The 39th Annual Meeting of Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the Group of 77+China took place at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on 24 September 2015. Statements from the meeting appear below.

Remarks by Ms Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation and Chair of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the G77+China

After the immense misery and social disintegration as a result of the Second World War, the establishment of the United Nations provided nations the means to foster peace, build democracy and create a just society on a global scale. The creation of the organisation was also a pathway for the independence of many of the members of this Group. 70 years after its establishment, we should use this occasion to evaluate the UN’s history and its many achievements and challenges and assess its effectiveness in addressing the specific interests and needs of developing countries.

The future of developing countries lies in a strong and robust multilateral system, based on the principles of international law. We must secure the restructuring of international political and economic systems in order to rectify the inherent asymmetries of power. This would safeguard developing countries, which make up the majority of countries across the globe, having a voice in global governance.

The Group of 77 and China has made notable contributions over the years to the effective functioning of the United Nations. As the largest grouping of States within the UN system, the Group of 77 and China, has played a fundamental role in crafting international economic policies and relations, narrowing the gap between developing and developed countries. The Group has also been a major actor in developing initiatives to advance development and international economic cooperation among developing countries. The Group can therefore legitimately claim a large part of the credit for advancing the interest of marginalised people of the world within the UN system.

Today’s meeting provides us with an opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to the continuing validity and relevance of the objectives and principles of our Group. In this regard, this meeting will adopt a declaration that will include strategies of action underpinning and supporting the processes in which we have been involved during the past year and in which we remain involved.

During the past nine months, we have witnessed the finalisation of the negotiations on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The outcome document that the Summit will adopt build on the Millennium Development Goals and covers all three dimensions of sustainable development. This global development agenda recognises and responds to the triple challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment that most of us continue to face.

It has been our Group’s active engagement of the negotiation process that has ensured that the key interests of developing countries are reflected in the outcome document.

The realisation of the new Agenda will only be achieved if the Global Partnership focuses on adequate means of implementation as identified under Goal 17 and under each individual goal. It is imperative that the follow-up and review process for the goals should also focus on whether the means of implementation have been achieved and whether developed countries have kept to their commitments.

Of major importance in the outcome document is the inclusion of the Principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities (CBDR) which recognises our different national realities, capacities and levels of development and respects our national policies and priorities.

Another major achievement has been the reference to the right to development; and, removing the obstacles to the full realisation of the right of self-determination of people living under colonial and foreign occupation.

The 3rd International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD3) resulted in the adoption of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda.

While the Addis Agenda emphasises the importance of financing for development, it is disappointing that there is little in the way of new funds to fill the existing development financing gap. Developed countries merely repeat their 45-year-old commitment to allocate 0.7% of their Gross National Income (GNI) to Official Development Assistance (ODA). The problem is that only a handful of developed countries have ever met this target.

South Africa welcomes the work carried out by the Ad Hoc Committee on Debt Restructuring Processes. South Africa, within the Group of 77 and China, will continue considering improved approaches to restructuring sovereign debt, taking into account the newly adopted Basic Principles and work carried out by the international financial institutions, in accordance with their respective mandates.

The 10th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) will be held for the first time in Africa, in Nairobi, Kenya this December.  South Africa urges the international community to work tirelessly to conclude the Doha Development Round of negotiations and give priority to issues that address the imbalances and inequities of the current global trading system by agreeing on legally binding outcomes that will allow developing countries to effectively engage in equitable global trade.

In December at the upcoming Paris Climate Conference, we hope to adopt a new legal agreement which we are currently negotiating under the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action.

It is important that this multilateral process on climate change be respected and lead to the adoption of an ambitious and fair agreement in Paris. This agreement should serve our twin objectives of ensuring environmental integrity, whilst protecting the development space of developing countries. To be successful, the new legal agreement must be fair.

Fairness would imply respect for the Convention’s principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities (CBDR&RC). There should be differentiation between the actions required of developed and developing countries based on different capacities and historical responsibility for climate change. Respect for CBDR&RC also means the provision of the financial and other support from developed countries that developing countries require to enable them to undertake their best efforts to address the climate challenge.

