The Honorable President of the Republic of Argentina,
Mr. President of the General Assembly,
Mr. Secretary General,
Mr. Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs,
Mr. Executive Secretary,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,

1. It is a privilege and an honour to welcome each one of you at the Thirty-fourth Ministerial Meeting of our Group. Your presence here today is a demonstration of your commitment to the objectives and principles of the Group of 77.

2. Since Yemen assumed the chairmanship of the Group of 77 and China, its top objective was to enhance the unity and solidarity of the Group, for we believe that we can't achieve our aims without working harmoniously. Yemen firmly believed in the argument that the diversity within our Group does indeed enrich us, and compromise within the Group contributes to its strength. The 65th session of the General Assembly provides us with the opportunity to review the progress of our development agenda so far this year, assess the current situation and to chart our course of action over the coming months.

Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,

3. The ongoing negative impact of the world financial and economic crisis has reversed many important developmental gains in developing countries and threatens to seriously undermine the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. In this context, we recall that the crisis in the financial sector spread to the global economy, causing, inter alia, declines in GNP, a fall in world trade and a rapid rise in unemployment. The global financial and economic crisis is not over and the recovery is uneven and uncertain, and there is no guarantee that the relapse will not occur.

4. The systemic problems facing the global economy have to be resolved, including through the full realization of reform of the global financial system and its structure. There are significant global imbalances among countries with trade and current account surpluses and deficits. Measures to strengthen the regulation of financial institutions, markets and complex instruments are still being discussed. The flow of foreign credit and foreign direct investments in many developing countries has been significantly reduced. The persistence of these uncertain conditions in the world economy is seriously affecting developing countries.

5. In this context, there is an even greater need for a mechanism to facilitate multilateral discussions of global economic issues and over policy coordination.

6. The international community needs to encourage an inclusive and sustained recovery program, and provide continued support for sustainable development efforts by developing countries, with special emphasis on the principle of ownership and leadership in the implementation of national strategies and policies. It is also important to ensure that developing countries have the fiscal and policy freedom to determine national goals and implement national policies and strategies.

7. We also call our partners' attention to the economic situation of LDCs and SIDS. Given the fact that this year marks the end of a decade since the Brussels Programme of Action, we expressed our concern at the uneven and insufficient progress in achieving the targets in the implementation of the Programme of Action and we look forward to a successful Conference on LDCs to be held next year in Istanbul.

8. In this context, we stress that the United Nations is the only global body with universal membership and unquestioned legitimacy and is, therefore, well positioned to address global economic governance with the objective of reaching sustainable and socially balanced economic development. It is critical that member states commit to the United Nations processes, multilateralism and its underlying values in order to fulfill its role in global economic governance.

Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,

9. During the last few months the Group has participated actively and effectively and has expressed utmost flexibility in the negotiations process with our partners to realize the Outcome Document of the UN high level meeting on MDGs that took place from 20 to 22 September 2010, where the World Leaders had joined forces and commit themselves to redouble efforts to achieve the MDGs by 2015.

10. At the summit, it was clearly demonstrated that there is an urgent need to scale up the global partnership for development to mobilize additional resources to address the remaining gaps, and the continuing challenges facing the developing countries. We consider the outcome document of the Summit to be a plan of action that demands immediate implementation. Likewise, we stress the need for an annual review of this plan of action within the UN system to make the achievement of the MDGs a reality by 2015.

11. Climate change is a global phenomenon that threatens not only our societies' developmental prospects but also their very existence; it is, indeed, one of the most serious challenges of our times. It is not merely an issue of environment or development but also an issue of survival-a matter of life and death for many countries . As we speak this morning, many of our people suffer from its adverse effects which-if remain unaddressed-will result in greater consequences.

12. It has, therefore, become incumbent upon the international community, particularly the developed countries given their historical responsibility, to address this universal menace within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and its Kyoto Protocol (KP). This would only be consummated by adhering to the provisions and principles of the Convention, in particular the principles of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities. Similarly, the continuity of the Kyoto Protocol is an essential element for the future of the climate change regime. New quantified emission reduction commitments by Annex I parties under the KP, therefore, must be met to avoid any gap between the first and subsequent commitment periods under the Protocol.

13. To succeed, however, we must approach Cancun full of hope and determination. While it is true that we have to be pragmatic and realistic in our approach, we, nevertheless, should persist with our ambitions to achieve comprehensive and concrete outcomes. We hope that our third round of negotiations in Tianjin, China, next week, would be productive and would move us closer to achieving a successful outcome in the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Cancun later this year.

