STATEMENT BY H.E. MR. MOODY AWORI, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF KENYA, DURING THE OCCASION OF COMMEMORATING 40 YEARS OF THE G-77 HELD AT GIGIL UNITED NATIONS ( Nairobi, Kenya, 17 June 2004)

Your Excellencies, High Commissioners
Ambassadors,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,

Before reading my statement, allow me to thank you for inviting me to join you at this very important occasion of commemorating 40 years since the Group of 77 was established. For the last four decades the Group was hoped to play a significant role in international relations especially on the part of narrowing the gap between developing countries and developed nations. It was hoped also to play a central role in various initiatives that relate to development and international cooperation.

Achieving the internationally agreed development goals, including those contained in the Millennium Declaration, demands a new partnership between developed and developing countries. As countries we must commit ourselves to sound policies, good governance at all levels and uphold the rule of law.

We also must commit ourselves to mobilizing domestic resources, attracting international flows, promoting international trade as an engine for development, increasing international financial and technical cooperation for development, sustainable debt financing and external debt relief, and enhancing the coherence and consistency of the international monetary, financial and trading systems.

The terrorist attacks of 7th August 1998 in Kenya and Tanzania and that of 11th September 2001 in the USA exacerbated the global economic slowdown, further reducing growth rates. For this reason it has now become more urgent to enhance collaboration among all stakeholders in order to promote sustainable economic growth and address the long-term challenges facing our countries. Our resolve to act together must be stronger than ever.

Recognizing that peace and development are mutually reinforcing, we must get more determined to pursue the shared vision for a better future, through our individual efforts combined with vigorous multilateral action. Upholding the Charter of United Nations and building upon the values of the Millennium Declaration, we need to work hard towards promoting national and global economic systems based on the principles of justice, equity, democracy, participation, transparency, accountability and inclusion.

Ladies and gentlemen, as countries sharing similar problems we have a duty of reviewing our achievements and identifying our failures, we must go down to the root causes of our problems and ask why some of our countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America continue to lag behind in development.

Achieving the Millennium Development Goals, as countries we must strengthen regional cooperation and partnership and support development initiatives such the New Partnership for Africa's Development NEPAD and similar efforts in other regions if we have to overcome poverty, diseases, illiteracy, poor governance, civil strife, external domination and HIV/AIDS.

Distinguished Guests, taking NEPAD initiative for instance, we view it as an initiative that provides a vision and direction for achieving sustainable development for Africa. It provides an African initiated and driven framework for interaction within the continent and the rest of the world with the objective of eradicating poverty. This concurs with our approaches to policy making in Kenya in which we share the vision of eradicating poverty, promoting self-reliance and sustenance, intensifying regional integration, and promoting market access for African products in the global market. I sincerely hope that the G77 will continue to give unequivocal support to the NEPAD initiative. It is the hope of this great continent.

Finally Ladies And Gentlemen, it is my strong belief that to substantially stimulate development worldwide and benefit our countries we need a universal, rule-based, open, non-discriminatory and equitable multilateral trading system, as well as meaningful trade liberalization.

In this regard we need to reaffirm our commitment to trade liberalization and ensure that trade plays its full part in promoting economic growth, employment and development for all. We appeal to the World trade Organization to place the needs and interest of developing countries at the heart of its work programme, and we in return must be committed to its implementation.

I thank you once again for this opportunity and wish all citizens of the G77 a memorable celebration.

Thank you.