Mr. President,

On behalf of the Group of 77 and China as well as other co-sponsors, I have the honour to introduce the draft resolution under agenda item 64 (a) entitled "New Partnership for Africa's Development: progress in implementation and international support" contained in document A/62/L.10.Rev.1.

Mr. President,

2. There is much that has been achieved in Africa since the launch of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). It represents the collective determination and commitment of Africa to place its countries on the road to sustainable economic and social development by taking control of its own development and by fighting poverty.

3. Today, as we stand at the half way mark of 2015, the target date of achieving the MDGs, unfortunately, Africa remains the only continent not on track to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. If we are to succeed in eradicating poverty and hunger in Africa then urgent and concerted action by developed countries and the international community is needed. This obviously entails further strengthening and enhancement of the global partnership for development and vigorous implementation of all development commitments without any further delay in particular the promises that have been made in support of Africa. Today, inadequacy of resources is widely seen as the main constraint on African development. While we welcome the support provided by the international community and the United Nations in particular, much more needs to be done.

Mr. President,

4. It is in this backdrop that the Group of 77 and China have tabled this resolution, which requires the attention of the international community.

5. While recognizing the progress made in the implementation of the New Partnership for Africa's Development as well as regional and international support for the New Partnership for Africa's Development, the resolution acknowledges that much needs to be done in its implementation. It recognizes the need for African countries to continue to coordinate, in accordance with their respective national strategies and priorities, all types of external assistance in order to integrate effectively such assistance into their development processes.  

6. The resolution calls for a comprehensive and sustainable solution to the challenges faced by African countries including; external debt, need for coherence in the trade policies towards African countries, full integration of African countries into the international trading system through initiatives such as building Africa's capacity to compete and the provision of assistance to address the adjustment challenges of trade liberalization.

7. While recognizing the need for the international community to make continued efforts to increase the flow of new and additional resources for financing for development from all sources, public and private, domestic and foreign, to support the development of African countries, the resolution calls for the fulfilment of commitments by the developed countries and to ensure that the increase in official development assistance translates into the actual flow of financial resources to developing countries.

8. The resolution reaffirms the General Assembly decision to hold a high-level meeting on "Africa's development needs: state of implementation of various commitments, challenges and the way forward" during its sixty-third session and stresses the need for close consultation between the United Nations and the African Union in preparing for the high-level meeting.

Mr. President,

9. On behalf of the Group of 77 and China, I wish to thank all those Member States who have co-sponsored this important resolution to express their commitment in strengthening international cooperation to achieve the goal of development in Africa. We hope that as in the past, the General Assembly will adopt this draft resolution by consensus.

I thank you.