Distinguished Madame President,

The State of Palestine this year has the honor and privilege of serving as the Chair of the Group of 77 and China, composed of 134 developing countries in the UN system. Palestine’s commitment to multilateralism and international cooperation is manifest through our efforts to contribute constructively and positively to the success of COP25 for the collective benefit of our peoples and future generations. I would like to also express our sincere appreciation to the Kingdom of Spain for its generous hosting of COP25 and point out our gratitude for the hospitality and excellent organization

As developing countries, our pursuit of the right to development and achieve the eradication of poverty must be respected and safeguarded. The increasing impacts of climate change and the associated losses and damages on our socio-economic circumstances and development prospects are posing increasing challenges to our development prospects, over and above the continuing macroeconomic development challenges that many of our countries.

In the UN climate change negotiations, our right to sustainable development is best safeguarded through the application of the guiding principle, as set out by the Convention and its Paris Agreement, of common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities, in light of different national circumstances. This principle is founded on the concept of equity and of fairness under international law.

In this context, even as we developing countries respond based on our different national circumstances to calls for enhanced ambition on adaptation and on mitigation, we call on our developed country partners to show enhanced ambition in taking the lead to reduce their emissions and in being more ambitious in the provision of support to developing countries, including for adaptation, the impacts of response measures, and loss and damage arising from climate change. Such enhanced support from developed countries is indispensable to having an enhanced and more ambitious focus on adaptation and the pursuit of sustainable development by developing countries when implementing the Paris Agreement. Furthermore, the provision of climate financing to developing countries must be depoliticized.

Adaptation is a great priority for developing countries and must be treated in a balanced manner compared to mitigation actions. Adaptation, including the mechanisms, funding institutions, and institutional arrangements that have been set up under the Convention and the Kyoto Protocol cannot be left behind in the continued development of the implementation arrangements for the Paris Agreement. Support for adaptation actions in developing countries, as well as support for enhanced action on addressing loss and damage, will be increasingly crucial for developing countries as the adverse effects of climate change scale up in the future.

COP25 takes place at a crucial historical juncture. 2020 is quite literally around the corner. This is the year in which Parties’ pre-2020 actions under the Convention are supposed to conclude and lay the foundation for future climate actions for Parties to the Paris Agreement. However, developed countries’ fulfillment of their long-standing commitments for ambitious climate actions under the Convention, including reducing their own emissions and the provision of support to developing countries, has been thus far insufficient. Some developed countries, including one that is responsible for almost one third of historical emissions and one-fifth of current emissions, have seemingly turned their back on their commitments.

We believe that maintaining unity and trust in the multilateral climate negotiations process is the only path to address the serious challenges we collectively face and which threaten the future of humanity. This is particularly crucial during these turbulent and trying times, when our peoples expect that we take bold and effective actions to address the adverse effects of climate change and to act swiftly to remedy their effects. In this regard, we view the cynicism shown by major partners towards multilateralism and the international rules-based order as a whole as a serious challenge that could undermine our collective efforts and interests. Our message should be united, our commitment must be unwavering, and our submission that our interests as humanity are intertwined must be unequivocal. We have an obligation to act responsibly and to be guided by our joint interests and the science. Unilateralism, isolationism, and pseudo-science threaten our efforts and we have a responsibility to ensure that they do not hijack our ongoing efforts. As developing countries, the Group of 77 and China takes this responsibility seriously.

In closing, Madame President, let me reiterate again the Group’s congratulations on your assumption of the Presidency and our assurances that we will work closely with you and our partners to ensure that COP25 is a success. I thank you.