for Development process, we would like to reaffirm that Official Development Assistance (ODA) remains essential as a catalyst for development, facilitating the achievement of national development objectives, including the MDGs. The global financial and economic crisis cannot be an excuse to avoid existing aid commitments by developed countries. An effective response to the ongoing economic crisis requires timely implementation of existing aid commitments and an urgent and unavoidable need for donors to fulfill them.

17. The G77 and China deems it critical to strengthen the concepts of national ownership and leadership of their development process and policy space. We reiterate that developing countries should have the required policy space to formulate their development strategies in keeping with national development policies, strategies and priorities to reflect the particular circumstances of each country.

18. We reiterate our position that South-South cooperation is a complement to, rather than substitute for, North-South cooperation and reaffirm that South-South cooperation is a collective endeavor of developing countries based on principle of solidarity and premises, conditions and objectives that are specific to the historic and political context of developing countries and to their needs and expectations. In this context, we emphasize that South-South cooperation deserves its own separate and independent promotion as reaffirmed in the Nairobi Outcome Document of the United Nations Conference on South-South Cooperation held in Nairobi, Kenya in 2009.

19. Moreover, we reaffirm the importance of strengthening South-South Cooperation especially in the current international economic environment and reiterate our support for South-South Cooperation as a strategy to sustain the development efforts of developing countries and also as a means of enhancing our participation in the global economy.

Mr. Chairman,

20. The G77 and China stresses on the special vulnerabilities, structural handicaps and needs of the least developed countries, particularly in the face of new and emerging challenges. The least developed countries are lagging behind in their development endeavours, including meeting many of the MDG targets. In this regard, we call for full, timely and effective integration and implementation of the Istanbul Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2011-2020 with the aim of enabling at least half of the least developed countries to meet graduation criteria by 2020 through a renewed and strengthened partnership for development.

21. The G77 reiterates that middle-income countries, still face significant challenges in their efforts to achieve the internationally agreed development goals, including the MDGs, and, in that regard we call for enhanced international support for the development efforts of middle-income developing countries, including through technical assistance, the promotion of new partnerships and cooperation arrangements, including bilateral arrangements, the provision of resources, the transfer technology and the creation of capacity-building, while taking into account their national priorities and development policies

Mr. Chairman,

22. The G77 and China will continue to call for the need to remove obstacles impeding peoples living under foreign occupation from achieving sustainable development, as such circumstances continue to adversely affect their economic and social development and are incompatible with the dignity of the human person. Illegal actions committed under foreign occupation continue to cause socio-economic and humanitarian hardship, including destruction of properties, infraestractuture and agricultural lands, which deliberately undermine development. Those actions must be brought to a complete halt in accordance with relevant provisions of the international humanitarian law.

23. Finally, Mr. Chairman, the G77 and China is committed to working closely with you and our partners in this 66th Session of the General Assembly with a view to devising action-oriented resolutions and decisions, in a timely and effective manner.

I thank you.