Mr. Chairman,
Excellencies,
Dear Colleagues, good afternoon!

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

Mr. Chairman,

        Allow me at the outset to express our appreciations to the Government and people of Denmark for hosting this historical meeting in the beautiful city of Copenhagen, and for the Convention's Secretariat for their excellent arrangements.

Mr. Chairman,

        In Bali end of 2007, we all agreed to fulfil the mandate of Bali Action Plan and launch a comprehensive process to enable the full, effective and sustained implementation of the Convention through log-term cooperative action, now, up to and beyond 2012, in order to reach an agreed outcome and adopt a decision at this fifteenth session of the Conference of Parties.

        Mr. Chairman, we are now here to fulfill the mandate we agreed upon in Bali.

Mr. Chairman,

        We engaged fully in this process in an open and constructive manner, we submitted proposal on all elements that fulfil the mandate of the Bali Action Plan, we expect nothing less from the developed country Parties of the Convention but the same good faith in negotiations and a process conducted in open, transparent and inclusive manner

Mr. Chairman,

        During these past two years, what did our developed country partners do? We faced proposals that are incoherent and inconsistent with the principles and provisions to which we all, as Parties to this legal Convention, agreed. We faced a determined refusal to engage directly on the concrete submissions that we have put on the table. We faced demands that would shift the responsibilities for emissions reductions, for financing, for adaptation, to developing countries. We faced a relentless media campaign to show that developing countries are the ones that are blocking this process.

Mr. Chairman,

        But as we approached Copenhagen, the tone changed.

        When finally the real objectives of shirking the responsibilities for emissions reductions were laid bare; when the aim to gut the Kyoto Protocol of its vital elements in order to leave it meaningless and to shift these elements to the Convention process, the LCA, with the objective of transferring the responsibility of emissions reductions to developing countries was openly exposed; when the proposals slowly emerged to continue to follow the failed delivery systems used for the implementation of commitments on the provision of financial resources and for transfer of technology outside of the Convention and for these to be shared by developing countries themselves; and when, finally, it was shown that there was really very little on the table right now from developed countries that would fulfill the mandate of the Bali Action Plan in accordance with the principles and obligations under the Convention and the Protocol, the tone changed.

Mr. Chairman,

        We should continue to utilize the remaining time available to us to fulfill the mandate given by the Bali Action Plan. We reject attempts of developed countries to shift the responsibility of addressing climate change and its adverse effects on developing countries and their objective of concluding another legally binding instrument that would put together the obligations of developed countries under the KP and similar actions of developing countries. This would revoke the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and historical responsibility under the Convention by imposing these obligations as well on developing countries.

        In return, developing countries, will get some adaptation assistance, in the form of "fast-track" financing that is at least fifteen years late, Mr. Chairman.

        The existing international financial architecture has failed to deliver sufficient resources to address the threat of climate change. We hope our partners will ensure the operationalization of an effective financial mechanism under the Convention.

Mr. Chairman,

        Others have been promised assistance if they undertake mitigation actions, provided they subject themselves to measurement, reporting and verification. What if these actions are found, by some still undefined standards, inadequate? What about the promised financing then? And what about the great majority of developing countries that do not still have the capability even to undertake these actions, Mr. Chairman? Are the obligations under the Convention to provide agreed full incremental costs funding going to be fulfilled then, and how?

        And when are all of these going to be implemented, Mr. Chairman, even if we assume that all Parties will also sign and ratify whatever new treaty is projected to be negotiated post-Copenhagen? We completely reject this plan, promoted aggressively from Barcelona to Copenhagen, in various fora and through various statements made outside this process.

Finally, Mr. Chairman,

        The Group of 77 and China comes to Copenhagen to engage fully and negotiate in good faith to fulfill the mandate of the Bali Action Plan. We have worked to have our negotiating texts on the table, and we will continue to negotiate these. We aim to arrive at a substantive agreed outcome that would clearly demonstrate the way forward for the full, effective and sustained implementation of the Convention, in accordance with its principles and its provisions.

        We are ready to come forward with specific proposals to ensure that the positions of the Group, made clear time and again for the past two years, are part of the agreed outcome.

        We need to act now.

        I thank you.