STATEMENT ON BEHALF OF THE GROUP OF 77 AND CHINA BY MR. JAMAL NASSER AL-BADER, MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY, PERMANENT MISSION OF THE STATE OF QATAR TO THE UNITED NATIONS, AT THE GENERAL SEGMENT OF THE ECOSOC ON AGENDA ITEMS 6 AND 8: IMPLEMENTATION OF AND FOLLOW UP TO MAJOR UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCES AND SUMMITS (New York, 15 July 2004)

Mr. Chairman,

Thank you for giving me the floor to speak on behalf of the Group of 77 on this agenda item which is of great importance to the G-77.

I would also like to thank the Secretary-General for his useful report on the item which contained some interesting proposals.

Mr. Chairman,

The issue of the integrated and coordinated follow-up has been on the agenda of the Council since 1995 and the approach that has been developed by focusing on cross-cutting thematic issues has helped in promoting the implementation of the outcomes of conferences and summits in a coordinated and mutually reinforcing manner. The Group of 77 and China would like to emphasize that the individual follow-up for each conference should maintain its identity.

This approach of integration while maintaining the identity of each conference was endorsed in the landmark UN General Assembly resolution 57/270 B, which was adopted last year. For the G-77 and China the resolution provides the framework for further work on the integrated follow-up of conferences.

In this context, we would like to emphasize that the High-level Plenary Meeting to be held in 2005 should follow this approach in reviewing the implementation of the outcomes.

The challenge for that High-level Plenary Meeting would be to ensure that the goals of the conferences and the MDGs are pursued in a coherent and mutually reinforcing manner. The Group of 77 and China would also like to emphasize that the realization of the Millennium Development Goals and other internationally agreed development goals can only be achieved through the full implementation of conferences' outcomes, with the provision of means of implementation needed, which include, inter alia, the provision of financial resources, transfer of technology and capacity building to the developing countries.

Another challenge is how to bring together the outcomes of Johannesburg conference on Sustainable Development, Financing for Development, the Brussels conference on LDCs and the Barbados Plan of Action on SIDS, and that of the other U.N. conferences and summits together to ensure that their goals are achieved in a timely manner.

This also has implications for the intergovernmental machinery, as well as for the organizations of the UN system, in ensuring that they pursue an approach that is based on the cross-sectoral thematic issues common to the outcomes of UN conferences and summits.

This entails a broader system-wide coordination, particularly at the country-level for the implementation of the development goals. For this reason, the Council's deliberations have to have some kind of link with the system-wide coordination.

The G-77 and China would like to see this item considered in the coordination segment instead of the general segment effective next year's substantive session. The reason for this is that the coordination segment deals with the UN system's work on all of these issues.

We would also like to propose that the agenda item dealing with the implementation of resolutions 50/227 and 52/12B should be merged with this agenda item as both deal with overall work of the UN system in the economic, social and related fields.

I thank you, Mr. Chairman.