7th meeting - Executive Board of UNDP, UNFPA and UNOPS (Annual Session 2026)

Good morning, dear colleagues. I kindly ask you to take your seats. Distinguished colleagues, delegates, I declare open the 7th meeting of the Annual Session 2026 of the Executive Board, UNDP, UNFPA, UNOPS. We continue with UNFPA segment and we will proceed with Agenda Item 13, Annual Report of the Executive Director. I'm pleased to welcome Mrs. Diane Kita, the Executive Director of UNFPA. She will deliver a statement to the Board and then, as per usual practice, member states will react and ask questions. Joining Mrs. Keita on the podium are Mr. Andrew Subberton, Deputy Executive Director for Management; Mr. Pio Smith, Deputy Executive Director for Programme; Mrs. Julia Bunting, Director, Programme Division; Mr. Sam Choritz, Director of the Division for External Relations; Mrs. Shoko Arakaki, Director of the Humanitarian Response Division; and We have Mr. Senen Hounton, Regional Director, West and Central Africa, and we have Mrs. Elena Pirondini, the UNFPA Chief of the Executive Board Branch, who will serve as Secretary of this session. Before giving the floor to Mrs. Kitah, we will be viewing a short video prepared by the UNFPA. Is it ready? Yes.

At UNFPA, we believe your life should be yours.

Your dignity, your equality. We put you first.

How?

By making sure governments have the data they need to plan for your future. By championing your rights.

The right to sexual and reproductive health care.

We're on the ground in over 150 countries bringing this to life.

What does that look like? It looks like a skilled midwife by every mother's side.

It's the power to decide if, when, and with whom to start a family.

It's ensuring every survivor of violence gets the safety and care they deserve. And it's the population data governments need to make sure every single person counts.

When we provide the right tools and the right knowledge, girls finish school, mothers survive childbirth, survivors of violence are not alone, and no one, wherever they live, gets left behind.

We are UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund.

Working for a better tomorrow today and every day.

Thank you, and I would now like to give the floor to Mrs. Diane Kita, Executive Director of the UNFPA. Mrs. Kita, you have the floor, please.

