62nd Working Party on the Strategic Framework and the Programme Budget

GROUP OF 77
GENEVA

STATEMENT ON BEHALF OF THE GROUP OF 77 AND CHINA BY H.E. AMBASSADOR EDI YUSUP, CHARGÈ D'AFFAIRES AD INTERIM/DEPUTY PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA TO THE UNITED NATIONS, WTO AND OTHER INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS IN GENEVA, IN THE 62ND SESSION WORKING PARTY ON THE STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK AND THE PROGRAMME BUDGET
(Geneva, 3-5 September 2012)

Madame Chairperson, Mrs. Jolaade Adekola Orimoloye,
Mr. Heiner Flassbeck,
Excellencies, Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

1. Allow me at the outset, Madame Chairperson, to congratulate you on your election. Rest assured of the steadfast and full support of the Group of 77 and China for the completion - and I emphasize - completion - of the work before us. It is unfortunate that the intergovernmental machinery since Doha has not yet been able to define the parameters of critical future work.

2. The G77 and China is committed to achieving the level of comfort needed by everyone with regard to the matters being discussed, and arriving swiftly to a judicious and positive conclusion.

3. Madam Chair this 62nd session of the Working Party is an opportunity to examine a critical pillar of UNCTAD's work and to take necessary steps with a view to enhance the effectiveness of the technical cooperation provided by UNCTAD. This is an area of considerable importance for the Group, as it is through this pillar where we most directly see the application of the results of the analytical and consensus-building pillars of UNCTAD.

4. We therefore appreciate the efforts of the Secretariat for preparing the useful materials which inform our deliberations at this session.

5. As the principal beneficiaries of the technical assistance activities of UNCTAD, we once again underscore the importance of UNCTAD's technical cooperation, and its high quality. This 62d session of the Working Party will be an opportunity for a proactive debate between all stakeholders and allow donors and beneficiaries to review activities with a view of enhancing the delivery of technical cooperation, a critical pilar of UNCTAD's work. Technical assistance is an area of considerable importance for the Group, as it is through this pillar where we most directly see the application of the results of the analytical and consensus-building pillars of UNCTAD.

6. We would like to thank our development partners for sustaining their support to the technical cooperation programmes of UNCTAD. It is important, also, to note the significant increase in 2011 of contributions to trust funds, due largely to an increase in contributions from developing countries. Developing countries' contributions now account for about 34 per cent of total contributions to trust funds. Indeed we understand that contributions from developing countries to UNCTAD trust funds are now greater than contributions from developed countries. In this regard, the Group would like to reiterate the importance attached to sustainability of the support lent by development partners.

7. A major part of developing countries' contributions are for self-sustained activities in their own countries. This is a strong indication of the importance developing countries attach to UNCTAD's programs. However, many developing countries are not in a position to finance technical cooperation and need to rely on the support of their development partners. We repeat, the sustained support from our developed partners is crucial for the continuation of important projects to which developing countries attach great value.

Madame Chair,

8. UNCTAD's work must focus on areas of core concern to developing countries, rather than on to issues that, while important, are not always central to our needs and priorities.

9. This includes strengthening the capacity of developing countries to overcome the adverse effects of the global economic and financial crisis through, among others, examining how the global trading system can be strengthened by enhancing the complementarity of the various pillars of global economic governance. We also look to UNCTAD strengthening the ability of developing countries to complement traditional North-South economic relations with enhancing South-South cooperation.

10. The Group of 77 and China notes with interest the efforts of UNCTAD, in its capacity as coordinator of the UN inter-agency Cluster on trade and productive capacity to ensure effective interface between the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF) and the country level operations related to trade and productive capacity in support of LDCs.

11. The EIF is a key mechanism for the provision of trade-related assistance to LDCs. UNCTAD must strengthen its contribution to the EIF in accordance with national needs and demands with a view to ensure that trade-related issues are fully integrated into the national policies, strategies, plans and development programmes. In view of this, development partners are invited to lend all necessary support to UNCTAD to enable adequate response to the increasing demands of LDCs.

12. The Group appreciates the efforts made by the secretariat to simplify the financial structure of UNCTAD technical cooperation. It supports action taken towards the establishment of thematic clusters centred around agreed priorities, but ensuring that no specific technical assistance corresponding to the needs of beneficiaries are lost.

13. The Group of 77 and China commends the secretariat for its pro-activeness in inter-agency processes related to enhancing system wide coherence in the UN, including through the UN inter-agency cluster on trade and productive capacity, which is a unique experience of cooperation between agencies on programing issues at the country level. The results obtained by UNCTAD with limited resources and no field presence, are commendable.

14. The Group of 77 and China notes with particular interest the information regarding new funding mechanisms, and that UNCTAD in 2011 successfully accessed funds from the One UN Pilots Funds and from other Delivering as One Initiatives such as the Multi-donors trust funds funding joint programmes at the country level. We hope that such commendable and innovative approaches will continue.

Madame Chair,

15. I wish to turn now to the other area of consideration at this session - evaluation. Evaluations allow us to reflect on how well a programme is working, and in the process, identify good practices that can be emulated, and weaknesses that should be addressed so that better results for all concerned can be attained.

16. We welcome the fuller reporting on UNCTAD's evaluation activities, which gives us a better picture of how UNCTAD's technical cooperation activities in particular are working. We have noted that in general, beneficiaries of evaluated projects reported positively on the project's activities, and outcomes were considered encouraging and catalytic. In such cases, when the evaluator recommended that a project be strengthened with additional resources, we strongly support such recommendations, and urge our development partners to do the same. In this way, we are truly managing on the basis of results.

17. On item 4b, we have been presented with a very useful report on the in-depth evaluation of UNCTAD's programme on science and technology for development, for which we express our sincere appreciation to the evaluation team, which conducted its work purposefully, objectively, and constructively. We should all strive to do the same in our consideration of their report.

18. It has been a year since we last met to consider this report. With the benefit of having an additional 12 months to reflect on work and developments in this area, let us now make the most of this opportunity, and ensure that the efforts of the evaluation team have not been in vain.

19. On item 4c, we wish to reiterate the importance of UNCTAD's technical cooperation activities to support the development of the Least Developed Countries, Small Island Developing States, Landlocked Developing Countries, and other Structurally Weak, Vulnerable and Small Economies. Particularly in light of the outcomes of the Doha Conference, UNCTAD must ensure that it strengthens its special focus on the needs of the LDCs, LLDCs, SIDs and other structurally weak, vulnerable and small economies across all areas of its mandate.

Thank you Madame Chair.