GROUP OF 77
GENEVA

STATEMENT DELIVERED BY THE REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA ON BEHALF OF THE GROUP OF 77 AND CHINA AT THE 59TH SESSION OF THE TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT BOARD ON ITEM 10: UNCTAD'S CONTRIBUTION TO THE IMPLEMENTATION AND FOLLOW-UP TO THE OUTCOMES OF THE MAJOR UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCES AND SUMMITS IN THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL FIELDS
(Geneva, 19 September 2012)

Mr. President,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

1. This is an agenda item of great importance for the Group of 77 and China. Indeed over the course of the past few years we have asked for improvements in the way in which this agenda item is treated. It is therefore disappointing that the program for today affords us very little time to consider this very important agenda item.

2. We express the hope once again that next year, we will have more time dedicated to this agenda item, and will have a true intergovernmental discussion on how UNCTAD as a whole - through its three pillars - can better contribute to the broader global discourse on development. We shall therefore make comments of a general nature.

Mr. President.

3. We appreciate the activities of the UNCTAD secretariat to contribute to the follow-up and implementation of the major UN conferences and summits on development. We request the secretariat to continue its important work in various areas, including in international trade, investment and enterprise development, debt management, science and technology for development, competition law and policy.

4. We look forward next year to concrete ideas on how to further enhance this UNCTAD's contribution, especially in view of, inter alia, the process to develop and articulate sustainable development goals as an outcome of Rio plus 20, the follow-up to the UN conference on the world financial and economic crisis and its impact on development, the financing for development process, and perhaps most critically in terms of timing and opportunity of impact, the forthcoming MDG review in 2015. In so doing, we request the secretariat to present ideas on how to enhance the intergovernmental deliberations in UNCTAD in this regard, and how this can best contribute and collaborate with other institutions to the deliberations in the relevant forums in the UN.

5. We also call on the President of the Trade and Development Board to begin at the earliest possible opportunity consultations with member states on how UNCTAD through its three pillars can best contribute to the key events we highlighted as a Group in our general statement, namely the preparations for the 50th anniversary of UNCTAD, as well as the process for UNCTAD to contribute to the MDG review in 2015.

6. Indeed, given the importance of these events, and the need to ensure that we have a focused and meaningful intergovernmental outcome, the President may wish to consider devoting several consultations of the president to these matters, and perhaps even convening a Special Session of the Trade and Development Board to place the preparations for UNCTAD's 50th anniversary, and the contributions of UNCTAD to 2015 on a firm footing.

Mr. President.

7. In closing allow me to emphasize that the Group of 77 and China believes that as we implement the Doha Mandate, we must do so conscious of the need to contribute to the broader discourse on development, to ensure that the full breadth and richness of the global development agenda is implemented. This requires not just adequate work by the secretariat, but the full engagement of the intergovernmental machinery.

Thank you Mr. President.