Good morning. Ni hao. Salaam alaikum. Buongiorno. Mr. President, Excellencies, distinguished members of the board, it is A pleasure to join you for this annual session of the Executive Board and to present my first annual report as Executive Director. I thank member states and this board for your continued support and guidance, which make our work on sexual reproductive health and rights, population dynamics, gender equality possible. We meet at a time of profound transformation. Financial pressures, geopolitical tensions, demographic change, artificial intelligence, and the climate crisis are reshaping our world. At the same time, progress on reproductive rights and choices remains uneven, with hard-won gains coming under challenge in some settings. Yet I stand before you with confidence and pride, not because the challenges are small, but because the commitment of Member States, partners, and communities remains strong. Together, we continue to deliver for women, girls, and young people where needs are greatest. 2025 was the last year for the Strategic Plan period 2022-25. UNFPA continued to position its mandate to respond to a changing and complex world by supporting member state countries to advance health, equality, and resilience through accelerated progress towards ending preventable maternal death while keeping population and development and empowerment of women, adolescent, and youth at the center of its work. We know that when women have choices, when young people have opportunities, and no one is left behind, a healthy, empowered population fuels growth. Demographic dividends and truly inclusive sustainable development come within reach. Allow me to share a few highlights of the results we have achieved. UNFPA remains the world's largest provider of maternal health medicine and commodity security to developing countries. During our last strategic plan period, contraceptives provided by the UNFPA averted more than 66 million unintended pregnancies. UNFPA support helped prevent more than 140,000 maternal deaths and provided obstetric fistula treatment and recovery to over 50,000 women and girls. In crisis setting, we supported over 8 million safe births. More than 25 million women and young people with disabilities benefited from sexual and reproductive health and gender-based violence services. Over 28 million girls received life skills and comprehensive sexuality education through our joint program with UNICEF to end child marriage, and over 800,000 girls were saved from female genital mutilation. On population data, which is the foundation of effective development planning, 70% of the world population was counted in 2020 census round with UNFPA support. Data helps ensure that everyone counts, and that decisions respond to their needs and reality. In recent weeks, I have seen this result firsthand. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, I joined the launch of the country's first census in more than 40 years, backed by $30 million in domestic— $30 million US dollars in domestic funding. In Papua New Guinea, I welcome a new national strategy on gender-based violence, supported by $41 million in annual domestic resources. I also signed a renewal— a renewed UNFPA supply compact, under which the government will cover roughly half of annual reproductive health commodities cost. In Fiji, I inaugurated a maternity waiting home that will expand access to care for women in remote communities. In Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, discussions focused on investing in human capital, maternal and newborn health, youth development, and demographic resilience. I was particularly encouraged to meet young people already developing innovative AI-powered solutions. And at their annual meeting in Congo, I signed a new agreement with the African Development Bank to advance maternal health, demographic resilience, women's empowerment, and human capital development across Africa. Meeting young people from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, DR Congo, China, Japan, Norway, Iceland, Colombia, Brazil, Rwanda, Australia, and Papua New Guinea just confirmed the central role that UNFPA plays and how much young people' well-being, employability, social integration are embedded into right-hand choices that the ICPD Plan of Action adapts to their needs as Gen Z and Gen Alpha. Throughout this engagement, I heard a consistent message: UNFPA is a trusted partner that combines technical expertise with practical solutions tailored to national priorities. In 2025, The Executive Board approved the third of the three sequential strategic plans covering 2026 to 2029. Its operationalization began in January 2026. The annual review at stake here was made in an incredibly difficult and challenging situation and in a context of significant global complexity and accelerating crisis, which increase the demand of countries for integrated support on health system, social protection, adaptation, and resilience in response to major demographic changes. Climate and natural disaster, as well as man-made one and wars and conflict. Despite those challenges and the dramatic cuts of our part— of our critical funding in the very last year of our program cycle, UNFPA achieved results of notable scale and impact, which demonstrated the continuing relevance of its integrated mandate and field presence. These results reflect the organization's unique combination of normative leadership, technical expertise, and operational reach across diverse development, humanitarian, and peacebuilding contexts. The population census in Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Vietnam, or Iraq are major country achievement and outcomes. Global effort to reduce maternal mortality, FGM, child marriage, and obstetric fistulas continued, and we congratulate Colombia for passing the law for the prevention of care and eradication of FGM framed under the umbrella of protecting women's and girls' rights, health, autonomy, and life free from violence. We are proud to have supported this process. We continue to support people with disability and diverse gender groups in empowering them to enjoy rights and choices. The new fourth outcome of our strategic plan on demographic change and population dynamics reflects growing demand for UNFPA technical support in this area. Whether countries are facing population growth, aging, low fertility, urbanization, or migration, they are increasingly seeking UNFPA assistance to navigate these transitions. This is where our expertise in population dynamics and demographic analysis can help countries plan for the future and build resilience. Mr. President, Excellencies, UNFPA mandate is grounded in the conviction that population dynamics are not problems to be solved, but realities to be understood and addressed through policies that advance sexual and reproductive health and rights, choices, and opportunities. There is no single demographic challenge facing all countries, but there is one common solution: investing in people. That means ensuring women within their personal cultural context can exercise their right to decide if, when, and with whom to have children, to access the care they need during pregnancy and childbirth, and to live free from violence and harmful practices. It means empowering young people through education, opportunity, and leadership, and enabling older persons to participate fully in society and live with dignity. This is how we advance rights and choices, Strengthen resilience, support sustainable development across demographic spectrum. This is how we enable societies and economies to thrive. Mr. President, Excellencies, UNFPA is on the ground before a crisis hits, and we stay long after the headline fades. In 25, we responded to crisis in 48 countries, reaching nearly 10 million