12 January 2011: Speaking at a ceremony at UN Headquarters in New York, US, marking the handover from Yemen to Argentina of the chairmanship of the Group of 77 and China (G77/China), UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon underscored that important trends “continue to shape our shared efforts to combat poverty and ensure prosperity for all.”

He underlined the need to reform and strengthen international economic and financial governance, stressing that “the voice of the G77 and China must also be heard as we advance this agenda.” On climate change, he emphasized that it has a disproportionate impact on G77 countries and called on them to help build on the foundation built in Cancun and in light of the upcoming 17th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC in South Africa and the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development. He also underlined the importance of national efforts to address climate change and urged the G77 to “sustain our momentum on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).” In particular, he called for the G77’s support to the Fourth Conference on Least Developed Countries (LDCs) to be held in May 2011, in Istanbul, Turkey. Ban also noted issues related to women’s empowerment and UN Women, as well as the need for strengthened multilateralism. [UN Secretary-General Ban’s Statement]