STATEMENT DELIVERED BY H.E. DR. FUAD HUSSEIN, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER AND FOREIGN MINISTER OF THE REPUBLIC OF IRAQ, ON THE OCCASION OF IRAQ'S ASSUMPTION OF THE CHAIRMANSHIP OF THE GROUP OF 77 AT THE UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS IN NEW YORK (New York, 13 January 2025)

In the name of God, the most gracious, the most merciful Your Excellency Mr. Philemon Yang, President of the General Assembly, Your Excellency Mr. Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations, Your Excellency Ms. Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary General, Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen, Distinguished guests,

On behalf of the Republic of Iraq. I would like to welcome His Excellency, Mr. Philemon Yang, President of the General Assembly, and His Excellency, Mr. Antonio Guterres, Secretary General of the United Nations for their presence and participation in this important event. I extend my deepest gratitude and appreciation to the Republic of Uganda and to His Excellency, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Jeje Odongo, and the Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York, under the leadership of His Excellency Ambassador, Adonia Ayebare and the diligent team for their distinguished leadership and chairmanship of the Group during 2024. We commend the efforts of all the member states of the G 77 and China and the previous presidencies that have enhanced solidarity and cooperation among Member States and has strengthened the status of the Group and consolidated its principles. I would like to seize this opportunity to express our appreciation to the Executive Secretariat of the G 77 in China for their efforts, and we are confident of their continued valuable support and endeavor efforts during our chairmanship. It is my honor and pleasure to stand before you today on the occasion of Iraq's assuming the presidency of G 77 in China. It is a great honor for Iraq and for me personally, to assume this great responsibility with pride and gratitude at this sensitive time full of increasing global challenges which require us all to cooperate and work together to achieve our common objectives, we pledge to assume this responsibility with dedication and sincerity, based on our firm determination to defend the objectives, principles and interests of the group and to strengthen the members positions in the United Nations system. I express my gratitude to the 134 member states, especially the Asia Pacific Group, for their confidence and support to Iraq to assume this noble mission.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Over the past decades, G 77 and China has played an active and distinguished role in promoting the economic and social goals of developing countries and has contributed to the advancement of many initiatives aimed at strengthening international Cooperation and building a just and inclusive global economic system in which developing countries can effectively contribute.

Today, as we assume the presidency of this group, we recognize the importance of this historic role and the great responsibility that incumbent upon us. During our chairmanship, we will work in concerted efforts with all member states in a transparent and continuous coordination to achieve our common goals and priorities. We count on your support and assistance to achieve these goals. Allow me to point out for you the priorities that we aim to achieve through working together during our presidency in which it is considered as our joint priorities:

1. Achieving sustainable development goals:

- We seek to ensure that these goals remain at the top of our international priorities, with a focus on combating poverty, improving health and education, ensuring a decent life for all as well as strengthening international solidarity and cooperation through consolidating cooperation among the Group States Member and our international partners in a way that respects national sovereignty and defends the interests of developing countries.

- We believe that the Addis Ababa action agenda is an integral part of the 2030, sustainable development agenda. We emphasize the importance of fully adhering to its implementation. Therefore, we look forward to having the Fourth International Financing for Development Conference, as an opportunity for the international community to renew its commitments, to not leave anyone behind.

2. Addressing climate change and environmental challenges:

Climate change has proven to have serious negative impacts on humans, the environment and development. Therefore, we will work with you to consider this as our highest priority mission. We will support international initiatives that seek to address climate change challenges to achieve our objectives through common, but differentiated, responsibilities within the framework of the Climate Change Convention and the Paris Agreement. We are committed to work together to address climate change, water scarcity, environmental degradation, in which all of these challenges are directly affecting the lives of our peoples and national development plans. We will work on enhancing the collective efforts to address the effects of climate change on developing countries and to ensure international support to implement climate adaptation plans, supporting climate financing for developing countries to adapt with climate change, the usage of renewable and sustainable, protection of national resources, combating desertification and protecting biodiversity that many member states are affected by.

