Trade and Development Board

GROUP OF 77
GENEVA

STATEMENT BY HIS EXCELLENCY MR. DIEGO AULESTIA VALENCIA, AMBASSADOR AND PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF ECUADOR, CHAIRMAN OF THE GROUP OF 77, AT THE SIXTY-SIXTH SESSION OF THE TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT BOARD ON AGENDA ITEM 4 - ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
(Geneva, 26 June 2019)

Mr. President, H.E Mr. Michael Gaffey (Ireland),
Deputy Secretary-General of UNCTAD, Ms. Isabelle Durant,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

1. The Group of 77 and China welcomes your efforts as Secretary-General on the work of this organization.

2. The Group of 77 and China values the efforts to improve accountability through the report on the activities of the Secretary-General. We appreciate, as well as your presence here today.

3. The work UNCTAD should be adequately positioned, through the effective communication tools. In this regard, we recognize the value of UNCTAD's annual report as a media-oriented document. It addresses the general public, is accessible and provides useful information.

4. The Group of 77 and China recommends UNCTAD's annual report should include chapters addressing member States' information needs regarding the work of the institution during the year. A comprehensive report of UNCTAD's activities from a more technical perspective will be highly valued by the member States. A report of this nature would avoid duplication of efforts. Moreover, in this case, a separate Secretary-General Report addressing the annual meeting of the Trade and Development Board might not be required.

5. One of the concerns of the group is the staff distribution, an element that is usually presented in the annual reports published by other UN Geneva-based bodies. The Group of 77 and China considers multilateral organizations should tend to count on a well-balanced selection of staff counting variables of geographical representation and gender. In UNCTAD there is a region with an outstanding over-representation. UNCTAD's staff deserve our respect and admiration for their work and commitment, even though there is underrepresentation of women from developing countries.

6. The Group of 77 and China would like to highlight the positive recognition that UNCTAD's technical reports get. One of the most successful publication is the World Investment Report, frequently cited and downloaded. The Reports from 2008 and 2010 on Creative Economies are still one of the most referenced documents on the subject. The Trade and Development Report deserves a special mention since is a well-recognized global reference because of its deep analysis and always adopts a developmental perspective. Its 2018 edition was recently quoted in the UN Report of the Secretary-General's High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation: the age of digital interdependence.

7. The Group of 77 and China considers UNCTAD's hard work requires more efforts to gain political visibility. In this respect, we would like to express our concern regarding the exclusion of UNCTAD in some important documents produced by different instances of the UN system. There was no mention of UNCTAD in the outcome of the BAPA +40 Conference on South-South Cooperation. This organization was excluded also from the draft of the annual resolution ECOSOC discuss on the "Implementation of and follow-up to major United Nations conferences and summits: review and coordination of the implementation of the Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2011-2020". As member states we assume our responsibility on this omission, however, we recognize as well the crucial role secretariats of multilateral organizations play in its political visibility. In this respect, the Group of G77 and China will highly appreciate that UNCTAD's office in New York takes the lead in adequately positioning UNCTAD contributions within the UN system. I apologize in advance, since this will be a recurrent item in our interventions in different points of the agenda during this Trade and Development Board.

8. There is an important reform process within the UN System. Even though we have a general understanding of the content of the reform regarding the development pillar, it would be very much appreciated if informative sessions with the members could be held on the implications that this exercise would have on UNCTAD and its resources in the long term.

9. The Group of 77 and China would like to request the Secretariat's assurances that UNCTAD work would be adequately reflected in the outcomes of discussions held by other multilateral forums and specialized institutions.

10. To conclude, I would like to express our gratitude to Mr. Miguel Baustista, Head of the Intergovernmental Support Service, for his support in the consultations held in order to define the hosting country of the XV Conference on Trade and Development.

Thank you.