Mr. President,

I have the honor to speak on behalf of the Group of 77 and China.

The attainment of the internationally agreed development goals, to be achieved by 2015 in relation to poverty and hunger is of primary importance to developing countries. It is therefore necessary to consistently highlight the challenges which may impede the attainment thereof as well as seek ways and means to overcome them in a manner that is comprehensive and practical.

To this end, the Group of 77 and China welcomes the informative report E/2006/56 of the Secretary-General entitled “Sustained economic growth for social development, including poverty eradication and hunger”. We have noted the challenges highlighted in the report as well as the conclusions drawn from current trends and the lessons learned.

Mr. President,

The relationship between sustained economic growth and social development for eradication of poverty and hunger is a mutually reinforcing relationship. It requires a comprehensive, integrated, coordinated and balanced approach. Therefore, there is not only a need for greater policy and co-ordination at a global level but also a need to ensure that countries have adequate national policy space, for adopting nationally developed and owned socio-economic policies and strategies as is clearly recognized in the Secretary-General’s report. It also requires a multi-sectoral approach because indeed, there is both an economic dimension as well as a social dimension to achieve the goals of poverty eradication. This must be acknowledged if we are to make real progress in eradicating poverty and hunger.

An enabling environment is also a pre-condition for the achievement of social goals in areas related to poverty, hunger, education, literacy, health, infant mortality and gender. The international community has a responsibility to foster an effective enabling environment towards this end. Further to this, steps should be taken to create an international enabling environment that is supportive of national policies to pursue sustained economic growth for social development.

Consequently, the eradication of poverty and hunger cannot be entirely delinked from efforts to reform the international financial and trade architecture; the need to have a comprehensive solution to the external debt problem; the need to increase market access for products from developing countries and the need to have an equitable multilateral trading system.

Fundamental to eradicating poverty and hunger is the fact that social development commitments cannot be achieved without adequate resources, for this, international cooperation is critical. International cooperation should be geared towards supporting countries to develop national development policies suited to their national situations and to assist developing countries in overcoming the legacies of past injustices.

The eradication of poverty and hunger is the essence of the commitments made in the Millennium development goals, the outcomes of the Copenhagen Summit and other internationally agreed development goals. It is therefore important to ensure the proper follow-up and the full implementation of these outcomes and commitments. The United Nations (UN) has an important role to play in this regard. It is not only pivotal for the UN to support a more comprehensive and coherent development agenda, it is also pivotal for the UN to ensure a greater co-ordination of the activities of the specialized agencies, Funds and Programmes of the UN system in the economic, social and related fields.

Mr. President,

In this regard, it is important to recall some of the very important decisions we all agreed to just last week in New York. The G77 and China wish to highlight the call upon all Member States and the BWIs to translate commitments made at the major UN conferences and summits into concrete and specific actions and the use of monitoring and follow-up mechanisms to ensure that these commitments and actions are effectively implemented. We also recall the decision to strengthen existing mechanisms and consider establishing new mechanisms to monitor, review and follow up the implementation of the global partnership for development. And the call on developed countries to ensure that information on their efforts to increase the volume of official development assistance is made available to the UN as well as the agreement that specialized agencies, the BWIs and WTO keep the UN informed of their contribution to the outcomes of all the major UN conferences and summits in the economic, social and related fields, including the 2005 World Summit Outcome. These decisions, amongst others, place the UN square in the middle of monitoring progress made on the road of sustained economic growth for social development and the eradication of poverty and hunger.

The synergies and linkages that exist between economic and social policies and their combined impact on the goals of poverty eradication need to be addressed holistically and equitably. This will go a long way toward fostering both economic growth and social development, to ensure the realization of all social goals, including the eradication of poverty and hunger.

Mr. President,

The G77 and China considers ECOSOC as the principle body for coordination and implementation of the international development goals agreed at the major United Nations conferences and summits, including the Millennium Development Goals. We therefore regard the Coordination Segment as a very important segment in which the responsibility of ECOSOC to deal with the coordination of the activities of the specialized agencies, funds and programmes of the United Nations system in the economic, social and related fields should be discharged. The Group of 77 and China thus looks forward to the adoption of the resolution on the Coordination Segment that is currently being negotiated.

I thank you.