The new legal agreement must accord adaptation the same priority as mitigation. Since adaptation is a global responsibility, we should call for the adoption of a global goal on adaptation.

Means of Implementation and support for developing countries (public sector finance, technology transfer and capacity building) will be of central importance to the Paris outcome.

Developed countries should commit to a goal of jointly mobilising US$ 100 billion per year by 2020 to address the needs of developing countries. Funds provided to developing country Parties may come from a wide variety of sources, public and private, bilateral and multilateral, including alternative sources.

A significant share of new multilateral funding for adaptation should flow through the Green Climate Fund.

It is essential that existing commitments covering the pre-2020 period are honoured and that the second commitment period to the Kyoto Protocol comes into force preferably before COP21/CMP11. The new legal agreement covering the post-2020 period will have limited credibility if there is insufficient action in the pre-2020 period.

The 70th anniversary of the UN is also an opportune time for us to evaluate and discuss ways in which to strengthen South-South cooperation. South-South cooperation remains important for strengthening the economic independence of countries of the South and is not a substitute, but rather a complement to North-South cooperation.

We should also look at ways in which we could strengthen the institutions of the Group of 77 and China. We must ensure that the Secretariat of the Group is adequately funded to ensure that it carries out the Group’s objectives in an effective and efficient manner. Similar support should also be extended to institutions that promote and contribute to the unity and solidarity of the Group, including the South Centre, in order to be our power houses for service delivery, knowledge sharing, information, professionalism and excellence.

During this session, we will approve both the biennial budget for 2016-2017 and the scales of assessment. The Group should continue to stress that the level of resources approved by the General Assembly must match the increase in mandates and activities approved by Member States. It is essential that arbitrary cost-cutting not be used as an excuse to shift funding from developing country programmes to the detriment of the South.

In conclusion, and in view of our ongoing endeavours for a fair and just world, the Group of 77 and China should remain involved and relevant in all multilateral processes, specifically at this important juncture when the international community is considering our collective development aspirations beyond 2015. From our own experience, it is clearly evident that the G77 is most powerful when it is most united. Let us harness the diversity of our group to fortify our unity.

I thank you.

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Statement by Helen Clark, Chair of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

It is a pleasure to address this Ministerial Meeting of the Group of 77 and China. I thank the Permanent Representative of South Africa for his leadership and his work with the United Nations in New York.

Can I take this opportunity to wish the people of South Africa a happy Heritage Day today – a day established in recognition of the diverse cultural heritage of the country.

A new era for sustainable development: Agenda 2030

As the UN marks its 70th anniversary this year, Member States are also launching a new era for sustainable development.

“Transforming our world: the 2030 agenda for sustainable development” is due to be adopted tomorrow. This new agenda is bold, ambitious, and visionary, and will guide our work together for the next generation. At its centre is the urgent task of eradicating poverty.

The process of formulating and adopting the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) has been inclusive and participatory. G77 and China has played a central and crucial role, as the Group does in all the work of the United Nations through its commitment to multilateralism and to finding enduring solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges.

As attention now turns to implementation of the sustainable development agenda, ever deeper engagement of the Global South is essential. UNDP stands ready to support implementation of the SDGs, at national request and in line with national priorities.

Eradicating poverty is a necessary condition for sustainable development. Thus it is important that the integrated nature of the 2030 Agenda directs us to the root causes of poverty. That means addressing vulnerability and exclusion, and providing opportunities for all. In supporting the new agenda, UNDP will also focus on reducing risks from shocks, on rapid and effective recovery from conflict, and on helping countries to prepare for and deal with the consequences of climate change and natural disasters.

Our support for the implementation of the new agenda will be based on an approach we are calling “MAPS” – Mainstreaming, Acceleration, and Policy Support:

• First, under mainstreaming, we will, at national request, work with countries to reflect and incorporate the SDGs into national development plans, policies, and budgets. This work is already underway in a number of countries.

