Outgoing Chair Reviews G77’s 2012 Activities

Below is an excerpt of the statement by Ambassador Mourad Benmehidi, Permanent Representative of Algeria, Chair of the Group of 77 for 2012, at the handover ceremony of the Chairmanship of the Group of 77 (New York, 15 January 2013).

Let me at the outset welcome you to the handover ceremony of the Chairmanship of the G-77 and China between Algeria and the Republic of Fiji. We are meeting today to hand over the helm and the torch of the chairmanship to the Government of the Republic of Fiji.

It is my pleasure to go through the work undertaken by the Group in 2012 and make some reflections on the experience accumulated, our collective achievements and the challenges yet to be faced by our Group.

Algeria’s chairmanship of the G77 in 2012 coincided with a challenging agenda in economic, social and environmental realms, and in a context of a multidimensional and global crisis that had compromised development efforts of developing countries. Furthermore, we continued to face the traditional economic challenges, such as the burden of poverty and external debt, the reduction of official development assistance, the negative effects of climate change, the challenges of trade, agriculture and food security and the high levels of unemployment.

Thanks to the support and commitment of all members of the Group, Algeria’s delegation has endeavored to defend the interests and priorities of the Group, during intense and lengthy negotiations with development partners. The progress achieved during this year and the positive outcomes that resulted from different processes are due essentially to the unity, the solidarity and the collective effort of our Group, in promoting our common interest and enhancing our negotiation capabilities.

We are all aware of the magnitude and complexity of the multiple crises the world is facing which have shaken strongly the foundations of the international economic system and created instability and uncertainty. This global challenge calls for new approaches to address systemic and global problems and ensure a concerted regulation of globalization.

In this context, our Group continued to insist on the urgency of institutional reforms of the United Nations system, including the Bretton Woods institutions as well as the World Trade Organization, in order to ensure the full participation for developing countries in all international discussions and policy making.

Poverty remains the greatest global challenge facing the world today. Many of our members, especially the most vulnerable, are caught in the trap of poverty. We continue to stress that poverty eradication cannot be successfully addressed without a strong commitment of the international community, including the fulfillment of the commitment to the internationally agreed official development assistance, capacity building and the transfer of technologies. The international cooperation to achieve this goal as well as other Millennium Development Goals, within the timeframe previously established, cannot be overemphasized in this context.

As international trade is a vital tool and an engine for development and sustained economic growth, the G77 stresses on the importance of a timely conclusion of the Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations that fulfills its development mandate, takes into account the needs and priorities of developing countries and prevents protectionist measures, in particular by developed countries.

In this regard, the Group reaffirmed the core mandate of UNCTAD as the focal point for an integrated treatment of trade and development and interrelated issues of finance, technology, investment and sustainable development, during the UNCTAD XIII, held in Doha, in April 2012. We hope that the international community will continue to support the efforts and activities of UNCTAD in order to contribute to the achievement of internationally agreed development goals in the coming years.

As far as sustainable development is concerned, the single challenge for the G77 and China was to evolve and maintain a common vision on the vital and complex challenges throughout the heavy agenda for the year 2012, i.e. the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development – Rio+20, the 18th session of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change as well as the 11th session of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity. Algeria expresses its profound satisfaction at the unity and solidarity demonstrated by the members of the Group during all these processes, which allowed preserving the interests of developing countries.

The Rio+20 Conference, held in Rio de Janeiro, in June 2012, constitutes a landmark in the promotion of sustainable development agenda, in the sense that it allowed to the international community to adopt a roadmap for “The Future We Want”, where poverty eradication is considered as the greatest challenge and a prerequisite for sustainable development. This roadmap reinforced the comprehensive and integrated approach to sustainable development, based on the three pillars, economic, social and environmental, and preserved the principles of the Rio Declaration of 1992 and Agenda 21, including the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, equity and the sovereignty of States over their natural resources.

Furthermore, the Rio+20 Conference launched several follow-up processes, including a process to establish a High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, the intergovernmental process on Sustainable Development Goals, the intergovernmental process to assess financing needs and propose options on an effective financing strategy as well as the process to identify options for a facilitation mechanism that promotes the development, transfer and dissemination of technologies.

The commitment of the Group is needed for the successful and expeditious launch of all processes to ensure a balanced representation of developing countries and the effective and full implementation of the outcome document of the Conference, in particular the provision of adequate means of implementation to developing countries.

As far as climate change is concerned, the 18th session of the Conference of the parties to the UNFCCC, held in Doha, from 26 November to 7 December, constituted a big opportunity for the international community, in general, and for developing countries, in particular, that are suffering the most from the adverse impacts of climate change and the increasing frequency of extreme weather effects.

The adoption of the second period of commitment for Annex I countries under the Kyoto Protocol until 2020, the launching of a programme of work to mobilize financial resources for developing countries, including for the most affected and vulnerable countries as well as the substantive progress in the implementation of Cancun and Durban decisions are the main achievements of COP18. This outcome shall pave the way for further progress in climate change discussions, through addressing in a balanced and effective manner the issues of adaptation, mitigation, finance, technology and capacity building.

2012 was also the year where the 11th session of the Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity was held, in India, from 8-19 October, which was centered on the critical issue of financial resources. In this context, COP11 took ambitious decisions that shall allow the international community to move from policy making to implementation. The G77 has contributed to the adoption of a good outcome, including significant decisions on financial issues as well as the progress made in the initiative of the G77 on the Multi Year Plan of Action for South-South Cooperation in Biodiversity.

When it comes to delivering the United Nations support on the field, the year 2012 constituted a great opportunity for the G77 to reiterate the importance of the principles that lead operational activities, including its universal nature, neutrality and multilateralism as well as their ability to respond to the development needs of developing countries, in accordance with their priorities. In this context, the Quadrennial Comprehensive Policy Review of the UN Operational Activities for Development was at the heart of the priorities of the G77 and China in 2012. The commitment and involvement of all its Member States have contributed to achieve a successful outcome, through the adoption by consensus of the Resolution on QCPR.

Concerning the administrative and budgetary issues, the Group of 77 and China after very difficult negotiations was able to maintain the integrity of the intergovernmental process and prerogatives of Member States and to preserve the budget process, while demonstrating a high sense of responsibility and constructiveness. This was in particular the case for the resolutions on budget outline and the scale of assessments as well as in developing a balanced approach for the framework on mobility, thus paving the way to a constructive discussion on human resources management at the next resumed session of the Fifth Committee of the General Assembly.

The growing economic complementarities and the capacity for developing countries to advance their priorities and development needs through mutual cooperation as well as the concrete results achieved recently in this regard, encourage us to invest more efforts and make South-South cooperation a key priority for our Group. Indeed, the regional integration in Africa, Asia-Pacific and Latin America and the Caribbean as well as the growing investments and cooperation among developing countries shall be looked at as an engine to boost the economic and social development of all developing countries. However, we reiterate that South-South cooperation is a complement to, rather than a substitute for North-South cooperation.

In this regard, our Group welcomes the adoption of decision 17/1 of the High Level Committee on South-South cooperation on the transformation of the Special Unit for South-South Cooperation into the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation. We are confident that the Secretary-General will take all necessary measures to strengthen the capacity of the structure, by providing appropriate human, financial and technical support, in order to reinforce the status of the Office and give it the needed visibility to improve its action through the UN system.

I would like also to mention that the Consortium for Science, Technology and Innovation for the South COSTIS, created by the G77 as mandated by the First South Summit, passed to its operational stage.