| Remarks by
I wish to commend Jamaica for the leadership it provided us since a year ago, especially during the preparations for the High-level Plenary Meeting held last week. It waged a strong advocacy for the interests of developing countries and skillfully coordinated our positions on various issues. I should also like to welcome our incoming Chairman South Africa. We wish South Africa a productive tenure at the helm of G-77 and look forward to further accomplishments of our Group under its guidance. We meet today in the wake of last week’s High-level Panel Meeting that produced an Outcome Document, which leaves much to be desired. It does not affirm the ODA commitments of developed countries; instead it stipulates more obligations on the receiving states. It does not express any resolve to reform the international financial architecture, nor does it strengthen the development aspect of the Doha Round. Let us take this setback in stride. For the sake of the 1.1 billion people living in extreme poverty, whose best hope is the fulfillment of the Millennium Development Goals, we must persevere. We must redouble our efforts. While we are pursuing our individual national development strategies, we should also be looking to each other for support and cooperation. We must complement North-South relations with South-South cooperation. Collectively, we the developing countries have the natural resources, the human resources, and a considerable body of technology that we can use for development. We have the markets as well. What we need is an effective pooling of these assets and greater solidarity. Following the Doha Plan of Action, we have initiated efforts in human resources development and technology sharing. Through such initiatives as the establishment of the New Asian-African Strategic Partnership, we have consolidated our cooperation at sub-regional and regional levels. We have established useful mechanisms for South-South cooperation like the South Centre in Geneva and the NAM Centre for South-South Technical Cooperation in Jakarta. During the Second South Summit in Doha, in June of 2005 Indonesia proposed technical cooperation in training (i) on development of SMEs; (ii) on micro-finance; (iii) and on application of information and communication technology. Detailed Terms of Reference for the proposed projects have been submitted to the G-77 Secretariat for circulation and comment. South-South cooperation, however, is no substitute for North-South relations. While we work closely with one another! it is essential that we remain engaged with the North. We must persevere in bringing the concerns of developing countries to the forefront of the international development agenda. in this context, let me share with you a few thoughts on the priorities of our Group in the work of the 60th General Assembly. On the issue of global partnership for development, we need to strive for an equitable sharing of responsibilities, On our part, it is essential that we put our houses in order. We must combat corruption, promote democracy and strengthen good governance—not only because these are our part of the bargain, but also because we cannot move forward otherwise On the other hand, developed countries pledged three years ago in Monterrey to allocate 0.7 percent of their GNP to ODA, to extend broader trade facilities to bring debt relief, to promote investment and to reform the international financial architecture. Today, these commitments are reflected in the Outcome Document in very vague terms. Our Group must continue to press the case of the developing world on these on these issues. We should continue to call for the establishment of timetables for the achievement of the 0.7 percent ODA target. We should never cease to encourage the promotion and implementation of innovative financing mechanisms, including the MDGs ¬to-debt swap arrangement. Let’s work for more appreciable debt relief or restructuring for the HIPC countries as well as middle-income countries. Although the Outcome Document sends no political message to the forthcoming WTO negotiations in Hongkong, we should not cease calling for the infusion of a development dimension to the new international trade regime. As the universal institution that serves all nations and has the common acceptance of the international community, the UN is in the best position to build global governance in the 21st century. However, before we can achieve that, the UN must be reformed. Mr. Chairman, There is no force in the world today that is more powerful than nature, and nothing can be more destructive when it goes berserk. We saw that in the tsunami that devastated Aceh and in the storm tide that ravaged New Orleans. It may not be possible to prevent these natural disasters but we can mitigate the damage that they inflict on our populations and our economies. We must also contend with the fact that oil resources are not inexhaustible. Developing economies are particularly vulnerable to skyrocketing oil prices. There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ response to the high oil price situation. Subsidies may provide short-term relief but they do so at high opportunity costs and at the risk of upsetting macroeconomic stability. We need to explore energy efficient options and seek new sources of renewable energy. It is therefore important that we deliberate on these challenges and seek ways by which we can address them in concert on the short and long term. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
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