• Second, we will support countries to accelerate progress on SDG targets they have identified as priorities for action. Here we will draw on our experience with the MDG Acceleration Framework, which over the past five years has helped many countries to remove bottlenecks and accelerate progress on lagging targets.

• Third, the policy expertise of the whole UN development system will be available to governments as they pursue integrated policy solutions to sustainable development challenges.UNDP is committed to working with the Group of 77 and China to meet the aspirations of the new development agenda. We will be guided by our mandate, and strengthened by our universal presence, our extensive knowledge network, and our role as co-ordinator of the UN development system. We can contribute to the design and implementation of the kinds of integrated solutions so urgently needed for sustainable development.

Financing the new agenda requires big partnerships

The financing requirements for achieving the internationally agreed development goals and meeting national aspirations are large. All sources of finance – domestic and international, public and private – must be drawn on. The different sources of finance need to complement and reinforce each other.

The Addis Ababa Action Agenda, agreed in July, updated the financing for development framework, set important priorities for investment, and agreed on new mechanisms to finance technology and infrastructure needs.

The Addis Agenda rightly highlights the vital and continued need for Official Development Assistance (ODA), and for its more catalytic use to build national capacities for domestic resource mobilization. UNDP will continue to advocate for this.

ODA remains particularly vital for many countries, especially for LDCs, LLDCs, SIDS, and other countries in special development situations.UNDP will continue to prioritize support for the poorest and most vulnerable countries. In 2014, ninety per cent of our core programme resource was allocated to low-income countries, and 74 per cent to LDCs.

UNDP will continue to support countries to secure the resources they need to pursue development, manage risk, and build resilience to shocks.

Our ability to do all this and more, as effectively as possible, depends on a strong base of core funding.

That is why we have launched the ‘100 Partners’ campaign, to expand the number of contributors to our core budget from 56 Member States last year to one hundred by 2017. This is also important for reinforcing UNDP’s universal and multilateral character: it is not financially or politically sustainable to rely on just fifteen partners for 97 per cent of our Core funding.

We therefore greatly value the core budget contributions we receive from a number of G77 and China members. I invite all members of the Group to support the campaign, and to consider whether they can make a core contribution from 2016. A more diverse funding base will add great impetus to our work to advance human and sustainable development.

South-South Co-operation vital to the new global agenda

South-South Co-operation has become a vital source of innovation, knowledge, expertise, and solutions in tackling development challenges. It will play a central role in implementation of the new global agenda – not as a substitute for, but as a complement to traditional North-South ODA.

G77 and China itself is illustrative of South-South Co-operation at work – bringing together a diverse array of Southern perspectives for collective decision making. UNDP recognizes and values the importance of South-South Co-operation which the G77 helps to promote and foster.

UNDP has made South-South and Triangular Co-operation central to its work, placing it at the heart of our Strategic Plan for 2014-17. Our global and regional programmes prioritise support for South-South and Triangular Co-operation, which are fully integrated in guidelines for our Country Programme Documents.

A centerpiece of UNDP support is its hosting of the UN Office for South-South Co-operation. The Office plays a lead role in strengthening system-wide efforts on SSC. UNDP highly values its hosting role, which works in synergy with its broader role as a knowledge broker, a builder of capacity, and a facilitator of exchanges among developing countries.

50th Ministerial & Conclusion

Next year UNDP turns 50. Our five decades of development practice in over 170 countries and territories have had a lasting impact around the world. Yet, there is much more to be done.

We will be hosting a high-level Ministerial Meeting on February 24 next year to mark UNDP’s 50th anniversary. We will also take this opportunity to recognize our long term relationships with programme countries. I hope senior country representatives of G77 and China will join us on this important occasion in New York.

As UNDP embarks on the new era of sustainable development support and our next half-century, we look to build new partnerships and strengthen existing ones, to continue our mission to eradicate poverty in all its forms, to promote inclusive growth, and to protect the environment.

We look forward to working closely with G77 and China to realize our mission. Thank you all for your goodwill and support.

Read on the UNDP website.