Mr. Chairman,

1. I have the honor to speak on behalf of the Group of 77 and China. Allow me to once again express the gratitude of the Group to our generous host for their hospitality and for making this excellent environment available to our work.

2. The Group of 77 and China has come to Durban with a positive spirit and the resolve to work intensely to make this African Climate Change Summit a success and a definite step forward in the protection and preservation of the climate system.

Mr. Chairman,

3. The Group of 77 and China believes that the world is looking to Durban for an outcome that ensures the fulfillment of the ultimate objective of the Convention, that is to say, "the stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system" , in full accordance with its principles and commitments.

4. The Group of 77 and China trusts that we will be able to achieve in Durban an outcome that is comprehensive and balanced, enabling the full, effective and sustained implementation of the Convention through long-term cooperative action now, up to and beyond 2012, pursuant to the results of the thirteenth and sixteenth sessions of the Conference of the Parties, addressing both implementation tasks and issues that are still to be concluded.

5. The outcome must necessarily be under all the principles under the Convention including equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, as well as the precautionary principle.

6. In our view, such a result must fully respect the Convention and the Kyoto Protocol, the two-track negotiation as mandated by the Bali Roadmap, and rendering operational Dec.1/CP.16.

Mr. Chairman,

7. The negotiations in this Working Group have seen some important progress in our recent meeting in Panama, and the Group believes we must continue to build on the existing momentum.

8. Nevertheless, the Group is convinced that, in order to lead us to a successful outcome, such progress in our work must ensure even treatment of issues, and decisive leadership is needed to ensure that all CRPs coming from the parties are being discussed and the issues in the agenda are addressed meaningfully and receive a fair and equal treatment. A serious imbalance in the progress of issues can clearly not be conducive to a successful outcome that is comprehensive and balanced.

Mr. Chairman,

9. This Group highlights the importance of mitigation as part of a balanced and ambitious outcome in Durban. We recall that the appropriate treatment of the issue as determined in the Bali Roadmap demands a decision here in Durban, on the adoption, of the second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol and significant and ambitious efforts must be done in this regard.

10. Furthermore, the second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol must be the basis for comparable Annex I emission reduction commitments of Non Kyoto Protocol Parties.

11. We also expect to be able to address other important issues in this context, such as ways to enhance the mitigation ambition of Annex I commitments, as well as the tasks necessary to operationalize the Cancun decisions including the setting up of the registry for support for developing country mitigation actions.

12. New responsibilities as per Cancun decision, such as measurement, reporting and verification of NAMAs should be accompanied with clear indications on the amount and timing of financial resources that have to be provided to developing countries, as clearly stated as obligations of developed countries in paragraph 52 of decision 1.CP/16.

13. In Panama, the level of engagement in mitigation was positive specially in 1b(i) and 1b(ii), but insufficient in others, in this connection, the Group reiterates the need for balance, both within mitigation and between mitigation and other building blocks, including adaptation and financing.

14. The Group of 77 and China emphasizes the importance of the issue of economic and social consequences of response measures for all developing countries, and therefore, the need to give full consideration under the AWG-LCA to what actions are necessary to meet the specific needs and concerns of developing countries arising from the impact of the implementation of response measures taken by developed country Parties. In this respect, the Group expects that developed countries engage constructively on this issue in order to have negotiating text to forward for adoption by the COP.

15. On adaptation, the G77 and China strongly believes that the Cancun Adaptation Framework was one of the main achievements of COP16 in the pursue of a long overdue balance in the treatment between mitigation and adaptation. Furthermore, the provisions included in the Adaptation Framework have been incorporated in order to have a coherent approach to adaptation under the Convention. In that sense, the establishment of the Adaptation Committee has been a priority to the Group. We welcome the progress made during this year to define the modalities, composition and procedures of the Committee, and we look forward to constructively engage at this session for its operationalization as soon as possible, keeping in mind the importance of creating the proper linkages to other institutional arrangements, in particular to the operating entities of the financial mechanism, as well as to others adaptation related arrangements that are being discussed under the SBI.

16. On the composition of the Governance body of the Adaptation Committee, we reiterate that it should have a majority of members representing countries of the G77 and China, taking into account that developing countries are the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

17. As we stated in Panama, we are ready to work on the draft negotiating texts on the very important issue of finance, the Standing Committee and Long-term finance, both crucial enabling means of implementation for developing countries. It is clear that without financing, including for technology development and transfer and capacity building, the extent to which developing country Parties will be able to effectively implement their commitment under the Convention will be directly affected. We trust that Parties will continue to engage in a constructive spirit that allows us in Durban to achieve concrete results.

18. On the same issue, we believe that the role of the Standing Committee is of paramount importance and a decision must be adopted at this COP to fully perform its mandate to assist the COP in exercising its functions with respect to the financial mechanism of the Convention.

19. The linkages between the Standing Committee and the COP as well as standing committee functions, in particular, the measurement, reporting and verification of support provided to developing country Parties for the preparation and implementation of NAMAS and its reporting, among others, should further be explored and defined.

20. The G77 and China believes that the main source for long-term finance should be developed countries public funds, so as to ensure the adequacy and predictability of new and additional finance to meet mitigation and adaptation costs, and to redress the historical imbalance in financing for adaptation. Long-term finance should include the initial capitalization of the Green Climate Fund to become operational here in Durban.

21. There is also a need to address the gap in financing between the end of the period for fast-track finance, 2012, which is upon us, and the period when long-term finance should start.

22. On the development and transfer of technologies, the G77 and China recognizes the work done by the Technology Executive Committee in its first and only meeting it had so far. However, in order to fully implement the Technology Mechanism established in Cancun, we deem of utmost importance to define here in Durban the governance structure of the mechanism; a structure where the TEC should serve as the linking body between the COP and the Climate Technology Center and Network (CTC N) to give coherence with other institutional arrangements under the Convention.

23. We expect next year the TEC can meet as often as necessary and have enough time and resources to develop and implement a program of work that fulfill its functions that were adopted by the COP in Cancun.

In short, Mr. Chairman,

24. You can continue to count with our full support and collaboration as you lead us in this final resumed session. The process is a challenging one, but there is much to gain if all parties can continue to find ways to have agreements and to work positively and constructively.

Thank you.