Thank you very much Mr. Chair for convening this meeting.
This is my first meeting under your chairmanship. Bangladesh attaches tremendous importance to G77 as the largest negotiating block of the developing countries representing our interest and concerns. We have every confidence in your leadership, and I look forward to working with you in the coming days to make the Group stronger.
I thank you for the list of officers/focal points you have sent out covering all committees/areas. Given the cross-cutting nature of our areas of work, especially in meeting the SDGs, we need a strengthened position in the Second Committee, no doubt, but also equal unity and engagement in the other committees – Third, Fourth and Fifth Committees.
I would also like to thank you for circulating the elements for the outcome document of the upcoming Third South Summit. It is very comprehensive, and it provides a good basis for us to work on.
Allow me to share with you my thoughts on a few issues which may be considered for the outcome document.
We believe that it is important for G77 to remain the main negotiation block for all areas impacting on socio-economic development, especially in the context of SDG implementation, funds and programs, review meetings such as Beijing+25, etc. The Third South Summit is an opportunity to look at the challenges to development in a comprehensive manner.
In reviewing the draft document, we have noticed that some important elements such as the role of women in the development process, not included in the draft. The countries of the South are striving to create an enabling environment for women to prosper and flourish and to be fully integrated into the national development efforts so that they can contribute to poverty eradication and other developmental efforts. The outcome document needs to reflect that important aspect of women empowerment and gender equality. It is all the more important when we are going to celebrate the 25 years of Beijing Declaration and the 20 anniversary of the groundbreaking UNSC resolution on Women, Peace and Security.
Secondly, there is an apprehension in many developing countries that the emergence of the 4IR and other technologies would result in unemployment and inequality. However, this is not the case. Many traditional jobs will be lost whereas many new types of jobs will emerge. The developing countries need serious brainstorming on how to cooperate more on combating the challenges emerged in the wake of Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Thirdly, I thank you for highlighting the countries in special situation. However, I would like to draw your attention to the support required by the LDCs for graduation and also for coping up with the post-graduation challenges when they lose preferential treatment in many areas of development cooperation. We would like that to be reflected in the outcome document along with other challenges faced This issue should be mentioned in the outcome document along with other challenges faced by the LDCS and other vulnerable countries.
Fourth, there are many remarkable achievements in the framework of South-South Cooperation. The outcome document should include some individual initiatives such as the ones we had in the G77 Ministerial Declaration.
Finally, Mr. Chairman, I would suggest that the outcome document should have bold and forward-looking languages reflecting our vision and aspiration. The Group has some principled position on many issues. Those should be reflected faithfully. On critical issues, where necessary, we should not be limited to using the compromised or diluted languages used in our resolutions in the General Assembly, but we need to be proactive and take the lead.
As the largest negotiating block, that is our expectation and should be our goal.
My delegation looks forward to working with you in a constructive manner during the negotiation on the outcome document.
Thank you