STATEMENT OF THE G77 AND CHINA G77 AND CHINA FOR THE 1ST MEETING
OF THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL WORKING GROUP ON GOVERNANCE AND FINANCE IN VIENNA,
19TH OCTOBER 2009 DELIVERED BY H.E. EUGENIO MARIA CURIA, PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE
OF ARGENTINA
Madam and Mister Co-Chairs,
The Group of 77 and China
welcomes this very beginning of the activities of the standing working group,
and reiterates its congratulations to both Co-Chairs for their election to coordinate
our work.
The Group confirms the vision that inspired its intense efforts
towards the constitution of the working group: the setting up of a permanent,
open, constructive, transparent and Member-State driven mechanism to deal effectively
with the governance and financial challenges that UNODC increasingly faces to
fulfill its mandate, in particular as regards the two Commissions that are the
backbone of such mandate. We commit to uphold this vision against the notion of
making of this group a bureaucratic instance to discuss endlessly about problems
that remain unsolved.
In the above context, the Group reiterates its disposition
to contribute to what in our view are the most urgent tasks of the working group,
namely: a) Strengthening the financial situation of UNODC, mainly by addressing
its current unpredictable, highly fragmented and constrained funding structure.
b) Ensuring an adequate matching of the funding provided for the activities
of UNODC with the priorities fixed by Member States regarding the mandate of the
Office, mainly as reflected in its medium-term strategy. c) Reinforcing the
comparative advantage of UNODC as the body of the UN best suited to provide capacity-building
and technical assistance to address its mandate. d) Ensuring an effective
and adequate implementation and follow up of the decisions taken by the CND and
the CPCCJ, and reinforcing the role of the two Commissions as governing bodies.
e) Developing a more effective response of UNODC in the field.
The
Group believes that, in order to better address these tasks, it is necessary to
have a strong dialogue and cooperation between all of us, Member States, with
the assistance of the Secretariat, respecting at the same time our different capabilities
and needs. To this regard, the concept of "common and differentiated responsibility"
as used in other fora, appears also most pertinent to this working group.
Time
is of the essence. Let's start to produce results.
