Mr. President,
Mr. Associate Administrator,
Distinguished Delegates,

         I have the honour to deliver this statement on behalf of the Group of 77 and China after the adoption of decision on the UNDP Strategic Plan 2008-11. The Group of 77 and China would like to thank the President for his remarkable leadership and perseverance through a difficult process. I would also like to thank the Administrator for his commitment and dedication as conveyed by the Associate Administrator today. We wish to thank the distinguished facilitators Mr. Tesfa Seyoum of Eritrea and Ms. Tarja Fernandez of Finland for the manner in which they coordinated the negotiations of one of the most difficult draft decision. We also wish to thank our partners for the constructive spirit that prevailed throughout the negotiations. We trust that the Board will be able to apply the same constructive approach to the future steps related to continual improvement of the Strategic Plan. 

Mr. President,

2.       We have joined consensus on an important decision of UNDP Strategic Plan with hope that the Plan will be continually improved in light of the provisions of this decision. We welcome the Administrator’s commitment to issue an updated version of the Strategic Plan at the first regular session of the Executive Board in January 2008. We believe that this decision will be an integral part of the Strategic Plan 2008-11 and provide guidelines.

3.       While reaffirming the importance of the Triennial Comprehensive Policy Review, the G-77 and China appreciates the agreement about the need to improve the Strategic Plan in light of General Assembly resolution on the TCPR particularly in the chapters on coordination, democratic governance, capacity development, and crisis prevention and recovery. We believe that TCPR precedes the UNDP Strategic Plan and thus the implementation of the Strategic Plan should be based on the understanding and agreement reached in the TCPR.  On the same line, we stress that UNDP should base its work on the concepts and approaches which are intergovernmetally agreed and consistent with the outcomes of UN conferences and Summits.

4.       With the adoption of this decision, we wish to stress and expect that the UNDP will fully respect the UN Charter principles of national sovereignty, territorial integrity and national unity of the States. We reiterate that the strength of the United Nations operational system lies in its legitimacy, at the country level, as a neutral, objective and trusted partner for both recipient countries and donor countries.  

5.       The G-77 and China fully appreciates the importance of promotion of human rights, particularly the right to development for achieving sustained economic growth and sustainable development, in accordance with relevant General Assembly resolutions. However, while stressing the need for UNDP to strictly adhere to its mandate, we reaffirm that UNDP has neither any normative, operational or monitoring role, nor any competence with regard to human rights. We would like to register our views that UNDP leadership should be impartial in discharging its mandate by carefully avoiding any politically charged influence.

6.       We reiterate that the UNDP should focus on supporting national priorities rather than trying to set or establish them. We would assess the effectiveness of UNDP through its contribution in assisting programme countries in the achievement of their national development plans/strategies.

Mr. President,

7.       We want to reaffirm that funding for development activities should not be tied to any conditionalities, or earmarked for certain focus areas only. Instead, it should be allocated according to the respective national priorities and plans of programme countries.

8.       We call for practical adherence to the fundamental characteristics of the operational activities for development of the UN system which are, inter alia, their universal, voluntary and grant nature, their neutrality and their multilateralism as well as their ability to respond to the development needs of recipient countries in a flexible manner, and that the operational activities are carried out for the benefit of recipient countries, at the request of those countries and in accordance with their own policies and priorities for development. We reiterate that the overarching principle of UN operational activities is national ownership and leadership of the process, its products and results by the programme countries.

Mr. President,

9.       The Group of 77 and China trusts that the UNDP will adhere to the letter and spirit of this decision.  Let me assure that we attach great importance to the work of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and its Strategic Plan. We encourage UNDP to continue to keep the Member States informed while preparing the updated version of the Strategic Plan.

10.       We request that this statement reflecting our position be included verbatim in the report of the session.

I thank you.