Group of 77 and China Statement on the occasion of the Implementation Review
Group of the Conference of the States Parties to the UN Convention against Corruption,
Vienna, 28 June - 2 July 2010, delivered by H.E. Ambassador Taous Feroukhi,
Permanent Representative of Algeria
Madam Chairperson,
1. I have the honour to deliver this statement on behalf of the Group of 77 and China. I would like to congratulate you for your election as the Chairperson. The Group also expresses its thanks to the Secretariat for the documentation prepared.
2. The Group of 77 and China welcomes the compromise reached in Doha for finalizing
the terms of reference. The Group looks forward to see the remaining tasks of
the Tthird Conference of States Parties in this regard which is entrusted to this
Implementation Review Group, namely finalizing the draft guidelines and blueprint,
is done as a matter of priority with the same spirit of cooperation.
3. The Group wishes to underline that the establishment of the mechanism for the
review of implementation of the United Nations Convention against corruption is
an important international achievement, which all States parties to the Convention
must endeavor to sustain and consolidate in the future.
4. The Group of 77 and China attaches great importance to the review process in
order to promote the implementation of United Nations Convention against Corruption
and to assist the States Parties in its implementation, as well as to provide
the Conference with information on successes, good practices and challenges in
implementing and using the Convention and promote exchange of information.
5. For its part, the Group will continue to work towards that aim to ensure that the Mechanism effectively contributes to national action and international cooperation against corruption, with a particular attention to the priorities and requirements of the developing countries.
6. The Group reiterates that the review Mechanism should be transparent, efficient, non - intrusive, inclusive and impartial, it should not produce any form of ranking. It should provide opportunities to share good practices and challenges, it should complement existing international and regional review mechanisms, avoid duplication of effort and selectiveness among Member States, not undermine the universality of the Convention and be based on equitable geographical distribution. To this effect, the Group would also like to draw the attention to the purpose of the Mechanism which is to assist States parties in their implementation of the Convention.
7. While acknowledging the voluntary contributions made to start the review mechanism, the Group reiterates its view that such mechanism has to be funded from the regular budget, as agreed in terms of reference, in order to ensure the predictability of resources required for its efficient and transparent implementation.
8. The Group of 77 and China is of the view that the mechanism purpose to assist States parties in their implementation of the Convention should inter-alia identify and substantiate specific needs for technical assistance, as well as to promote and facilitate the provision of technical assistance.
9. The Group of 77 and China reiterates its view of technical assistance as a
main goal of the review mechanism, and considers that its funding should be integrated
in the budget of the mechanism. In fact, the purpose of such mechanism is to assist
States Parties in their implementation of the Convention, so that inter-alia specific
needs for technical assistance can be identified and substantiated to achieve
this purpose. An adequate scheme of technical assistance can both benefit from
and reinforce such mechanism.
10. To this regard, and without prejudice to technical assistance activities currently implemented at the bilateral or regional levels, the Group
considers of great importance that the IRG starts from this first meeting to
examine procedure whereby, on the basis of the previous work of the technical assistance working group, the relevant information in the self-
assessment check-lists and country reports, and in consultation with
the requesting State, specific technical assistance requirements could be
identified and prioritized. Such requirements would subsequently constitute the
core of technical assistance projects, to which adequate funding and follow up
should be provided, with the assistance of the Secretariat and under the
supervision of the Conference of State Parties."
11. In conclusion, the Group of 77 and China assures you of its entire support and will fully contribute in a constructive manner to ensure the success of this meeting.
Thank you, Madam Chairperson.
