Thank you Madame President.

At the outset, I wish to align myself with the statement of the distinguished representative of Brazil on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, and that of the distinguished representative of Pakistan on behalf of the Asian Group and China.

I also wish to express my Delegation’s appreciation for the note on this agenda item prepared by the Secretariat, a comprehensive and intellectually stimulating document that is useful for contemplation as we enter a sensitive, yet also promising, phase of the Development Round.

Madame President, previous speakers have gone into considerable detail on the effective implementation of the Sao Paolo consensus and what we in the developing country would like to see come out of the Doha Development Round and UNCTAD’s role in this effort.  Indeed, during our deliberations on this agenda item, we have benefited from many profound and interesting ideas and views from delegations and speakers, and of course form the excellent presentation by the distinguished Director General of the WTO.

My delegation therefore, would like to contribute to this dialogue by highlighting how we believe UNCTAD should focus its efforts in addressing the issues raised during the course of our highly stimulating debate this week, particularly on this agenda item, and how we can address the tasks that we face together.

First, we fully support and applaud the Secretariat’s analytical analysis on the new geography of trade and its implications on the multilateral trading system.  We believe that the increasing importance of South-South trade and of developing country economies reinforces the growing call for a greater role for developing countries in global economic-decision-making, particularly those of a norm-setting character.

Indeed, at the last WTO ministerial, leading to the consensus in July, a group of developing countries played an active, productive, and assertive role, which we believe was a key in securing consensus.  We therefore look forward to UNCTAD providing technical assistance in building developing countries’ capacity to engage meaningfully and actively in multilateral trade negotiations, as well as in identifying common areas for cooperation among developing countries in this regard.

It is also important for us be intellectually vigilant of the complementarity of the UN system and the WTO on development, an area where we can expect active scholarship and analysis from UNCTAD.  While an approach based on comparative advantage may initially appear intellectually attractive, in practice, it would create gaps that can be significantly detrimental to the cause of development.  An approach based on the complementarity of the various entities that have an impact on development fosters a better atmosphere for confidence building, leading to better and more comprehensive modes of cooperation for development.  Therefore, UNCTAD must work more closely with the WTO to maximize the benefits for development from the multilateral trading system.

We therefore emphasize that the UN must retain its central role in promoting multilateral cooperation for development as the WTO, by its very nature, deals with the rules of trade between nations.  While the goals of trade growth and development are not incompatible, it is important to remember that the WTO’s principal mission is the former rather than the latter.  It is therefore up to the UN system to focus on the critical link and dynamics between trade and development process.  Hence, UNCTAD plays a key role in promoting recognition of this link as well as in facilitating dialogues between the UN and the WTO towards strengthening this link.

The United Nations has already entered into an exciting and productive dialogue with the IMF and World Bank and other institutional stakeholders on development issues through the Financing for Development process and the various ECOSOC high-level dialogues.  As the development round unfolds, UNCTAD should play a similar role with the WTO, in accordance with UNCTAD’s role as the UN’s main focal point for the integrated treatment of trade and development, and related issues such as finance, technology, investment, and sustainable development.

Connected with this is the growth of regional and inter-regional for a and their potential role in the post-Doha work program.  At the High-level segment, my delegation called for innovative and imaginative thinking on how for a such as the WTO and WIPO, and regional arrangements such as the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), and the Forum for East Asia-Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC), can complement the development work of the UN.

My delegation focused particularly on UNCTAD’s role in addressing how these for a can contribute towards the fulfillment of the development agenda as set out in recently concluded multilateral conferences on development including UNCTAD XI, the International Conference on Financing for Development, the World Summit on Sustainable Development, as well as the Millennium Summit.  In so doing, we believe that we can also maximize these fora’s contributions towards the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals within the expected time frame.

Finally, Madam President, consistent with UNCTAD XI and the Sao Paolo Consensus, we reiterate our call for more analytical studies and scholarship by the UNCTAD Secretariat on developing and nurturing a framework of development cooperation embedding the concept of policy space which, as one of the intellectual foundations of the Sao Paolo consensus, has now permeated international discourse, as we have heard over the past week from a number of delegations.  Building on this, we believe the concept of policy space provides a firm and implementable basis for further cooperation and constructive engagement between developing countries and our developed partners.

Thank you Madame President.