Statement on Operational Activities for Development

New York, 2 November 2006:  In a statement to the Second Committee’s discussion on operational activities for development the Group of 77 and China reiterated the importance of operational activities for development and in particular to ensure that development remains a priority in deliberations on the reform of the United Nations. The Group stressed that operational activities for development are directly dependent on adequate, sustainable, timely and predictable funding and expressed concern on the lack of adequate resources. They reiterated the need to further refine data in these reports to better reflect funding for operational activities for development, including a better distinction between contributions made for humanitarian assistance and for long-term development cooperation and expenditures and actual contributions as received and channelled through the UN funds, programmes and specialized agencies and the UN Secretariat. The Group underscored the importance that the operational activities for development of the United Nations system should be valued and assessed on the basis of their impact on recipient countries as contributions to enhance their capacity to pursue poverty and hunger eradication, sustained economic growth and sustainable development.

The Group said it was looking forward to next year's debate to, amongst other, ensure that the discussions during the TCPR discussions will contribute to the development of national capacities to achieve the above, to further improve the coherence, efficiency and effectiveness of the operational activities for development of the United Nations system, ways to improve south-south cooperation and enhance its development effectiveness and to review steps taken by the United Nations development system to ensure country ownership and leadership of UN operational activities.

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Source: G-77, 2006