Co-Chairs,

1. I have the honour to deliver this statement on behalf of the Group of 77 and China.

2. The Group of 77 wishes to thank you for convening this informal briefing on the program of work of the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals (OWG SDG). We also want to acknowledge the revised work program provided to us two days ago.

Co-Chairs,

3. The Group is 77 is appreciative of the inclusion of a conceptual discussion in the April session of the OWG. As we design the parameters and contents of the work program, it is critically important to allow all members to identify priority issues through a mapping exercise. In this regard, the Group of 77 is of the view that members should have more time to identify and discuss the issues. The involvement of panelists in the April session should therefore be limited with the objective of value adding to assist members to achieve greater clarity in the conceptual debate. The Group also considers that the work program should not be rigid but provide reasonable flexibility to allow the inclusion of emerging issues as discussion progresses in the OWG.

4. On the periodicity of OWG meetings, the Group of 77 reiterates its preference to have five-day meetings taking place every second month. This arrangement is more financially and logistically feasible for most developing countries to engage the participation of capital-based officials.

Co-Chairs,

5. On the content of the work program, the Group of 77 believes that the categorization of cross-cutting issues or the clustering of issues should be identified by members and be guided by the principles affirmed in the Rio+20 outcome document as well as the need to balance the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. It is of concern that some of the Rio+20 Summit themes are not included in this revised program while others have been reflected differently. For example, while the revised work program attempts to address issues relating to the economic dimension of sustainable development, the Group wishes to include structural and systemic issues pertaining to governance, economic and financial stability.

6. It is also of concern to the Group that the manner in which the interlinkages are made between the different themes might not serve the larger objectives of this exercise. For example, energy as a thematic area cannot be solely interlinked to the themes of sustainable cities and sustainable transport as reflected in the work program. Similarly, when discussing desertification, and land degradation there might be other thematic areas that are closely linked to these issues and should be looked at. Therefore, the Group of 77 requests the reformulation of themes to reflect those inter-linkages.

7. The Group of 77 reiterates the fundamental importance for the SDGs to build upon the MDGs. As we focus our attention on the SDGs, it is necessary that we also examine the inter-linkages of the MDGs and the SDGs in the greater context of the post-2015 development framework.
Co-Chairs,

8. The Group has held the view that it is imperative for the success of the SDGs that the means of implementation must be an integral component of the process. It is essential to underscore the importance of having synergy in the work program between the OWG on SDGs with the Working Group on Financing for sustainable development. In this regard, it is crucial to have a means of implementation for every cluster of issues in order to quantify the instruments of achieving the SDGs.

9. In conclusion, the Group of 77 and China wishes assure the co-chairs of its support and readiness to play a constructive role in the work of this Open Working Group on the SDGs.

Thank you.