Mr. Secretary-General,
Mr. Acting President of the General Assembly,
Madame Administrator of UNDP,
Mr. Under-Secretary-General of UNDESA,
Mr. Executive Secretary,
Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,

1. It is my pleasure and honour to wish all of you a very Happy and prosperous New Year, 2011.

2. In bringing to a close Yemen's Chairmanship of the Group of 77 for 2010, allow me to thank sincerely, on behalf of my country, all those who assisted the delegation of Yemen to accomplish the mandate entrusted to it a year ago, in an exceptionally eventful and extremely challenging year.

3. I would also like to express my sincere thanks to all members of the Group of 77 and China for their valuable support to my country. I am delighted with the spirit of cooperation and solidarity that prevails in our Group and which helped us to consolidate our ranks and to defend our common strategic interests.

4. A year ago, you entrusted to my country the stewardship of the Group of 77. We accepted such an onerous responsibility, with pride and conviction, fully aware of the challenges and obstacles that developing countries face in their struggle to advance social and economic progress and justice for their populations in a manner consistent with sustainable development.

5. As in the past, the Group of 77 and China has been very active throughout the year. We have continued to tackle a number of multilateral issues including economic and social development matters such as climate change, trade, sustainable development, implementation of commitments and actions necessary to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as well as the Internationally Agreed Developed Goals (IADGs) among others.

Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,

6. Indeed, our task has been made more difficult by the multiple inter-related current global crises and challenges, in particular the world financial and economic crisis as well as the food crisis and continuing food insecurity and energy crises, climate change challenges, which are compromising and further undermining the achievement of the Internationally Agreed Development Goals, including the Millennium Development Goals.

7. Our focus last year was on the preparations of the High-Level Plenary Summit of the General Assembly held from 20 to 22 September 2010, which had directed the debate on accelerating progress towards the achievement of all the MDGs, taking into account the progress made with regard to the Internationally Agreed Development Goals. The Summit has offered an opportunity to renew commitments, rally support and spur collective action to reach the MDGs by 2015.

8. At the Summit, our Group 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 and we stressed the need for its annual review within the UN system to make the achievement of the MDGs a reality by 2015.

9. The 18th session of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) as well as its High level Segment provided us with the opportunity to review the progress we have made in the areas of Transport, Chemicals, Waste Management, Mining, and a 10-Year framework of programmes on sustainable consumption and production patterns. It was followed by the First Preparatory Committee of the UN Conference on Sustainable Development. The G-77 seized this occasion to draw the international community's attention on its concerns regarding the severe challenges still remaining in achieving the goals of the three pillars of sustainable development, particularly in the context of the current global crises. We reiterated the need to address new and emerging sustainable development issues that arise, including from current and future global crises and challenges.

10. The first UN High-Level Conference on Biodiversity was held during the General Assembly last year. Our Group was able to underscore the need for great mobilization and political will to adopt the protocol on access and benefit-sharing. The Conference in Nagoya reached a comprehensive outcome which represented quite an achievement for our Group. In this context, I am pleased to report the adoption of the Multi-Year Plan of Action for South-South Cooperation on Biodiversity for Development at the first Forum on South-South Cooperation (SSC) held in Nagoya Japan in October 2010.

Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,

11. In Cancun, we were able to reaffirm some of the key issues for our Group, namely, the review of a financial mechanism, the governance of long term finance, the review of Adaptation Fund and its institutional arrangements, the Implementation of decision 1/CP10, the lack of inflow of capital to the Special Climate Change Fund and the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) Fund to enable developing countries to deal with the adverse impacts of climate change, the predictability of funding and the provision of the agreed full costs for the preparation of National Communications from Non-Annex I. We also reiterated that capacity building is a prerequisite for, and essential to, enabling our countries to participate fully in and implement effectively their commitments under the Convention. These are all big concerns for our Group.

Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates

12. The annual Spring Meeting of ECOSOC with the Bretton Woods Institutions (BWIs), the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) provided us with the opportunity to review and strengthen the relationship between the UN and BWIs, as set out in the Monterrey consensus by pursuing a constructive and conducive debate with them in order to find ways and means to remedy the world financial and economic crisis.

13. We reiterated our call for the governing structures of BWIs to be reformed, ensuring the promotion of fair and equitable representation by developing countries and improving transparency and credibility and the appointment of senior leadership of BWIs through transparent and merit-based selection process. We also emphasized the urgent need for the mobilization of adequate resources at the national level as well as new and additional resources to developing countries from all available funding mechanisms, including multilateral, bilateral and private sources, for the implementation of actions and measures towards overcoming the impact of the current crisis.

14. At the 2010 Substantive Session of ECOSOC, we reaffirmed the role of the Council in promoting coherence, coordination and cooperation in the implementation of the Monterrey Consensus and the Doha Declaration on Financing for Development, and recognized the need to further improve cooperation between the United Nations, the Bretton Woods institutions and the World Trade Organization. In that regard, we also reiterated that much more needs to be done to ensure the full implementation of the agreed FFD commitments.

