Mr. President,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,

1. Following the adoption of the resolution on the United Nations High-level Conference on South-South Cooperation, I have the honour to deliver this statement on behalf of the Member States of the Group of 77 and China.

2. We greatly value South-South cooperation and look forward to a successful outcome of the Conference to be held from 1 to 3 December 2009 in Nairobi, Kenya. I wish to take the opportunity to express the Group's gratitude to the Government of Kenya for its generous offer to host this Conference.

3. The Group wishes to also extend its appreciation to the President of the High-level Committee on South-South Cooperation and Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations, His Excellency Mr. Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, to the facilitator, Mr. Raymond Landveld of Suriname, and to the G-77 coordinator,
Mr. Nor Eddine Benfreha of Algeria and all delegations for their support and commitment in this important process.

Mr. President,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,

4. I wish to stress the G-77 conceptual framework and principles of South-South cooperation contained in the "Yamoussoukro Consensus" and reaffirmed by the Thirty-third Annual Meeting of Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the Group of 77 held at UN Headquarters in New York on 25 September 2009:

- South-South cooperation is a common endeavour of peoples and countries of the South and must be pursued as an expression of South-South solidarity and a strategy for economic independence and self-reliance of the South based on their common objectives and solidarity;      
- South-South cooperation and its agenda must be driven by the countries of the South;
- South-South cooperation must not be seen as a replacement for North-South cooperation. Strengthening South-South cooperation must not be a measure of coping with the receding interest of the developed world in assisting developing countries;
- Cooperation between countries of the South must not be analyzed and evaluated using the same standards as those used for North-South relations;
- Financial contributions from other developing countries should not be seen as Official Development Assistance from these countries to other countries of the South. These are merely expressions of solidarity and cooperation borne out of shared experiences and sympathies;
- South-South cooperation is a development agenda based on premises, conditions and objectives that are specific to the historic and political context of developing countries and to their needs and expectations. South-South cooperation deserves its own separate and independent promotion;
- South-South cooperation is based on a strong, genuine, broad-based partnership and solidarity;
- South-South cooperation is based on complete equality, mutual respect and mutual benefit;
- South-South cooperation respects national sovereignty in the context of shared responsibility;
- South-South cooperation strives for strengthened multilateralism in the promotion of an action-oriented approach to development challenges;
- South-South cooperation promotes the exchange of best practices and support among developing countries in the common pursuit of their broad development objectives (encompassing all aspects of international relations and not just in the traditional economic and technical areas);
- South-South cooperation is based on the collective self-reliance of developing countries;
- South-South cooperation seeks to enable developing countries to play a more active role in international policy and decision-making processes, in support of their efforts to achieve sustainable development;
- The modalities and mechanisms for promoting South-South cooperation are based on bilateral, sub-regional, regional and interregional cooperation and integration as well as multilateral cooperation.

Mr. President,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,
 
5. In conclusion, I wish to reiterate our commitment and support in this process and to continue to work towards the successful outcome of the High-level Conference on South-South Cooperation and to engage in a constructive dialogue with all our partners.

I thank you.