H.E. Mr. Yoweri Museveni (President of the Republic of Uganda),

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentleman,

Pakistan joins other delegations in congratulating Uganda for hosting the Third South Summit and on assuming the Chairpersonship of the Group of 77 & China.

We also express our gratitude to Cuba, the outgoing Chair of the G-77 & China.

I thank the Government of Uganda for its warm hospitality and the excellent arrangements made for this Summit.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We share the view that our world today is confronting multiple, complex and inter-related challenges.

Particularly during the last 3-4 years, the Covid-19 pandemic, supply chain disruptions, rising debt, spiraling prices, depreciating currencies, climate change and proliferating conflicts have ravaged our economies. Development gains have been reversed. Over a hundred million people have fallen back into extreme poverty.

Unfortunately, the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and other development-related commitment, has been persistently disappointing. The SDGs financing “gap” stands at over US$ 4 trillion.

While injecting financial stimulus to revive their economies, the industrialized countries have displayed a stark deficit in international solidarity with developing countries.

To achieve sustainable development for our peoples, it is critical for G-77 & China to step up efforts to promote international cooperation, especially the South-South cooperation.

The 2023 SDG Summit Political Declaration outlines key commitments for bridging the financing gap, including: (a) the urgent re-channeling of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs); (b) improving international debt mechanisms; (c) fulfilment of ODA commitments; (d) reforming the Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs); and (e) advancing the Secretary-General’s SDG Stimulus proposal.

Countries of the Global South must now push for the implementation of these commitments. We must not let the developed countries walk away from their historical commitments to help achieve the SDGs.

Excellencies,

It is also essential to collectively work for urgently reforming the unequal and “morally bankrupt” international financial architecture. We require greater equity in international economic policy-making, including in the IMF, World Bank and WTO. The United Nations must assume the responsibility to secure such reforms.

We must also establish a coordinated, permanent, independent, multilateral process for the equitable and pro-growth management of sovereign debt.

The Multilateral and Regional Development Banks must scale up the provision of grants and concessional lending. The income-based criteria should be revised to incorporate, besides GDP, multi-dimensional vulnerability as the criteria to access concessional finance.

We must also call for the creation of new SDRs, linked not to IMF quotas, but to development and climate needs.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Trade must be revived as an engine for export-led growth in the developing countries. This requires preferential, duty-free and non-discriminatory access to industrial countries’ markets and the provision of policy space for industrialization through waivers from the TRIPS and TRIMS Agreements. It is equally important to resolutely oppose the use of unilateral trade protection measures and restrictions, including those applied on the pretext of climate change.

Access to technology is a vital component of any viable development strategy. Restrictions on technology transfer and acquisition under the TRIPS agreement need to be reviewed and revised. An international technology agreement, aimed at offering preferential access for developing countries to relevant advanced technologies, should be adopted and enforced.

We must hold developed countries accountable for their historical responsibility for climate change, in line with the principles of Equity as well as common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities.

We join the UN Secretary-General’s call for provision of adequate financial resources for the Loss and Damage Fund recently operationalized at COP28. We are hopeful that the developing countries including those most affected by the climate change will be able to have access to the fund without conditionalities.

In addition, as we enter a critical stage for deliberations on the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) on Climate Finance, our Group must remain united and resolute in ensuring that it reflects the priorities of developing countries.

The transition to a sustainable global economy will require an estimated investment of $1 trillion per year in sustainable infrastructure and the preparation of a sizeable portfolio of viable infrastructure projects in developing countries. Pakistan has consistently advocated that the UN take the leading role in this endeavor. We are glad that the 2023 SDG Summit’s outcome document has recognized this role.

Adoption of an equitable international tax regime is essential. As developing countries, we must all fully support the upcoming inter-governmental process for elaborating a UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation, initiated by the African Group.

Excellencies,

Our Group has been a consistent defender of multilateralism and of the purposes and principles of the UN charter, in particular the right to self-determination of peoples living under foreign occupation.

I also take this opportunity to reiterate the unwavering solidarity of the Government and the people of Pakistan with our Palestinian brothers and sisters facing a brutal onslaught from Israeli occupation forces.

Pakistan reiterates its call for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire and the provision of sufficient, sustained and unimpeded humanitarian assistance to the besieged people of Gaza. We will continue to support a just, comprehensive and durable solution through the establishment of a secure, viable, contiguous and sovereign State of Palestine on the basis of the pre-June 1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.

Excellencies,

The unity and solidarity of the Group of 77 and China is our greatest asset. And it is only through maintaining that solidarity and unity that we can achieve sustainable peace, development, and prosperity and can work towards a more just and equitable international order for all, “leaving no one and no country behind”.

I thank you.