Mr. President,

1. I have the honour to deliver this statement on behalf of the Group of 77 and China in respect of the Evaluation of UNDP's contribution to South-South and triangular cooperation and the management response thereto.

2. The G77 and China is cognisant of the importance of the reports of the Evaluation office, particularly as their recommendations should contribute to the draft Strategic Plan currently under consideration and consequently on the global, regional and national programmes of the UNDP. The Group appreciates UNDP's commitment to providing the UN Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) "the policy space, institutional infrastructure and financial and operational support" to enable it to carry out the full responsibilities in promoting and facilitating South-South and triangular cooperation on a global and UN system-wide basis as mandated by the General Assembly.

3. The G77 and China notes that the current evaluation report on South-South cooperation contains the same recommendation as the previous evaluation report of 2007 with regard to the need to develop collaborative arrangements between UNDP and the Office of South-South cooperation. This recommendation coincides with that made in the JIU report on South South cooperation. The Group urges UNDP to implement this recommendation at the earliest opportunity, including through clear operational guidelines and mechanisms to support South-South cooperation at regional and country levels, with clear lines of reporting and accountability. Such collaborative arrangements should also be the subject of a decision of the High Level Committee and should be reflected in UNDP's strategic plan.

4. The G77 and China wishes to reiterate that the Office of South-South Cooperation, housed by the UNDP, is tasked with promoting and facilitating South-South and triangular cooperation for development on a global and United Nations system-wide basis. It cannot be the focal point for UNDP alone on South-South cooperation since its role is wider than the UNDP's role on South-South cooperation. Moreover, its reporting structure is outside of the UNDP.

5. The G77 and China does not agree with the evaluation report where it recommends that UNDP creates a home for South South Cooperation within its structures. Such an office could duplicate the work of the Office of South-South Cooperation and what is needed is for UNDP in order to consider South-South cooperation as a modality across all its programmes, rather than work through a silo approach which an additional office would risk creating. The Group would like to make sure that UNDP is only appointing a focal point to be responsible for its own work on South-South cooperation, as repeatedly requested by the UN General Assembly to all UN organizations, specialized agencies, funds and programmes, including regional commissions.

6. As recommended in the evaluation report, and also in the report of the JIU on South-South cooperation, strengthening the collaboration with the OSSC to allow it to function effectively in this role will require additional resources - not just for the administration of the Office but to allow it to promote South-South cooperation in consultation with programme countries. As stated in the Evaluation report in paragraphs 40, 83 and 84, a re-examination of the existing division of labour and responsibility between UNDP and the Office is needed to improve coordination and synergy. The Office has a broad mandate and a thin resource endowment, both human and financial, and requires further institutional strengthening as has been called frequently by Member States.

7. It came to the Group's attention recently that the UNOSSC cannot be invited to participate in meetings of the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB) because it is represented by UNDP. The Group believes that the UNOSSC, as a separate and independent entity, should be enabled to participate in the CEB and other UN system-wide task forces, teams and similar mechanisms to be established in the future in keeping with its status as a separate entity within the UN for global coordination and promotion of South-South and triangular cooperation for development on United Nations system-wide basis in accordance with UN General Assembly resolutions. The UNOSSC was noticeably absent from the composition of the UN System Task Team on the Post-2015 UN Development Agenda, which the UN Secretary-General established to support UN system-wide preparations for the Post-2015 UN Development Agenda. The Group of 77 and China will pursue the issue to ensure that the UNOSSC is empowered to participate independently in the work of such system-wide coordination mechanisms.

Mr. President,

8. The report notes the gap in how South-South cooperation is promoted and advocated at higher levels of the organization, and its practical functional integration into programming. The report further concludes that there is no clear evidence of long term sustainability of South-South initiatives supported by UNDP. Addressing these two issues across the organization would prevent the perception of a reactive, fragmented and ad hoc approach on South-South cooperation by UNDP, as has been indicated in the Evaluation Report. The Group underscores that the fundamental contribution of UNDP to South-South cooperation lies in its comparative advantage for support to South-South cooperation through its global presence at country level, and that this is where the UNDP's focus on South-South cooperation in a sustainable manner should lie.

I thank you, Mr. President.