Chair,

I have the honour to deliver this statement on behalf of the Group of G77 and China.

The Group is deeply concerned by the persistent challenges to global poverty eradication. According to the Secretary-General's report (A/80/154), 808 million people are living in extreme poverty this year, up from 692 million last year. This alarming reversal underscores the urgent need for renewed global commitment and coordinated action to accelerate progress toward the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The Group emphasizes the need for targeted, inclusive, and evidence-based policies to eradicate poverty in all its forms. Social protection systems, including universal health coverage and quality education, remain critical to ensuring that no one is left behind.

To achieve these goals, developing countries need adequate fiscal space, and the Group reiterates the call on the international community to mobilize financial resources, strengthen international cooperation, and fulfill ODA commitments, noting with concern that ODA fell by 7.1 per cent in real terms from 2023. We also call for increased foreign investment, concessional finance, and long-term development funding.

The Group expresses deep concern that 28 per cent of the global population, or 2.3 billion people, are moderately or severely food-insecure in 2024, and that the prevalence of food insecurity has remained unchanged for four consecutive years. Equally troubling, around 150 million children under five are stunted, while multiple forms of malnutrition continue to rise worldwide.

The Group reaffirms that agriculture remains a central pillar of sustainable development, poverty eradication, and economic growth, particularly in developing countries. Strengthening agricultural resilience and adaptation to climate change is vital to protecting food production, livelihoods, and development gains.

With the midpoint of the 2030 Agenda now behind us, we must intensify collective efforts to ensure food security and improved nutrition for all. In this regard, The Group reaffirms the Sevilla Commitment, which calls for renewed global financing for development, particularly to address food insecurity and malnutrition and to invest strategically in agrifood systems in developing countries.

The Group welcomes the extension of the United Nations Decade of Action on Nutrition, aligning it with the 2030 Agenda and maintaining political momentum to end malnutrition in all its forms by 2030.

The Group calls for enhanced international cooperation, solidarity, capacity-building, technology transfer, and innovation in agriculture, food security, and nutrition. Special attention must be given to rural areas, where poverty remains disproportionately high, by promoting sustainable agricultural practices, rural infrastructure, and market access for all farmers.

The Group reaffirms the transformative impact of the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty and the importance of joining global efforts to address the common challenges of food security, nutrition and social development.

The Group also underscores the importance of a universal, rules-based, open, non-discriminatory, and equitable multilateral trading system under the World Trade Organization, which is essential for agricultural development, food security, and nutrition. We must ensure stable global supply chains and reject unilateral and protectionist measures that undermine development.

I thank you.