3. Promoting South-South cooperation:

During our presidency, we will focus on strengthening South-South cooperation and South-North relations to ensure the implementation of initiatives related to financing programs of development and providing the necessary technical assistance. We will work together with our international partners to provide the resources that contribute to achieving sustainable development goals. Also, we will work to enhance joint cooperation to exchange resources and expertise in order to boost our collective capacity to face economic and social challenges in a way that guarantees respecting national sovereignty and defending the interests of developing countries, supporting joint efforts to achieve economic and social development, working on reducing gaps between countries, supporting international efforts to achieve the 2030 agenda, as well as enhancing international partnerships and cooperation with developed countries and international institutions towards building effective partnerships that guarantee achieving common interests, including enhancing the trilateral cooperation, (south, north, south).

4. Addressing Special challenges:

We are committed to protect the interests of the group, as we understand the circumstances and challenges that the African countries and least developed countries are suffering, as well as SIDS and LLDCs, in addition to the peoples under occupation. We will work tirelessly to ensure a better future is achieved for all our people and to ensure that no one is left behind. We will continue to work with all state members of the group, all international parties and stakeholders to address the challenges that our countries face. We look forward to following the best practices and constructive approaches to exchange expertise and required technical assistance to ensure enhancing collective solidarity among members.

5. Addressing economic challenges:

- We realize the significance of the economic challenges, especially debt problems, therefore we will work to strengthen the dialog in order to achieve sustainable global economic stability. in addition, we will work to strengthen solidarity and cooperation to address humanitarian and economic international crises, and to ensure a just distribution of resources. Also, we will support the policies of reducing debt burden on developing countries, providing sustainable financing to development projects, as well as enhancing food security, addressing poverty through supporting initiatives and providing technical assistance to developing countries to deal with the challenges related to food production, and mitigate the effects of economic crises and drought that leads to food insecurity.

- Emphasize the importance of reforming the international financial structure including reforming the governance of international finance institutions and MDBs, especially the IMF and the World Bank to enhance the voice of developing countries and their participation and representation in decision making on the economic international level, standardization, and global economic governance.

- We seek to continue the efforts to stop the illicit financial flow that draws on the resources of developing countries. Strengthen international cooperation in tax issues.

- As International Trade represents the engine for comprehensive economic development, eradicating poverty, and it contributes to the promotion of sustainable development, and structural transformation; we emphasize the importance of the principle of special and preferential treatment of developing countries in harnessing the development benefits of international trade and facilitate integrating their economies into the multilateral trade system.

6. Maintaining multilateralism:

We emphasize the importance of enhancing the multilateral dialog, preserving the international order, based on law enhances cooperation in facing global challenges, accompanying our peoples' aspirations and addressing global issues.

7. Addressing security challenges:

We assign particular significance in dealing with the cases of instability and the remnants of terrorism, which has affected development in many of our states and strengthening international dialogue to resolve conflicts and ensure humanitarian response to crises.

8. Technology Transfer:

We will promote technology transfer and capacity-building efforts in the developing countries which will help to achieve sustainable development by using artificial intelligence and building a fair and equitable digital economy with the importance of reducing the digital gap and providing support to developing countries in accessing and employing modern technology in development as well as investing to develop digital infrastructure.

9. The social aspect:

Enhance social justice, human rights, women and youth empowerment, building human capacity to achieve sustainability through education, vocational training, and scientific research.

Ladies and gentlemen,

The vision of Iraq 2030 has been launched, it is an ambitious national initiative where people are the center of development and the fundamental goal to achieve prosperity for current and future generations. It aims to achieve a comprehensive progress through various fields to turn Iraq into a diversified and prosperous economy as well as an advanced and sustainable society through developing the infrastructure, economic reforms, and strengthening the various economic fields including improving the infrastructure, the quality of education, providing education opportunities to everyone and enhancing innovation and entrepreneurship.

The vision seeks to achieve comprehensive prosperity for all segments of Iraqi society.

The National Strategy for Environmental Protection and Improvement in Iraq for 2024 to 2030 has been launched which represents an important achievement in Iraq's efforts to address environmental challenges in line with national development objectives. The national strategy aims to address the country's growing environmental challenges as a result of climate change, desertification, scarcity of water resources, and environmental degradation.

In conclusion, we are committed to working with all member states in cooperation, solidarity and transparency to achieve sustainable development goals and world peace. We will spare no efforts to enhance the status of the G 77 and China, and to work with you all, to achieve the aspirations of our peoples and achieve our common vision for a world where justice and sustainable development prevail.

The peace and blessings of God upon you.