Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Ni sa bula vinaka

I welcome you all most warmly to this, the 1st G77 & China UNFCCC Coordination Meeting in 2013. I trust, for those of you, like me, who have travelled some distance to Bonn, that you have had a chance to rest before we commence the 2nd Session of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action (ADP2).

Excellencies,

On behalf of the peoples and the Government of Fiji, I would like to express how honoured we are to be your Chair for 2013. The gravity of responsibilities that accompanies this important role bequeaths us the humility and the honour to suggest and confirm that we will endeavour the best we could, to be worthy of the confidence you have entrusted to us as your Chair.

Distinguished Delegates,

May I on your behalf express the Group's sincere appreciation and thanks to Algeria, the former Chair of G77, for their sterling performance last year in leading the Group. Through Algeria's able Chairmanship, the Group of 77 and China in collaboration with other Groups in the UNFCCC process and all member states, adopted the "Doha Climate Gateway" which includes a set of Decisions that led to our assembly this morning. To the distinguished delegation of Algeria, please accept this as the expression of the Group's appreciation of your role.

Excellencies,

You do not need to be reminded of the COP decision which mandates the ADP to carry out its work as a matter of urgency, commencing from the first half of 2012 and to complete it as early as possible but no later than 2015, in order for the COP to adopt a protocol, legal instrument or agreed outcome with legal force at COP21, and for it to come into effect and be implemented from 2020. It is with this sense of urgency that we anticipate the Group to be conducting its business in 2013.

Distinguished Delegates,

You will recall that in their Informal Note of 4th April, 2013, in preparing us for this second ADP session, the Co- Chairs of the ADP outlined their goals for this April Meeting. While a substantial portion of our discussions today will be focusing on the Group's views on these goals, we are reminded also that in Doha, we decided that the ADP will need to move to a more focused mode of work during 2013.

The goal for this session is for the ADP to build on the broad, conceptual and scoping discussions carried out in 2012, and for us to engage in a more specific and detailed work on the core elements of the 2015 agreement and a practical and results-orientated approach to increasing pre-2020 ambition. As your Chair, we would with respect, be encouraging the Group towards this end.

Excellencies,

Specifically for the G77, let me assure you that under Fiji's Chairmanship, all of the Group's position will be safeguarded and protected. The Group will give guidance on all issues particularly those relating to our principled standing positions. In that spirit, I invite you to focus your attention on the Provisional Agenda.

You will see, under the Provisional Agenda Item 4, "ADP 2"- we propose that we focus our discussion on three (3) specific issues:

a. Process;
b. Substantive matters; and
c. Our Group discussion with the ADP Co- Chairs this afternoon.

I will be expanding on our discussions with the Co-Chairs a little later; however, The First is on "Process". Here, we would request delegates to express views on how you prefer to organise ourselves in the ADP Discussions for 2013 and beyond.

The Group is aware that in our meeting in Bangkok last year, we elected Mr Antonio Gabriel la Vina of the Philippines as the Group Coordinator for ADP. You are also cognisant of the fact that work in the ADP last year required very minimal coordination of the Group. However, for 2013, our work in the ADP will increase a notch both in process and substance. As such, it may be in the interest of the Group to consider the utility of identifying other volunteers to assist Tony as Group Coordinators for specific Thematic Items under ADP.

For instance, does the Group need a specific Coordinator for Work-stream 1? How about Work-stream 2? Would there be a need for the Group to identify Coordinators for issues like Mitigation, Adaptation, Means of Implementation, etc. We highlight this early, because as your Chair, we do not wish the Group playing a "catch up game" in this process. We would warmly welcome your views on this.

Distinguished Delegates,

The second issue requiring general discussions under Provisional Agenda Item 4 relates to more substantive matters.

You will recall that in Section 3 of the "ADP Provisional Agenda and Annotation"- Document FCCC/ADP/2013/1 deals with the "Implementation of all the elements of Decision 1/CP.17.

Paragraph 18 of that document states that the ADP invited Parties and accredited observer organizations to submit to the Secretariat, by 1 March 2013, information, views and proposals on matters related to the work of the ADP including mitigation, adaptation, finance, technology development and transfer, capacity-building, and transparency of action and support, addressing aspects such as the following:
 
(a) Application of the principles of the Convention;
(b) Building on the experiences and lessons learned from other processes under the Convention and from other multilateral processes, as appropriate;
(c) The scope, structure and design of the 2015 agreement;
(d) Ways of defining and reflecting enhanced action.

During this session, we are expected to advance our substantive discussion on these issues taking into account the round-table discussions and workshops held during the session.

Paragraph 24 (of the same Document) states that the ADP invited Parties and accredited observer organizations to submit to the Secretariat, by 1 March 2013, information, views and proposals on actions, initiatives and options to enhance ambition, including through the work plan on enhancing mitigation ambition, with a particular focus on 2013.

In their submissions on actions, initiatives and options to enhance ambition, Parties were encouraged to give consideration to the following aspects:

(a) Mitigation and adaptation benefits, including resilience to the impacts of climate change;
(b) Barriers and ways to overcome them, and incentives for actions;
(c) Finance, technology and capacity-building to support implementation.

During this Session, we are invited to initiate discussions in order to identify and explore options for a range of actions that can close the pre-2020 ambition gap, with a view to identifying further activities for its plan of work in 2014 and to advance our substantive discussions on these items.

Excellencies

I will be brutally frank with you, from the archives of G77, all our discussions on ADP, the Group's position to date can be summarised in six simple points as follows:

- The work under the Ad-hoc Working Group must be under the Convention and should be based on its principles and provisions related to commitments and responsibilities with regard to mitigation, adaptation and means of implementation;
- The process under the ADP must not lead to a reinterpretation or a rewriting of the Convention;
- The outcome of the ADP must be in accordance with the objective, principles and provisions stipulated in the Convention, including the principles of equity and common but differentiated responsibility and respective capabilities;
- The negotiations under the ADP must be a party driven process, and must be fully inclusive and transparent;
- The work in this Ad-hoc Working Group should lead to a balanced, ambitious, fair and equitable outcome under the Convention; and
- Progress depends on following a balanced approach that will include mitigation, adaptation and means of implementation, in accordance with the spirit of the Convention.

Distinguished Delegates,

You will agree with me, that while these Group positions set the general perimeters of our discussions, they are indeed insufficient for the Group to be engaging in any in-depth and meaningful contribution to the ADP debate at this stage.

The question I would like to respectfully pose to you as your Chair this morning is this: Do you want to engage more substantively and meaningfully as G77 in the ADP debate? Do the members of the largest inter-governmental negotiation block on the planet want to stand together as Group and negotiate for the sake of their future generations?

Excellencies,

Should you say "yes", I am proud and honoured to convey- that with your support- Fiji is ready and willing to sail along with you.

I invite you, let's get to work.

With those few remarks, let's consider the Provisional Agenda.

Thank You.