Madam President,
Excellencies,
Heads of State and Government,
H. E. the Prime Minister of Denmark,
H. E. the UN Secretary-General,
Honourable Ministers and Heads of Delegation,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good morning!

Madam President,

        Sudan is honoured to make this statement on behalf of the Group 77 and China.

        Let me at the outset congratulate you on your election as the President of the Fifteenth Session of the Conference of Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Fifth session of the Conference of Parties serving as a meeting of parties to the Kyoto Protocol. Let me also on behalf of the Group 77 and China to express, to the people and Government of Denmark, our thanks and appreciation for their hospitality and for hosting this historical event in the beautiful city of Copenhagen.

Madam President,

        Two years ago in Bali, all Parties agreed to adopt the results of the AWG-KP work in Copenhagen at this session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (CMP) and thereby set up two track negotiation process. In this regard, the Group has been working towards achieving the core mandate of the AWG-KP, which specifically focuses on the legal requirement to define the second period under the Kyoto Protocol. In line with the science, the 2nd Commitment Period must inscribe ambitious quantified emission reduction targets for developed countries beyond 2012 under an improved, more efficient and effective set of rules in order to enable developed country Parties to take the lead and significantly contribute to the minimization of impacts of climate change.

        However, we have seen that developed country Parties to the Kyoto Protocol seek to dismantle the protocol itself in favor of a "single undertaking", allegedly comprehensive, but which is in reality much weaker and will effectively undermine and reinterpret the convention and its Kyoto Protocol. To this end, we have seen continual delays in our work, exemplified by the fact that the AWG-KP has not met a single deadline to reach conclusions on in aggregate or individual emission reductions, which were agreed to in Poznan, only a year ago. It is clear that these efforts are intended to undermine and reinterpret the Convention itself, in particular its foundational principles of equity, common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities.

Madam President,

        Let us be clear that the Group of 77 and China regards the Convention together with its Kyoto Protocol and all the decisions we have taken under these instruments as the comprehensive undertaking of the international community to address the global challenge of climate change. In this regard, the Group wishes to stress the need to maintain the two track outcome that the Kyoto Protocol is an essential instrument which elaborates the means to enable developed country Parties to the Protocol to meet their legal commitment under Article 4.2 of the Convention to reduce their emissions.

Madam President,

        For the sake of the well being of our planet and its people the Group 77 and China insists that a second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol must be established beyond 2012 as the basis for comparable emission reduction commitments among all developed country Parties. We will oppose an agreement in Copenhagen which, in any way results in the Kyoto Protocol being superseded or made redundant. The second commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol is a minimum requirement for the Group, without which agreement in Copenhagen will not be possible.

Madam President,

        In Bali, we also agreed to launch a comprehensive process to enable the full, effective and sustained implementation of the Convention through long-term cooperative action, now, up to and beyond 2012, in order to reach an agreed outcome and adopt a decision at the fifteenth session of the Conference of Parties.

        Mr. Chairman, we have now reached the fifteenth session and the Group of 77 and China is ready to fulfill this mandate. However, the Group's intensive efforts to engage constructively in this process were seriously hampered by a complicated and multi-layered process of consultations imposed upon us at the beginning of this second week of this COP session.

Madam President,

        While we try to understand the objective of this exercise which, we suppose, was meant to generate the necessary political will to arrive at a meaningful conclusion in this conference, we feel that there is lack of transparency in the way the decisions were made to hold these high-level consultations, and the identification of the issues to be discussed in these consultations left much to be desired.

        Many of the G77 delegations have limited capacities and could not be represented in all the meetings, all of which are of great importance to the Group.

        Despite this development, the Group continued to engage in the different drafting groups and informal groups that continued until the early morning hours. We made some progress in a few of the groups, but this progress remains uncertain in the light of their linkage with the ongoing informal ministerial discussions.

Madam President,

        We still keep the hope that we could reach a balanced outcome for all the elements of the Bali Action Plan for this COP, and will continue to engage constructively in the negotiations, in order to reach an equitable outcome for this session. Developing countries have the most to lose at this session if there are no concrete results of our discussions, particularly if the Kyoto Protocol is undermined or dismantled. We therefore are the most concerned that we do arrive at a successful outcome at COP 15.

Madam President,

        The Group of 77 and China considers our shared vision as science-based and founded on the principles, provisions of the Convention, in particular, the principles of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities. Our shared vision must reflect the historical and current responsibility of developed countries for human-induced climate change, their resulting climate debt to developing countries, and establish the conditions needed for a fair and just sharing of the atmospheric resource.

Madam President,

        Our shared vision, including a long-term global goal for emission reductions, is to enhance the full effective and sustained implementation of the Convention henceforth in a balanced and comprehensive manner by addressing mitigation, adaptation, technology development and transfer, financing and capacity building in an integrated way. It must ensure that there is an inclusive, fair and equitable outcome that fully respects and supports the right to development and to survival of developing countries.

        It recognizes and promotes the right to survival and to development, under equitable conditions, for present and future generations is a right of all countries and peoples, and that social and economic development and poverty eradication are the first and overriding priorities of developing countries.

Madam President,

        The Group 77 and China calls for a comprehensive policy guidance on adaptation, effective institutional arrangements and new, additional, scaled up and long-term finance to enable developing countries to address their urgent, immediate as well as mid and long term adaptation needs.

Madam President,

        We are also concerned by the way mitigation has been dealt with in Copenhagen. Issues under the Bali Action Plan subparagraph l.b.i, which deals with mitigation by Annex I countries, have essentially stopped moving. This creates a lack of balance at the heart of the negotiation process. We cannot have a Copenhagen outcome without complete and sufficient treatment of mitigation under 1.b.i.

        We want a positive result in all aspects of the Bali Action Plan, We support progress of the entire set of issues. We want a process that appropriately covers all the building blocks. We cannot support a selective approach.

Madam President,

        As we indicated to you at the opening of this session the Group 77 and China supports the bottom up and party-driven process we all established and maintained over the past 2 years. We believe that this approach allows a balanced consideration of all issues under the Bali Action Plan and enables all parties to participate and bring in their interests and concerns regarding the expected agreed outcome of Copenhagen. It is no doubt that such approach is only way to lead us to a party-driven, fair and agreed outcome.

Madam President,

        We understand that there is a great sense of urgency and a mounting pressure to reach an agreed outcome here in Copenhagen. I would like to assure you and all parties that our group is highly committed to make this happening. However, we do have serious concerns regarding the organization of work at this level of the session and how the results of the ongoing work under the Ad Hoc Working Groups will be considered and incorporated in the outcome of this Conference.

Madam President,

        Group 77 and China stands ready to assist you in your role as the president to maintain a party-driven, open and transparent process that ensures the right of all developing countries to participate fully in shaping the outcome of this Conference.

        I thank you.