Madam Deputy Secretary-General,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

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

I would like to thank the DSG Mrs. Amina Mohamed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, for her briefing and for convening this meeting.

We would like to extend our appreciation to you and your team for the interactive discussions we have had during these last months and for the information you have provided so far. As we have indicated during the first plenary meeting, during this QCPR cycle, despite some advances, development activities have not received the same attention and resources from the international community as other matters. The UN Development System continues to face a worrisome trend of a decline in the volume and quality of funding the UNDS entities receive to enable their agility, effectiveness and support to programme countries' needs and priorities.

This situation has affected the Resident Coordinator system as well. The Group reiterates that we cannot expect the system to operate and deliver the type of service we require with inadequate resources. In this regard, the Group of G77 and China reiterates the importance of providing the adequate tools to the United Nations Development System and its Resident Coordinator system, in particular the necessary funding to deliver better in support of the needs and priorities of programme countries.

The Group also underscores the importance of preserving and utilizing the strengthened capacities of the reinvigorated RC system for coherent and effective responses by UNDS system, reducing support to developing countries because of the reduction for the funding is not an option. We should be reversing the trend.

We need to have a serious discussion about the overall underfunding of the development pillar. Why is it easier to fund other pillars and activities that do not provide lasting and structural solutions to problems we know are deeply rooted in the fact that we fail to address the traditional and fundamental development problems. We reiterate that funding development activities must be a top priority.

On governance and oversight, the Group reiterates that the General Assembly and its appropriate committees must remain the place where these crucially important matters must be handled as it has the inputs of all the UN Membership. The oversight of the RC system must be exercised by General Assembly and ECOSOC, each within its mandate. The QCPR resolution in 2024 will be an opportunity to address these areas.

The Group would like to emphasize that we do not need to establish additional oversight mechanisms or steering committee to do oversight, this will lead to duplications and may not serve the overall purpose of ensuring the RC system's accountability towards all program-countries.

To conclude, the Group reiterates that will continue to engage constructively in future discussions.

Thank you.