Chair of the 85th Session of the Working Party, Ambassador Priyanka Chauhan, Deputy Permanent Representative of India
Deputy Secretary-General of UNCTAD, Mr. Pedro Manuel Moreno,
Excellencies,
Distinguished delegates,
Ladies and gentlemen,

1. The Group of 77 and China would like to start by congratulating you, Mr. Chair, on your election to preside over this 85th session of the Working Party on the Programme Plan and Programme Performance, as well as the Deputy Permanent Representative of Nigeria, Mr. Gabriel Okoko, on his election as Vice Chair-cum-Rapporteur. We are confident that under your joint leadership we will have a productive meeting.

2. Our Group would like to thank the Deputy Secretary-General Mr. Pedro Manuel Moreno for his statement and for the update on the commitments previously made by Secretary General Rebeca Grynspan, on ongoing issues and on the way forward on several issues.

3. As we have stated in previous occasions, our Group considers the Working Party to be the right forum for Member States to exercise our oversight on the implementation of the mandates and work programme of the Secretariat. Moreover, our exercise during this session is particularly relevant as the year 2024 will be the last full year of implementation of the mandates of the Bridgetown Covenant. It is therefore paramount that we work collectively among the membership and with the UNCTAD secretariat to ensure that the programme captures the expectations of member States for this final stretch before UNCTAD 16.

4. Turning specifically to the programme plan for 2024, our Group would like to start by thanking the secretariat for providing the draft in a timely manner. As the trial period in relation to the budgetary cycle and its supporting documentation comes to a close with the final decisions adopted by the General Assembly, we can see how the programme plan document has come to a more stable state, being able to provide a better picture of the overall programme of work of UNCTAD.

5. Nevertheless, our Group continues to believe that there is room for improvement in successive programme plans, including through a maximum balance of the different areas of work of a given subprogramme, and of the regions highlighted, over a given set of consecutive yearly programme plans. We thus encourage the secretariat to consider such approaches in subsequent programme plans.

6. Looking beyond the programme plan document, it is clear that a number of issues of interest for member States do not fall within the scope of the programme plan discussion, given the New York-driven and strict documentation format of this process. We therefore call on the Secretariat to continue to explore ways and means to strengthen the existing mechanisms for member States to exercise their oversight role, including through the Annual Report of the Secretary-General to the Trade and Development Board, which should ideally include a written component, and through the other sessions of the Working Party.

Mr./Madame Chair.

7. The members of our Group will be presenting specific comments and concerns during the informal session and will engage with our partners in order to finalize the outcome of this meeting. Before we close, we would like to take a moment to make some brief remarks about some of the issues raised by the Deputy Secretary-General during his opening statement.

8. Firstly, we would like to express our satisfaction for the approval of additional resources for UNCTAD for 2023 in the form on nine posts. We look forward to the feedback on the specific allocation of these posts within the subprogrammes for which they were approved, as well as to the output generated by this additional capacity.

9. Secondly, we are pleased to see that there is progress on the definition of a multi-year framework with measurable indicators, for the implementation of the Bridgetown Covenant, as previously requested by our Group. We understand that this initiative has been taken forward in conjunction with the implementation of a results-based management framework for the work of the UNCTAD secretariat. With our Group being composed exclusively of developing countries, we continue to be the most interested in ensuring that development interventions generate tangible results and impact. We would nevertheless like to reiterate our wish for the due consideration to the guidance of member States and the political and multilateral nature of decision-making in how such a framework is applied. We therefore reiterate our call for a sustained dialogue with member States on the matter and move forward.

10. Once again, our Group would like to reiterate our support to the Secretary-General and the entire team in their efforts to more effectively implement the mandates provided by the membership.

I thank you, Mr./Madame Chair.