Distinguished Co-Chairs,

          The Joint Coordinating Committee of the Group of 77 and China and the Non-Aligned Movement wishes to reiterate once again its willingness to participate constructively in the process of the intergovernmental discussion of the recommendations contained in the High-Level Panel’s Report and the comments made by the Secretary-General thereon. 

2.       The Joint Coordinating Committee (JCC) again reaffirms its full confidence in your able leadership and is confident that in the future this process will be conducted in the same open, transparent and inclusive manner with which it has been conducted thus far.

3.       At this stage, when we are finalizing the discussions on United Nations System-Wide Coherence in the 61st session of the General Assembly, the Group of 77 and China and the Non-Aligned Movement reaffirm all the elements regarding the process voiced by the JCC during the plenary meeting of the General Assembly on 16 April.  Consequently, both Groups reiterate their preliminary views on the Report, which were conveyed in the letter addressed to the Secretary-General by the Co-Chairs of the JCC on 19 March 2007 and in the JCC Statement during the informal meeting of the General Assembly on 6 June 2007.

Distinguished Co-Chairs,

4.       The JCC wishes to emphasise that in the discussion of the Panel’s recommendations relative to environment, the following principles should be reaffirmed:

• The World Summit on Sustainable Development recognized the three overarching objectives of sustainable development as: protecting natural resources, eradicating poverty, and changing unsustainable production and consumption patterns. It is in this context, and while reaffirming the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities in protecting the environment and promoting sustainable development, that we call for policies and actions that will enable the developing countries to bridge the ever-widening gap between the rich and the poor.
• The JCC reiterates the need to address the challenges related to all the three pillars of sustainable development in a coordinated, integrated and comprehensive manner. At the national and international levels, the economic, social and environmental goals should be promoted in complementary and consistent ways. Therefore, progress in the environmental pillar of sustainable development should be matched by simultaneous progress on the economic and social pillars as well.
• To promote solutions to the challenges of sustainable development, we must ensure that the priority problems of poverty, hunger and under development remain the centre of our attention. These developmental challenges intensify the impact of and vulnerabilities to environmental risks for the developing countries, mainly due to absence of resources and the resulting lack of adaptive capacities.
• To allow the developing countries to fully cope with the challenges of sustainable development, it is important to scale up efforts to effectively implement the global partnership for development as set out in the Millennium Declaration, the Monterrey Consensus, and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation. Equally critical is the early, successful and development oriented conclusion of the Doha Round of Trade negotiations, greater investments, ODA and other financing flows as well as access to technology for the developing countries.
• The JCC is disappointed that so far little progress has been made towards the implementation of Bali Strategic Plan for Capacity Building and Technology Transfer. We believe that the provision of stable, predictable and adequate financial resources for environmental activities and entities are vital for implementation of development commitments.  
• Implementation has been the Achilles heel of the global development agenda. Ironically, the implementation of what has already been agreed to globally also remains the biggest challenge to sustainable development.

Distinguished Co-Chairs,

5.       Pending more substantive and detailed future discussions on the Report, the Group of 77 and China and the Non-Aligned Movement, wish to outline the following preliminary and overall views of the JCC on the recommendations on environment:

• Although the JCC believes that some of these recommendations seem to address issues of interest for developing countries, it is evident that they are too general in nature and do not include implementation mechanisms. In our view, further details are necessary in this respect.
• As already stated, the question of financial resources is critical as a means to support any measure on environment and sustainable development, which is why the JCC is considering Recommendation 17 on the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) with special care.
• The Group of 77 and China and Non-Aligned Movement would like to take this opportunity to also seek clarification on Recommendation 18 commissioning an independent and authoritative assessment of the current United Nations system of international governance vis-à-vis the ongoing consultative process on the institutional framework for the United Nation’s environmental activities.
• Some clarification is also needed on the recommendation that UNEP and UNDP should work together as this recommendation, the JCC believes, seem to have been over taken by circumstances.
• The JCC’s consideration of the recommendation related to the efficiencies and substantive coordination of diverse treaty bodies is continuing bearing in mind that they have their own mandates and memberships.
• The JCC would also like to emphasize the importance of continuing the consideration of recommendations in this process with a focus on their operational aspects and impact rather than the normative dimensions. Although the JCC is also of the view that it can at times be difficult to draw a clear line between the normative and operational aspects of a particular recommendation.

Distinguished Co-Chairs,

6.       While there are a number of useful recommendations in the report, in few areas the Panel’s Report may have touched upon some issues, such as human rights, gender and sustainable development, as cross-cutting issues in the context of UN operational activities for development. While those issues are not confined only to developing countries the Group has concern that those issues as well as humanitarian assistance might be misused to introduce new conditionalities on international development assistance which is not acceptable to developing countries.

Distinguished Co-Chairs,

7.       The Group of 77 and China and the Non-Aligned Movement will continue to participate actively and constructively in the intergovernmental consideration of the recommendations contained in the High Level Panel Report in the next session of the General Assembly.  We congratulate both of you for all your efforts to move this process forward.

          I thank you.