As the United Nations continued its two-week long sessions focusing on the rights of women and gender empowerment, the Group of 77 said it remains “deeply concerned” that overall progress for women and girls remains unbalanced.
The negative fallout from climate change has not only severely impacted on the world’s developing nations but also eroded development gains undermining and delaying the achievement of the 17goals under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The Group of 77 is calling for the creation of a new and dedicated Trust Fund for the implementation of the UN’s strategic plan on forests for the period 2017-2030.
The Perez-Guerrero Trust Fund (PGTF), which has been funding small scale projects in developing countries since 1983, is calling for new project proposals on an April 30 deadline.
Addressing the Group of 77, the President of the UN General Assembly Ambassador Peter Thomson of Fiji said he plans a series of high–level meetings over the next few months in which the G77, joined by China, is expected to play a crucial role.
The Group of 77 has underlined the importance of the governance process of the UN Development System (UNDS) pointing out the need to strengthen transparency, accountability, and responsibility of the UNDS to member states, as well as the need to improve the working methods of the Executive Boards.
Addressing the 55th Commission for Social Development (CSD), the chair of the Group of 77, Ambassador Horacio Sevilla Borja, Permanent Representative of Ecuador, said the Group is “deeply concerned about the uneven progress achieved in fulfilling all of the interrelated commitments made at the 1995 World Summit for Social Development and by the lack of satisfactory progress of social development”.
Speaking during the UN General Assembly’s High-Level Dialogue on Sustainable Peace, G77 chair Ambassador Horacio Sevilla Borja, Permanent Representative of Ecuador, said the overarching objective of eradication of poverty in all its forms and dimensions remains the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development.
The Group of 77, joined by China, has reiterated its firm commitment to support the implementation of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14 which calls for the conservation and sustainable use of oceans, seas and marine resources.
The 134 members of the Group of 77 expressed gratitude to Thailand for chairing the group in 2016, at a ceremony in the UN Trusteeship Council chamber on Friday 13 January.
Addressing the UN General Assembly’s High-Level Dialogue on Sustainable Development and Peace, Ambassador Horacio Sevilla Borja of Ecuador said the overarching objective of eradicating poverty --in all its forms and dimensions-- remains the greatest global challenge and an indispensable requirement for sustainable development.
Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa accepted the role of Chair of the Group of 77 for the year 2017 at a special handover ceremony on Friday 13 January.
Thailand’s “journey from aid recipient to emerging donor state” was the inspiration for a new publication launched at the UN on January 12, said Don Pramudwinai Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand.
Speaking at the handover ceremony of the chairmanship of the Group of 77 on Jan 13, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he wants to work closely with the G77 in order to achieve some of the high priorities on the UN agenda, including peace, development, security and UN reforms.
The UN’s Administrative and Budgetary Committee (Fifth Committee) has approved a $40 million project to retrofit the premises of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) in Bangkok, as part of the upgrades of UN Commission buildings, including the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in Addis Ababa.
The UN’s post-2015 development agenda, which includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), includes the elimination of extreme hunger by 2030.
Addressing members of the Group of 77, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said development must be at the center of UN’s activities because it is a basic condition for peace and security while human rights can only be exercised in the context in which development takes place.
The Group of 77 has expressed its “deepest appreciation” to outgoing UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon “for his service and dedication to the United Nations over the past ten years.”
The Group of 77, joined by China, has expressed disappointment that a key principle has been omitted from a draft resolution on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, namely, the recognition of the inalienable right to self-determination of countries and peoples living under colonialism and foreign occupation.
Some 795 million people worldwide do not have enough food to lead a healthy active life—and the vast majority of the world's hungry
live in developing countries, where 12.9 percent of the population is undernourished, according to UN estimates.
The Group of 77 (G77) participated in a panel discussion encouraging members of the Paris Club to incorporate the Addis Ababa Action Agenda into their debt management practices.