Chair of the twelfth Session of the Trade and Development Commission, Ambassador Chad Blackman of Barbados,
Director Shamika Sirimanne of the Division on Technology and Logistics,
Officer-in-Charge of the Division on International Trade and Commodities,
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,

Mr. Chair,

1. The Group of 77 and China would like to express its gratitude to the Chair and Vice Chair of the most recent edition of the Multi-year Expert Meeting on Commodities and Development, as well as to thank the Secretariat for the substantive and logistical support for this meeting.

Mr. Chair,

2. The latest figures from UNCTAD show that two thirds of developing countries and 84% of least developed countries are commodity dependent. As our Group flagged in its position paper for UNCTAD 15, this chronic commodity dependence is causing low integration in the global value chains and marginal value-added, thereby hampering development prospects.

3. Indeed, economic diversification is inextricably linked with the structural transformation of the economies of developing countries and with the achievement of higher levels of productivity resulting from the movement of economic resources within and between economic sectors.

4. Diversification and value addition are moreover particularly important in commodity dependent countries, given the recent plunging prices for some raw materials, to ensure that those countries can reduce their exposure to excessively volatile international commodity markets and facilitate upward movement in regional and global value chains.

5. We therefore commend the results of the Expert Meeting on Commodities and Development and hope that it will serve as an input in the preparatory work of UNCTAD 15, to ensure that UNCTAD steps up its work to help developing countries break away from the chains of commodity dependence.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.