Madam President, Mr. Moderator,

I have the honor to deliver these remarks on behalf of the G77 and China.

The G77 and China welcomes the convening of the Coordination Segment of the Economic and Social Council.

The Council has a crucial role to play in guiding its subsidiary and related bodies towards coherent and coordinated actions to better support all States in achieving the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs.

The Group believes that, in order to accelerate an inclusive and resilient recovery, we need to ensure the universal access to Covid-19 vaccines, therapeutics and treatments and build strengthened health systems, reform the international financial architecture to provide an expanded access to concessional finance to the developing countries, eliminate illicit financial flows and invest in sustainable and resilient infrastructure. It is also imperative to take urgent action on climate change and biodiversity loss, to ensure development financing, the promotion of technology transfer and capacity building as well as technological and scientific cooperation from developed countries to developing countries in order to foster sustainable development.

The ECOSOC, and its subsidiary bodies can make significant contributions to realizing these objectives. To this end, the Group highlights the following:

First, the review of SDGs 6, 7, 9 and 11 this year by ECOSOC provides an opportunity to raise the ambition on clean water and sanitation; affordable and clean energy; industry, innovation and infrastructure and sustainable cities and communities. These discussions will complement and feed the outcome of the 2023 SDG Summit under the auspices of the General Assembly where we will make a mid-term review of the SGDs and provide guidance for the acceleration of the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

The Regional Forums for Sustainable Development that will be convened by the Regional Commissions constitute an excellent opportunity to assess progress and propose policy solutions, in line with national and regional priorities. It is important to focus the discussions on the identification of gaps, areas requiring urgent attention and challenges.

Second, the ECOSOC’s Forum on financing for development and its annual spring meeting with the Bretton Wood Institutions would provide an opportunity to address the financing needs of developing countries. This year we need to use this forum as a platform to materialize our discussion on the need to reform the financial architecture in order to bridge financing gaps, provide an adequate access to concessional finance to developing countries and strengthen their voice in the international economic decision making process.

Third, the ECOSOC could discuss ways to strengthen international tax cooperation, including addressing tax avoidance and evasion through the work of the UN Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters.

Fourth, the Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD) can contribute to the discussions on the Global Digital Compact that will take place this year and elaborate further on how the GDC should address development aspects such as bridging the digital divide and enhancing multilateral digital cooperation and focus on expanding the role of digital technologies as enablers and accelerators of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs.

Fifth, the 2023 Development Cooperation Forum will provide a platform to identify priority areas where development cooperation must be strengthened, including in reversing declines in flexible and predictable resources for operational activities for development, in order to support the SDG implementation. ECOSOC must profit from these discussions to enhance its policy recommendations. In addition, the debates can deliver insights to upcoming processes such as: FFD Forum, High-level Political Forum, the SDG Summit and the High-level Dialogue on FFD.

Finally, the Group encourages ECOSOC to place the eradication of poverty in all its forms and dimensions, including extreme poverty, at the heart of its work and its support for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, including in the work of the subsidiary bodies taking into account their respective mandates and functions.

I thank you.