Statement on behalf of the Group of 77 and China by Mr. Muhammad Imran Khan, Counsellor, Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the United Nations, at the informal consultation on the revised draft modalities resolution for the “Summit of the Future” (New York, 1 September 2022)

Co-facilitators,

1. I have the honour to deliver the statement on behalf of the G77 and China.

2. At the outset allow me to express Group’s appreciation for your readiness and continuous engagement throughout the process.

3. The Group would also appreciate and commend both the co-facilitators for accommodating Group’s concerns and comments to some extent.

4. As before, I would structure my intervention first to share some general comments and subsequently I will present the Group’s proposals on both preamble and operative section of the resolution.

General Comments:

Co-facilitators

5. First, the Group of 77 and China is concerned about the timing of the consultations. We are of the view that appropriate time should have been allowed to consult and negotiate within the Group as well as for seeking instructions from the capital.

6. Today’s informal consultations are convened in almost 24 hours of the release of revised draft, which did not provide sufficient time to consult and seek instructions from the capital.

7. Second, since a clear way forward has not been presented since the beginning of the process, the Group would seek your indulgence in clarifying the way forward beyond today’s consultations. Such clarity would be important to organize us better to engage constructively.

8. Needless to mention that several other processes are gearing up and some are underway. It is difficult for many smaller delegations of G77 and China to keep track of all of them.

Preamble Section:

Co-facilitator

9. On PP1, the Group can go along with the PP as drafted.

10. On PP2, the Group would reiterate its previous position and that was to strengthen international solidarity and cooperation and the capacity of the United Nations and request for the deletion of part starting from “global governance” and till the end of the para.

11. On PP3, the Group had already previously indicated that the original para of UNGA resolution 76/76, in which the member states welcomed the submission of the Our Common Agenda Report as the basis of further consideration, should not be amended. Hence, we propose an Alt to bring the language in line with UNGA resolution 76/76.

12. On PP4 and PP5, PP7 the Group can go along with the Paras as drafted.

13. On PP6, we had proposed minor edits and we hope those could be accommodated. We would share them again in writing.

14. PP8, which reaffirms our request to the Secretary General to inform the member states, we request to delete.

15. PP8 on the summaries of the President of the General Assembly, we could go along as drafted.

16. The Group can also go along with the PP9.

Operative Section:

Co-facilitator
17. OP1, we suggest its deletion.

18. On OP2 regarding the theme of the Summit, we propose that the theme should be “Summit of the Future: accelerating our multilateral efforts towards achieving sustainable development for a better tomorrow”.

19. On OP3 the Group reserves its position.

20. On OP4 we propose to delete referring outcome document as Pact for the Future as it is pre-judging the process, which is yet to start.

21. Regarding the organization of the meeting: OP5, we reiterate our previous option, which is to propose that the Summit plenary meetings would be preceded by an interactive multi-stakeholder dialogue from 10 AM to 1PM on the day prior to the Summit.

22. On OP6, the Group proposes to only have statements by the President of the General Assembly and the Secretary General in the opening segment. So we request deleting from “a youth representative” till the end in OP 6(a).

23. The Group also proposes additional details on the opening segment. We propose that the opening segment should be held from 9am and be followed by the Plenary segment until 2:45 and from 3pm to 9pm on the first day. The plenary segment would resume on the second day of the Summit from 9am to 2:45 and from 3pm to 8:30 pm. The closing segment would be on the second day from 8:30 pm to 9pm and shall feature a statement from the President of the General Assembly and his presentation of summary of the Summit.

24. On OP7, we can go along as drafted by the Co-fac. And that also goes for OP 8 and 9.

25. On Op 10, 11, the Group reserves its position.

26. The Group can go along with OP 12 as drafted.

27. Our comments on OP13 are in line with the overall structure of the Summit as we envisioned stakeholder’s participation one day in advance of the Summit.

28. OP 14 and 15 we request for deletion. And we propose an alternate para merging these two. We will submit it in writing.

29. On OP16 and its sub paragraphs (a) & (b), we request you to replace “consultations” with “intergovernmental negotiations”. However for the rest we can go along as drafted.

30. The Group agrees to the deletion of the OP16 requesting the Secretary General to submit a new report. We also thank co-facilitators for accommodating Group’s inputs and rationale on this.

31. We also request deletion of OP17.

32. On OP18, the Group would reserve its position.

33. We agree to OP19 and 20 as drafted.

34. On OP 21, the Group stresses the deletion of “including during its preparations” in the third line. We can go along with the remainder of the para as drafted.

35. That concludes substantive inputs by the Group for the modalities resolution for the Summit of the Future. We hope these could be accommodated.

At the end allow me to thank you once again and assure Group’s support to both of you throughout the process.

 

37. The G77 and China will submit its written inputs today. We will also share with you, dear co-facilitators, the text of our statement.

I thank you.

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