15. The high-level segment of the Economic and Social Council focused on the implementation of the internationally agreed development goals and commitments on gender equality and the empowerment of women. This segment provided us with the opportunity to assess the progress made, share experience and lessons learned and find appropriate ways to overcome remaining obstacles and challenges to the gender issue.

16. We welcome the establishment of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) which we believe 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

17. Regarding the LDCs, we expressed the Group's concerns at the uneven and insufficient progress in achieving the targets of the implementation of the Programme of Action for the LDCs for the Decade 2001-2010, especially with respect to alleviating poverty, combating hunger, achieving gender equality and reducing maternal mortality, among others. We repeated our call for enhanced productive capacity of LDCs, particularly in the agriculture sector, and for greater investment in physical infrastructure and technological development. We also called for an early conclusion of the Doha Development Round of trade negotiations for creating non-distorted, non-discriminatory, and equitable market that can promote agricultural and rural development for LDCs and contribute to world food security.

18. Similarly, we called on the international community to renew its commitment to fully and effectively address the needs and concerns of the Small Island Developing States (SIDS). The Group of 77 and China urged all development partners, in particular, developed countries, to honour and urgently scale-up all commitments related to (SIDS) and in particular those related to the provision of new and additional financial resources, technology transfer, capacity-building, and increased participation of SIDS in international economic decision-making. This is crucial for SIDS to achieve the objective of sustainable development, as set out in the Barbados Programme of Action and the Mauritius Strategy for Implementation (MSI).

19. The UN reform is an important subject our Group addresses in close coordination with the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) through the Joint Coordination Committee (JCC). In this context, we stressed 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.

20. We also reaffirmed that the UN operational activities segment constitutes one critical element fundamental to strengthening the development pillar of the United Nations. Our Group reiterated the need for a strengthened global partnership for development, based on the recognition of national leadership and ownership of development strategies, should be a guiding principle of UN operational activities at the country level.

Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,

21. As it has been stated by our Group on many occasions, South-South cooperation remains the hope for many developing countries to meet important development challenges and objectives during the past decades. The sixteenth session of the High-level Committee on South-South Cooperation provided us with the opportunity to emphasize the importance of the role of the UN in supporting South-South cooperation in order for developing countries to effectively participate in the world economy and have a fair share of the benefits of globalization. We reaffirmed the importance of strengthening the current UN mechanisms for South-South and we also reaffirmed the call from the Nairobi outcome document for the UN funds and programmes as well as the specialized agencies to take concrete measures to mainstream support for South-South cooperation including triangular cooperation to help developing countries to develop capacities to maximize the benefits and impact of South-South cooperation.

22. I wish to seize this occasion to convey our sincere thanks and profound gratitude to the Government of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya for their generous offer to host the G-77 Third South Summit in Tripoli in 2011. This special occasion will provide us a timely opportunity to assess the progress made in implementing both the Havana Programme of Action and the Doha Plan of Action, to share experiences and lessons learned and find appropriate ways to overcome remaining obstacles and strengthen the institutional and substantive capacity of the Group of 77.

23. In compliance with South Summit decision, I am pleased to report the recent decision of UNESCO to support the operationalization phase of the Consortium on Science, Technology and Innovation for the South (COSTIS) created in 2006 in accordance with the Second-South Summit mandate. Indeed, during the 185th session of its Executive Board held this past October 2010, UNESCO committed itself to "provide necessary technical support for the operationalization of COSTIS and to cooperate with the G-77 in mobilizing the extra-budgetary resources needed for the implementation of such project and for the convening of the First General Conference of COSTIS prior to the G-77 Third South Summit".

24. The Consortium will, therefore, move onto the preparations of its First General Conference to be held in the course of this year. At this occasion, I wish to commend the remarkable efforts by the G-77 Paris Chapter under the leadership of Ambassador Mrs. Luisa Rebeca Sanchez Bello, Permanent Delegate of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to UNESCO, Vice-Chairperson of the Group of 77 and Coordinator of COSTIS, for this important achievement for the Group.

Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates

25. With the conclusion of our tenure, I would like to take this opportunity to once again express my sincere thanks to all delegations of the Group of 77 for their most valuable support over the past year. Our job would have been impossible without your valuable support. We will always be indebted to you, in particular to all those who took on challenging negotiating and coordination assignments and those who gave us their professional and political counsel to advance in the appropriate direction.

26. I would like to affirm our readiness to continue working with the Group to forge ahead towards the achievement of our common goals and interests. At this stage, I wish to extend my heartiest congratulations to the delegation of Argentina who will be assuming the responsibility of the Chairmanship of the Group of 77. I pledge to the delegation of Argentina the full and unreserved support of my delegation.

27. Finally, I am pleased also to put on record and commend the excellent 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 continued valuable support, dedication and commitment to our work.

28. I wish all success to our deliberations.

Thank you