Chair,
Excellencies,
Distinguished delegates,

I have the honor to deliver this statement on behalf of the Group of 77 and China on agenda items 16 and 17.

Excellencies,

We meet at the critical time when developing countries continue to face limited fiscal space constraining their respective national efforts to implement bold actions to support the pursuit of their national development goals and accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Group emphasizes that the discussions under these agenda items should focus on addressing the financing challenges that developing countries face, including sustainable development goals financing and investment gap, which is estimated between USD 2.5 trillion and 4 trillion annually. This financing gap is heightened by, inter alia; elevated debt burdens, rising illicit financial flows, trade protectionism, outdated international financial architecture and adverse impacts of climate change undermining the efforts of developing countries to accelerate actions to fully implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

We reaffirm our long standing position that achieving the sustainable development, including the Sustainable Development Goals requires new, additional, quality, adequate, sustainable, and predictable financing.

Excellencies,

The Group emphasizes that addressing the limited fiscal space and advancing the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda requires provision and mobilization of adequate means of implementation to developing countries. In this regard, the Group stresses that urgent actions to address the limited fiscal space and accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and achievement of SDGs in developing countries should include, inter alia:

a) Urgent reform of the international financial architecture, including international financial institutions and multilateral development banks governance reform, especially of IMF and the World Bank, to broaden and strengthen the voice, and participation and representation of developing countries in international economic decision making, norm setting and global economic governance;
b) Promote access to concessional finance and long term financing to all developing countries, in particular African countries, LDCs, LLDCs, SIDS, and MICs;
c) Improve global sovereign debt architecture, with the meaningful participation of all developing countries;
d) Elimination of the surcharge policy by the IMF;
e) Call IMF to issue a new general allocation of SDRs;
f) Voluntary rechannelling of unutilized Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) to developing countries;
g) Scale up debt swaps for SDGs, including debt swaps for climate and nature to allow developing countries to use debt service payments for investments in sustainable development and taking multilateral measures to standardize the use of these mechanisms;
h) Fulfil existing commitments, including ODA by developed countries as well as announcement of new commitments;
i) Support the multilateral trading system, including through the fulfilment of long-standing pending negotiating issues, such as comprehensive agricultural trade reform, and working toward the necessary WTO reform, strengthening the special and differential treatment for developing countries as a multilateral principle and ensuring transfer of technology to deliver on sustainable development;
j) Eliminate immediately all laws and regulations with extraterritorial impact and all other forms of coercive economic measures, including unilateral sanctions, against developing countries;
k) Support structural transformation and enhance productive capacities for building diversified, resilient, and sustainable economies that can generate decent and productive employment;
l) Increase investments in areas such as infrastructure, innovation, technology, and skills development, as well as support for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises;
m) Prevent and combat the illicit financial flows that drain resources from developing countries;
n) Enhance international cooperation on tax matters to make it inclusive and effective, including through constructively engaging in negotiations on the UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation;
o) Advance the establishment of the set of measures of progress on sustainable development that complement or go beyond gross domestic product to inform access to concessional finance and technical cooperation for developing countries through a UN-led intergovernmental process in consultation with all relevant stakeholders, which will also require increased investment in national statistical systems, in data collection, and in capacity building for national statistical agencies;
p) Scale up investments in digital public infrastructure, connectivity, education, skills-training and capacity-building to ensure that developing countries can take better advantage of the digital economy and digitalization;
q) Promote and facilitate investments in developing countries, including though increasing Foreign Direct Investment flows to developing countries, and supporting capacity building for developing countries in order to benefit from opportunities in international investment agreements;
r) Catalyse increased public and private sector investment in sustainable development, including by promoting inclusive and innovative finance mechanisms and partnerships, and by creating a more enabling domestic and international regulatory and investment environment.

Excellencies,

Accordingly, the Group will submit six (6) draft resolutions under these two agendas with concrete policy action proposals to support developing countries in pursuit of their respective national development priorities as well as accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable development and achievement of SDGs in the remaining six years to 2030.

Excellencies,

In conclusion, the G77 and China will engage actively and constructively in the discussions and negotiations of these draft resolutions, with the view of supporting developing countries to effectively and adequately address the financing challenges that they face.

I thank you.