President of the Trade and Development Board Ambassador Hasans of Latvia,
Excellencies,
Distinguished delegates,
Ladies and gentlemen,

1. The Group of 77 and China would like to start by acknowledging the statement delivered by Malawi on behalf of the LDC group. The Group of 77 and China is based on the solidarity of its members and so the cause of the LDCs is the cause of the Group of 77 and China.

2. We would like also to thank the Secretariat for preparing the report and for the presentation delivered today. As we move from the Istanbul Programme of Action to the Doha Programme of Action, it is important to take a step back and look at the path behind us and the path ahead. Our Group takes note, for instance, that since the creation of the LDC category in 1971, only six countries have graduated. While we could see an accelerating trend with some 10 countries being considered for graduation over the next 5 years, and a further 5 countries having met graduation criteria last year for the first time; the ongoing health, food, finance, energy and climate change crises are blunting these expectations.

3. At the same time, our Group is very cognisant that graduation is not an objective in itself, whereas the improvement of people’s lives is. UNCTAD therefore plays a critical role in contributing to a development centric approach to graduation, tailored to the specific national conditions, including with appropriate smooth transition strategies. This is particularly the case as the vulnerability evidenced by the pandemic and the interrelated crises that currently face all developing countries, and particularly LDCs, render the hard-fought development gains of decades very fragile in the short term.

4. The Group of 77 and China therefore calls on UNCTAD to continue to provide support to the LDCs in line with its corresponding mandates contained in the Bridgetown Covenant, previous outcomes of UNCTAD ministerial conferences, the Doha Programme of Action and other relevant intergovernmental outcomes.

5. In this context, it is crucial that UNCTAD continues to contribute, notably through the LDC report but also through other flagship reports, as well as through tailored technical cooperation across all UNCTAD subprogrammes, and through its intergovernmental consensus building pillar.

6. To this end, our Group calls on donor countries to support the work of UNCTAD, including through financial contributions to the LDC Trust Fund, in order to ensure strengthened support to LDCs in line with the increasing needs.

I thank you, Mr. President.