Madam Deputy Secretary General,
Distinguished co-facilitators,

1. I have the honor to deliver this statement on behalf of the Group of 77 and China.

2. At the outset, let me commend you, co-facilitators, for your hard work and dedication to this very crucially important process. We continue to look forward to you guiding us to a path of consensus amidst a number of divergent views. We already see your efforts reflected in the latest version of the draft resolution, which the Group believes could still be improved.

3. Through you we would also like to extend appreciation to the Duty-Secretary-General for her remarks this afternoon, and we continue to appreciate the Secretary-General and her dedication and commitment to ensure that the reinvigorated RC system and the overall repositioning of the UN development system receives the top priority it deserves.

4. Three years ago, through the landmark resolution 72/279 on the repositioning of the UN development system, the General Assembly decided to create a dedicated, independent, impartial, empowered and sustainable development-focused coordination function for the UN development system, and requested the Secretary General to strengthen the authority and leadership of resident coordinators with a view to support countries in implementing the 2030 Agenda.

5. The General Assembly emphasized that adequate, predictable and sustainable funding of the resident coordinator system is essential to delivering a coherent, effective, efficient and accountable response in accordance with national needs and priorities, and decided on the funding streams for the inception period. The General Assembly also requested the Secretary-General to submit a review with recommendations on the functioning of the reinvigorated resident coordinator system, including its funding arrangement.

6. Those are decisions adopted by the General Assembly, which means that those are decisions adopted by all of us.

7. And now, when we are nearing the closing of the review of the resident coordinator system, we should ask ourselves: have we honored resolution 72/279? Are we giving the UN development system the tools it needs to deliver in the Decade of Action? Is the result of this review translating into a strengthened RC system? Which we should remember is the heart of the UN development system.

8. The Group of 77 and China understands the challenges and acknowledges the different positions expressed by the delegations throughout the process, particularly around the funding of the system and the financial shortfalls observed in the budget since the start of the system. The G-77 and China remains concerned about the state of the funding and that is why we were open to discuss the possibility of partially funding the system through a hybrid model with a share coming from assessed contributions.

9. We remain strongly concerned about the predictability and sustainability of the funding for the RC system and, in light of the current funding proposal, we call on traditional donors to step up and provide the needed voluntary contributions in line with the SG proposal.

10. In this context, the G-77 and China would like to underline the following points:

11. First, we reaffirm the strong political support that the group attaches to the new Resident Coordinator System;

12. Second, it is crucially important that we preserve the ambition, scope, functions and capacities of the Resident Coordinator System as envisaged by the Secretary General, including those at the Development Coordination Office and its regional offices;

13. Third, this review is meant to strengthen and improve upon resolution 72/279. In that regard, we must not dilute or weaken mandates already agreed on, particularly those around funding, in particular on the application of the levy and the voluntary contribution;

14. Fourth, since the current version of the draft preserves the already existing funding streams, we want to see in the resolution the provision of a revision mechanism if the current funding proves to be insufficient and inadequate to enable the proper functioning of the reinvigorated resident coordination system. We will present our proposal during the section-by section consideration of the draft resolution, and we call on the co-facilitators to include this revision mechanism in the resolution in other to enhance it and bring it closer to the views of the G-77 and China.

15. Finally, we want to recall the importance that the Resident Coordinators, while delivering on their mandate, remain in constant dialogue with and consult frequently with the host governments;

Madam Deputy Secretary General,
Distinguished co-facilitators,

16. The G-77 and China looks forward to the successful conclusion of this process and we will remain engaged with you and our development partners. You can count on our full support and we thank you once again for your efforts to bring us closer to an agreement on the review of the resident coordinator system.

I thank you.