Distinguished Participants,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

1. In my capacity as Chairman of the Group of 77, I am honored to share some views with you on the initiative of launching the preparatory process of a Global South Development Forum (GSDF). At the outset allow me to congratulate the sponsors of this gathering and especially the Special Unit for South-South Cooperation for exploring new strategies and ways aimed at promoting and expanding south-south cooperation for development.

2. As you are aware, the Heads of State and Government of the Member States of the Group of 77 and China, on the occasion of the Second South Summit held in Doha in June 2005, expressed their support for convening a South-South Forum on public and private partnership (paragraph 50 of the Doha Plan of Action). They reiterated also the need for developing countries to pool their resources and potentialities in the new international trade geography.

3. In this context, I wish to support the ongoing preparations for the Forum. In fact, the concept of forming alliances among governments and private business has proven to be more successful since it allows this partnership to contribute to south-south trade and economic growth. The forum will certainly contribute to enlarging Southern policy space and enable the developing countries to expand and diversify cooperation within the South. It will also contribute to promote south-south cooperation on a broad front through dialogue of all major stakeholders. The forum will also enable developing countries to achieve the Millennium Development Goals through south-south cooperation.

4. The issue of well-equipped institutional mechanisms must also be addressed to support proper implementation and follow-up of the outcome of this important initiative. Participation of academia, think tanks as well as media groups in the preparatory process is extremely important since it will multiply the impact of this initiative. Representatives of leading regional and subregional organizations and economic groupings should also be actively involved in the process.

5. In this context, I wish also to support the proposal of establishing a follow-up mechanism to ensure the implementation of the outcome of the Global South Development Forum on a regular basis. I believe that the Forum should meet on a biennial basis or prior to the G-77 South Summits as well as on the occasion of the mid-term review of the South Summits outcomes. The Forum should address key development issues such as trade and investments, capacity building and science and technology.

6. In conclusion let me recall the high political importance that the Group of 77 attaches to south-south initiatives. In this context the Group believes that the South must be adequately supported by more inclusive and innovative public-private partnership mechanisms in order for developing countries to effectively participate in the world economy and have a fairer share of the benefits of globalization. In response to this reality the G-77 Chapter's meeting held in Paris on 28 February 2006, reiterated in the Final Communiqué (paragraph 26 of Paris Consensus) the full support of the G-77 for the on-going UN system-wide initiatives, championed by the Special Unit, to boost South-South cooperation for development such as the GSDF, the South-South Mayors Forum, the South-South GATE System, the Global South Creative Economy Expo, as well as other public-private partnership initiatives in new and dynamic sectors, to benefit the developing countries, especially Africa.

7. Finally, I wish to commend the Special Unit of South-South Cooperation under the able leadership of Mr. Yiping Zhou for such initiatives that will forge certainly a new dimension in promoting south-south cooperation for development.

I wish all success to your deliberations.

Thank you.