New York, 20 April 1998

Mr. Chairman,

It is my honour to deliver this statement on behalf of the Group of 77 and China. The Group would like to express its sincere appreciation to the Vice-Chairmen of the Inter-sessional Working Group for their steadfast support and guidance during the inter-sessional process last February and March. We are, in general, pleased with the overall results of the inter-sessional meeting as well as the constructive atmosphere within which it took place.

It is our hope that this Commission will build upon the consensus achieved by the international community in Agenda 21 and the Programme for Further Implementation of Agenda 21. We also appreciate the efforts made by the expert level meetings, including those that took place in Harare, Kyongju, Sao Paulo, Paris and Bonn to provide information and inputs for this session of the Commission. Nevertheless, we must stress that for any of these recommendations to be adopted by the CSD-VI, they must be subjected to intergovernmental discussions, negotiations and consensus.

The Intersessional Ad-Hoc Working Groups were mandated to identify key elements and problems to be addressed within the specific items of the Commission’s programme of work. In that context the outcomes of the Paris Ministerial Conferences and the Bonn Meeting of Experts, which were held after the Intersessional meetings, can be used as references during the work of the Commission. On the other hand the outcome of the Ad-Hoc Intersessional Working Group should constitute the basis for the Commission’s drafting exercises and the deliberations during this sixth session.

This session of the Commission should also seek to review and take stock of any progress achieved so far in implementing existing plans of action, as contained in the relevant chapters of Agenda 21. In this way, any constraints, such as those in the areas of finance and technology, could be identified and addressed so as to move forward in achieving the objectives already established. Therefore, our next step should be to search for and to evolve measures that would directly tackle these constraints.