GROUP OF 77
GENEVA

STATEMENT DELIVERED BY HIS EXCELLENCY, JAMES MANZOU PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF THE REPUBLIC OF ZIMBABWE TO THE UNITED NATIONS AND OTHER INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS IN GENEVA, ON THE OCCASION OF THE HANDOVER CEREMONY FOR THE G-77 AND CHINA
(Geneva, 6 February 2012)

Secretary-General of UNCTAD, Dr Supachai Panitchpakdi,
President of the Trade and Development Board, Ambassador Maruping,
Distinguished Guests,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Since this might be the first time in 2012 I am meeting some of you, I wish to start by wishing everyone a Happy New Year and happy Dragon year for the Chinese people. We are gathered here today to witness the end and beginning of new era for my delegation as we are handing over the Chairmanship of the Group of 77 and China to my dear colleague and friend, Ambassador Dian TriansyahDjani, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Indonesia.

As some of you might be aware, Zimbabwe was elected to Chair the G-77 and China following the elevation of my fellow African brother Ambassador Maruping to the Presidency of the Trade and Development Board (TDB). In that respect I wish to pay tribute to him for setting the foundation for my delegation to continue with the Group's work. 2011 was a particularly difficult year for developing countries in UNCTAD process as we witnessed a shift in approach from our development partners, who sought to use intimidation and threats in most of our meetings resulting in some being inconclusive.

Despite these challenges we also witnessed successes in the Working Party and Executive Sessions of the TDB meetings. These successes were a result of the cohesion and unity of the Group. Such unity also assisted us in forging a common position paper, which we submitted to the TDB Presidency as our inputs to the Draft President's Negotiating text.The successes and failures of 2011 should serve as lessons for our future engagement within the group and with our development partners. Such lessons should help us in finding solutions in our work in the UNCTAD XIII Preparatory Committee (PrepCom).

Least we forget, the current global economic and financial crisis is a result of failures by some to learn from previous mistakes, I shall not delve into this, as so much literature is readily available. All I am encouraging us to do is to approach the PrepCom negotiations with open minds and do defend the interest of developing countries and not to argue over positions. Positions do change, but our interest should never change. What binds us as G-77 and China is the fact that we all have problems as developing countries, however these problems differ amongst countries. We should never allow our opponents to use these differences to divide us.

All of us have acknowledged that the Doha outcome should build from the Accra Accord and it shall be the responsibility of the group to ensure that the outcome reflects this. The Group should ensure that the Doha outcome is fully implemented as such we should consider Doha as the beginning and not an end, more work will remain ahead after the Conference. We should ensure that sufficient resources (financial and human resources) are provided to the organization. As such, the Group should closely follow the Working Party meeting proceeding the Conference.

Since we are pressed for time, let me take this opportunity to once again thank, Ambassador Maruping and his team Mokong and Moshe for laying the foundation for me, let me also pay tribute to all of you who helped my delegation in steering the work of the Group, without your help, we couldn't have achieved what we achieved. I wish also to thank the Secretary-General of UNCTAD and his Secretariat for the assistance rendered to the Group, in particular the Group Liaising Unit Headed by Miguel Batista and his supporting team Rima, Yvette and Zora.

Lastly, I thank my hardworking UNCTAD expert, Gari Kashitiku with whom you shared sleepless nights promoting and defending the interests of our Group. Thank you very much Gari.

I thank you all.