Mr. Chairman,

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

2. I would like to thank the Secretary-General for his reports under this agenda item focusing on globalisation and interdependence.

Mr. Chairman,

3. Economic globalisation is a worldwide phenomenon wherein countries' economic situations come to depend significantly on other countries. It is a global phenomenon that primarily involve the financial and economic aspects of a nation, but its interdependent nature will almost inevitably affect a country's lawmaking system and cultural identity.

4. Economic globalisation presents both opportunities and challenges. If managed properly, it can provide development opportunities as well as spread advanced technologies, foreign capital and management experience to all corners of the world. However, economic globalisation should not be based on a model centred upon the values of unregulated trade and markets, and the expanded business horizons without taking into account the development dimensions. Rather, economic globalisation should be shaped ensure benefits are shared by everyone, facilitated by an inclusive multilateral system.

5. The United Nations, given its unquestioned legitimacy, serves as an inclusive forum on development and globalisation. The UN should further promote multilateral coordination, coherence and accountability within the system to ensure proper functioning of its institutional framework for the review and follow up in the General Assembly, ECOSOC and the newly created High-level Political Forum. The UN should also promote greater coordination and interaction with relevant international financial and economic institutions to ensure coherence with the UN development agenda, particularly in the post-2015 era.

Mr. Chairman,

6. The fast pace of globalisation in recent years has been facilitated by the rapid developments in science, technology and innovation (STI), including information and communication technologies. The Group of 77 recognizes the vital role that science and technology, including environmentally sound technologies, can play in development and in facilitating efforts to confront global challenges. These challenges include eradicating poverty, achieving food security, fighting diseases, improving education, protecting the environment, accelerating the pace of economic diversification and transformation, and improving productivity and competitiveness.

7. The Group is concerned, however, that many developing countries lack affordable access to technology, particularly information and communications technologies and that for the majority of the poor, the promise of science and technology remains unfulfilled. We therefore stress the need for developing countries to benefit from technological advances and enhance their productive capacity, and the to build and support innovation capacity in developing countries to enable the development, adoption and dissemination of technology. Technology transfer is an important catalyst to effectively harness technology for sustainable development through bridging the technology and digital divide. The establishment of the technology facilitation mechanism could be a step in the right direction in assisting developing countries to bridge the technology gap.

Mr. Chairman,

8. The Group recognizes that culture is an essential component of human development. It represents a source of identity, innovation and creativity for the individual and the community and is an important factor in social inclusion and poverty eradication, providing for sustainable economic growth and ownership of development processes. We acknowledge that cultural diversity is an important source of enrichment for humankind and a significant contribution to the sustainable development of local communities, peoples and nations, empowering them to play an active and unique role in development initiatives. We also believe the important linkages between cultural and biological diversity and the positive contribution of local and indigenous traditional knowledge in addressing environmental challenges in a sustainable manner.

9. The 2013 ECOSOC Annual Ministerial Review and the thematic debate on culture and development in June this year highlighted the contribution of culture in the development discourse. We urge the UN system to keep to this momentum and consider further initiatives to enhance UN system-wide policies and actions in this field.

Mr. Chairman,

10. Middle income countries (MICs) constitute 74% of the world's population and contribute approximately 45% of world gross product in recent years. We welcome the positive contributions of MICs, particularly their efforts in eradicating poverty.

11. While the classification of MICs based on per capita income captures significant dimensions of development, it also provides an incomplete picture that masks significant disparities between and within countries. Economic growth or GDP alone is also not a good indicator of welfare or even a realisable measure of standards of living. This is because economies can grow without addressing social problems like inequality and poverty if all the increase in wealth goes to a few people. It is also true that economic growth can occur within a country while income inequality among its citizens deteriorates. We also know that as GDP increases, resource use and environmental damage increase even faster, with such consequences as global warming and climate change.

12. The Group of 77 and China is cognizant of special challenges facing the MICs, which include widespread poverty; inequality in income; growing environmental pollution and degradation; social constraints; public health challenges and the urgent need to create employment and decent jobs for their growing populations. In this regard, the Group believes that the MICs should continue to receive development assistance from the UN system and that the assistance provided to them should be improved in many dimensions, while ensuring that such assistance does not crowd out or negatively affect the development agenda of the less developed countries.

I thank you, Mr. Chairman.