Mr. Chairman,

I have the honour to deliver this statement on behalf of the Group of 77 and China.

The Group reiterates its sincere appreciation to our host Germany and the UNFCCC secretariat for their excellent arrangements made for this session.

The Group also wishes to express its appreciation to the Chair for enabling us to have our first real discussions on the AWG-KP's core task, namely the task of determining further commitments of Annex I Parties for the subsequent commitment periods.

Specifically, Mr Chair, the key focus of our discussions during this session was on the scale of emission reductions of Annex I in aggregate as well as an initial consideration of contributions of Annex I Parties, individually or jointly, to that in aggregate level of ambition by Annex I Parties. We would, however, point out that, in the opinion of the Group of 77 and China, this discussion should have been held 2 years ago, and it is this delay that has been the source of the slow progress of the work of the AWG-KP thus far.

Mr. Chairman,

The Group notes that, substantively, our discussions on scale of emission reductions in aggregate as well as individual or joint contributions of Annex I Parties have only highlighted the wide gap between the pledges put forward by Annex I Parties and what is required by science, historical responsibility and the principle of equity. In this context, the key challenge for our next informal session in August will be how to translate our general discussions which have been useful in clarifying and broadening understanding of proposals into a negotiation on the actual quantified emission reduction targets for Annex I Parties in the subsequent commitment periods.

G77 and China is very concerned at the slow pace of negotiations and the obvious lack of real commitment from Annex I Parties to a positive final outcome in Copenhagen with credible Annex I Party targets.

Mr. Chairman,

We note that during this session, the AWG-KP has also been able to make incremental progress on clarifying other issues, in particular the technical issues of Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry as well as on the issue of potential environmental, economic and social consequences, including spillover effects. We look forward to continuing our discussions on these issues at our August session.

Finally, Mr. Chairman,

I would like to assure you of the Group's continuous support and readiness to engage constructively and in an open manner in the negotiations in future sessions with the understanding that our work is focussed on fulfilling the very clear mandate of AWG-KP as stipulated in Article 3.9 of the Kyoto Protocol.

I thank you.