1. In my capacity as Chairman of the Group of 77, I am honored to share with you the views of the Group on this special occasion of the celebration of the Third United Nations Day for South-South Cooperation. The theme of this year commemoration “New Dynamics of South-South and Triangular Partnerships for Development” is timely and crucial.

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 two South Summits in Havana and Doha, reaffirmed their commitment to South-South Cooperation.

3. The Global South Development Forum to be held in 2007 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. In this context I wish to express our support for the efforts by the Special Unit for South-South Cooperation in promoting the creative economy for development by holding the “International Forum on the Creative Economy” in Rio de Janeiro last November. I believe that the creative economy for development, as a global platform, offers the opportunity to address the economic development dimension in the South aiming to promote partnerships initiatives and economic growth.

5. Furthermore the Group of 77 is encouraged with the outcome of the brainstorming session on South-South Cooperation in the field of biodiversity held last month in Montreal, Canada with the support of the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity. The brainstorming session facilitated discussion on elements of a Plan of Action for consideration by the Conference of the Parties of the Convention in 2008 in order to consolidate the implementation of the 3 objectives of the Convention as well as the Millennium Development Goals including the exchange of experiences and dissemination of best practices among developing countries.

Mr. President,

6. For the Group of 77 and China, South-South Cooperation is a crucially important tool for developing and strengthening the economic independence of developing countries and achieving development as one of the means of ensuring the equitable global economic order. In this context, I wish to congratulate the Special Unit for South-South Cooperation under the able leadership of Mr. Zhou Yiping for the initiatives undertaken in order to develop a new dynamic of south-south and triangular partnerships for development. The 10th World Summit of Young Entrepreneurs of the South held in Sao Paulo in March 2006, the GATES Symposium Summit and Expo held in Shanghai in May 2006, and the International Forum on Creative Economy for Development held recently in Rio de Janeiro are just a few examples of the multiples efforts the Special Unit of the UNDP has sponsored this year in order to boost South-South Cooperation

7. As we all know, South-South Cooperation at the global level requires adequate and structured financial and institutional support. For cooperation among developing countries to prosper and expand there is a need for effective and well-equipped institutional mechanisms as well as strategic capacity building in order to support our efforts at the national, regional and international levels. In this context, we call on our Development partners and the UN System to generously support the Perez Guerrero Trust Fund for ECDC/TCDC (PGTF) as well as the UN Trust Fund for South-South Cooperation.

8. On 22 September 2006, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the G-77 and China in their Ministerial Statement of the 30th Annual Meeting reiterated held in New York the urgent need to further strengthen the Special Unit for South-South Cooperation in accordance with the General Assembly resolution 60/212 as the U.N System coordinating body for South-South Cooperation. They expressed their appreciation for the ongoing joint efforts by the Group of 77 and the Special Unit for South-South Cooperation to revitalize South-South Cooperation.

9. Finally I would like to seize this opportunity to launch formally, in my capacity as Chairman of the Group of 77, a valuable publication that outlines the history, the evolution and achievements of the Group of 77 for the last four decades. This encyclopedic book of 1250 pages entitled “The Group of 77 at the United Nations” has been edited by our Executive Secretary, Mr. Mourad Ahmia and published recently by Oxford University Press. This is the first publication of its kind since it provides an historical picture of the Group of 77 through documents. Although the publication will be available in the bookstores, I have asked our Executive Secretary to generously make available complimentary copies for the G-77 member states. On your behalf, I wish to congratulate our Executive Secretary for this valuable publication and we look forward to a special Volume on South-South Cooperation next year.

I thank you.