I commend Palestine for its excellent stewardship of the group. Its leadership has proved invaluable navigating through difficult negotiations.  I wish to extend my personal gratitude to Ambassador Riad Mansour and his team for his wisdom and support.

The Group of 77 is the largest and most diverse group here at the United Nations. It is an indispensable partner to the General Assembly. It has succeeded in maintaining its unity and is continually making substantive contributions to multilateralism.

The Group’s approach to facilitating multilateral negotiations ensures continued internal coordination so that it speaks with once voice during negotiations. This coordination helps to move processes forward.

I commend the Group’s engagement to advance the interests of poor and marginalised people of the world through their engagement across all pillars of our work.      

In 2019, the G77 and China made tremendous contributions to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, under the able leadership of Palestine.

For the first time the High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development convened under the auspices of the General Assembly during High Level Week. This offered a unique opportunity to assess the level of progress achieved and mobilize political support at the highest level.  The Summit adopted the political declaration which has summoned us all to gear up for the Decade of Action and Delivery to implement the sustainable development goals.

There have already been expressions of interest from members to present their Voluntary National Reviews for the 2020 HLPF under the ECOSOC and I commend members of the Group who presented during the first cycle of follow-up and review (2016/2019).

Furthermore, I am encouraged by the leadership of Palestine during a busy period for the Sustainable Development Agenda and notable events such as the South-South Cooperation Conference in Buenos Aires, the Climate Action Summit, the Mid-Term Review of the SAMOA Pathway, the High-Level Dialogue on Financing for Development, and the High Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage.

Excellencies,

2020 marks the beginning of the Decade of Action and Delivery for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This year, we must focus on the remaining challenges and disparities faced by many, and the impending dangers posed by the climate crisis.

We begin the decade by focusing this year on nature. SDG13: Climate Action, SDG 14: Life below Water and SDG 15: Life on Land, will be at the core of our deliberations.

The General Assembly is offering many opportunities to address points related to Oceans, Climate, Biodiversity and Desertification and land degradation.

These moments will mobilize all stakeholders: from politicians to scientists, private sector, philanthropists, civil society and youth, in favour of nature-based solutions and actions.

COP 25 in Madrid was a decisive moment to demonstrate our clear and unequivocal commitment to increase ambition on mitigation, adaptation and finance.

It was however disheartening that negotiations failed to reach consensus on many key areas of the “rulebook” of the Paris Climate Agreement.