14. Last week the United Nations Organization for the first time in its history addressed the issue of biodiversity at the level of heads of state and government. We seized the opportunity to reaffirm our commitment regarding the target set by world governments in 2002, "to achieve by 2010 a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss at the global, regional and national level" target which has not been met. We also underscored the need for great mobilization and political will such that we will be able to adopt the protocol on access and benefit-sharing and to ensure that the post-2010 targets are able to be met through new, additional and sufficient financial resources and the transfer of technology to developing countries. In this regard, we look forward to a successful and comprehensive outcome at the Tenth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP10) which will be held from 18 to 29 October 2010 in Nagoya, Japan.

15. In this context, we congratulate the CBD Secretariat for the elaboration of a Multi-Year Plan of Action for South-South Cooperation on Biodiversity for Development as mandated by COP-9 and look forward to its adoption at the Tenth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP-10). We welcome convening of the First Forum on South-South Cooperation on Biodiversity to be held in Nagoya, Japan, on 17 October 2010, and we commend the efforts by Dr. Ahmed Djoghlaf, Executive Secretary of CBD, for establishing a strategic partnership with the Group of 77 in the field of South-South cooperation.

16. We look forward to the convening of a World Summit on Sustainable Development in Brazil in 2012 to review the 20-year progress achieved in the implementation of the outcomes of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Sustainable Development, held in Rio de Janeiro, in 3-14 June 1992, including the World Summit on Sustainable Development held in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 26 August to 4 September 2002.

Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,

17. We stress the need to fully implement all agreed commitments from all the major United Nations summits and conferences in the economic, social and environmental fields and further emphasize the need for a strengthened and scaled up global partnership for development, based on the recognition of national leadership and ownership of development strategies.

18. I wish to stress the importance of the effective coordination between the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and the G-77 through the Joint Coordinating Committee (JCC). We will continue to work together with NAM through the JCC with a view to preserve and promote the development agenda and strengthen our coordination and cooperation. In this regard, the Group of 77 and China together with the Non-Aligned Movement in the Joint Coordinating Committee (JCC) engaged actively and constructively in the process of system-wide coherence, with an aim to institutionalize concepts like universality, national ownership and equitable geographical representation, which undoubtedly are some of the fundamental principles of the United Nations.

19. We welcome the establishment of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), through the adoption of the General Assembly resolution 64/289 on system-wide coherence, and pledge our full support to its operationalization. In this context, we welcome the appointment of MS. Michelle Bachelet, a woman from the South, as the first head of UN Women and we are confident that under her forceful leadership the UN Women will strengthen the United Nations' ability to support the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women in the world.

Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,

20. South-South cooperation remains our great hope considering the roadblocks we are experiencing in the North-South dialogue over the past years on any given subject. South-South cooperation has increased in importance and scope and we believe strongly that time has come to broaden and strengthen further this type of cooperation as an effective way of promoting international cooperation for development, especially in the current international economic environment.

21. As it has been stated by our Group on many occasions, South-South cooperation is a complement to, rather than substitute for, North-South development cooperation. South-South cooperation is a collective endeavour of developing countries based on premises, conditions and objectives that are specific to the historic and political context of developing countries.

22. We reaffirmed the importance of strengthening the current UN institutional mechanisms for South-South cooperation including the Special Unit for South-South Cooperation. We call for the implementation of the Outcome document of the UN High-level Conference on South-South Cooperation which was held from 1 to 3 December 2009 in Nairobi, Kenya.

23. I wish to invite member countries to contribute generously in support of G-77 mechanisms for South-South cooperation, particularly to the Perez-Guerrero Trust Fund and appeal to every Member State to make a significant one-time contribution to the PGTF on the occasion of the upcoming UN Pledging Conference for Development Activities to be held in New York in November.

24. I would like to seize this opportunity to report on the progress made in the operationalization of the Consortium on Science, Technology and Innovation for the South (COSTIS). In this context, I wish to commend the efforts by the G-77 Paris Chapter and to call on UNESCO to provide necessary resources in order to enable us to convene the First General Conference of COSTIS prior to the Third South Summit.

25. I would like to seize this opportunity to express our appreciation to the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya for their generous offer to host the Third South Summit and we look forward to the successful preparations of the Summit. We will work closely with the Government of Libya in order to make all necessary arrangements for its success. Likewise, I wish to take this opportunity to express our gratitude for the generous offers made by member states to host sectoral meetings of the Group of 77 in various fields of cooperation in response to the South-South mandate. As Chair country, we are fully committed to work towards the successful preparations of these major events.

26. Finally, I wish to take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to all delegations for the valuable support provided to the Chair over the past months. I am also pleased also to commend the work done by the Executive Secretariat of the Group of 77, under the able leadership of Mr. Mourad Ahmia and his competent team, for their dedication and commitment to our work. To all of you, we say thank you.

        I wish all success to your deliberations.

        Thank you.