people with sexual and reproductive health services. And more than 4 million women and girls with GBV prevention and response. This operational continuity is made possible through flexible core resources which provide the backbone for our presence and our rapid crisis response. From the Middle East to Haiti, Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Chad, In Afghanistan, UNFPA have provided safe spaces, deployed mobile medical teams and midwives to reach women cut off from care and ensure survivors of gender-based violence have access to confidential support and referral pathways. In Afghanistan, more than 12 million people accessed reproductive health and psychological support service through UNFPA-supported facilities led by over 2,500 female frontline workers, may be blessed. In Gaza, UNFPA reached over 200,000 people with sexual and reproductive health services and nearly 160,000 people with gender-based violence services last year. In response to the Ebola outbreak, we are working with government authorities, WHO, and the Africa CDC in the DRC and Uganda. and we continue to provide safe delivery kit, protective equipment, and infection prevention support. Our longstanding presence in both countries and the trust we have built with government and communities have enabled us to respond nimbly and effectively. In every crisis, we stand with those most at risk and work with affected communities to ensure that our programs respond respond to their priorities and the needs of all populations, including young people, people with disabilities, and all other vulnerable groups. Yet we face a stark reality: needs are rising while resources are shrinking. In 2026, UNFPA estimates that 84 million people will need gender-based violence prevention and response services. And close to 8 million pregnant women will require humanitarian assistance. For Women in Crisis, this is not an abstract funding challenge. It determines whether a skilled birth attendant is present during childbirth, whether a survivor of violence receives support, or whether a girl remains safe and protected. UNFPA's 26th Humanitarian Appeal seeks $1 billion to reach 34 million women, girls, and young people across 43 countries. Yet it is only 23% funded. The challenges extend beyond funding. We are facing a global protection crisis. International humanitarian law is so much too often violated. Conflict-related sexual violence continues. Attacks on civilian health facilities, including maternity wards and humanitarian workers remain deeply, deeply alarming. We must also recognize the extraordinary dedication of local and national partners who continue to deliver assistance under the most difficult conditions and at great, great personal risk. The protection of civilians remains a legal and moral obligation for all parties. We the people. Said our Charter. Mr. President, Excellencies, despite these challenges, our results show what is possible when resources meet resolve. In 2025, 35% of our humanitarian funding went directly to local partners, reflecting our commitment to localization and to the communities they serve. We are deeply, deeply grateful to our donors and partners, We ask member states to continue providing predictable and flexible funding, to recognize sexual and reproductive health and gender-based violence services as life-saving, and to help close critical funding gaps in priority crises. This is important— South-South cooperation, triangular cooperation. This is especially important given recent announcements of humanitarian funding for which UNFPA is not eligible. Mr. President, Excellencies, major donor funding cuts around $330 million made last year made 2025 a challenging year for the multilateral system and for us. Yet, thanks to your support, UN partners, and the private sector, UNFPA received more than $1.4 billion in contributions. and those are voluntary contributions. While it is below 2014 levels, this exceeds our strategic plan target by $60 million and reflects your continued trust in our mandate and results. Thank you. Merci. Core funding remains essential. It enables our global presence, technical assistance, and rapid response where needs are greatest. Yet it continues to decline. We therefore encourage all member states to consider providing a core contribution, no matter the amount. Beyond its financial value, core funding is a vote of confidence in multilateralism and our shared commitment to leave no one behind. I thank again our steadfast donors, particularly those providing early and multi-year funding. As the aid landscape evolves, UNFPA is independent innovative financing approach, helping countries increase domestic investments, strengthening partnerships with international financial institutions, and mobilizing private and philanthropical capital. Through the UNFPA Supply Partnership Compact, countries are moving from donor dependence towards sustainable domestic financing. We use our supply match fund to provide a direct incentive for increasing domestic expenditure And last year, partner governments invested a record $68 million over their own national resources in sexual and reproductive health commodities, more than 6 times the level in 2020. Thanks to all of them. The impact is clear. In '25, the supply partnership reached 23 million women, helped prevent 10 million unintended pregnancies, saved lives of 200,000 mothers and newborns, and according to our estimate, generated more than $750 million in healthcare savings. Mr. President, Excellencies, as we respond to today's challenges, we are also preparing for tomorrow. We are working with government and partners to strengthen resilience to climate change and investing in innovation to improve maternal health outcomes. Through AI tools, drones, digital technology, and data-driven solutions, we are helping quality care to women and girls who have too often been left behind. Through initiatives such as Women X, we are working with partners to identify and scale solutions that save lives and expand access to care. As I noted during the joint meeting of the board, UNFPA embraces reform. Through our business model review, we are strengthening our ability to deliver effectively across diverse settings and respond to a changing world. We do so with the full weight of our shared result in mind. Here, I would like also to acknowledge the contribution of my predecessor, Dr. Natalia Canem. The achievement I outline today belong as much to you Member States as they do to UNFPA. Behind every number is a life changed, a future protected, an opportunity created. Our mandate touches some of the most sensitive issues in society. It addresses issues that matter deeply to people, families, and communities. While consensus is not always easy, I remain convinced that we have far more that unites us than divide us. My annual report is also a story of adaptation and transformation. Over the past 4 years, UNFPA strengthened humanitarian response, expanded partnership, advanced innovation, and modernized key aspects of our operating model. We also navigated last year's adverse revenue scenario with minimal impact on our workforce. We are very proud to have fought hard to keep the maximum of our colleagues on board to ensure continuity in our life-saving work. UNFPA firmly— is firmly committed to the highest standards of accountability, transparency, and ethical conduct. Our zero tolerance approach to wrongdoing, including sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment, remains unwavering. Adequately Resources oversight function, including audit, investigation, evaluation, ethics, remains a priority. My senior management team and I welcome the report of the Office of Audit and Investigation Services, the Oversight Advisory Committee, the Ethics Office, and the Independent Evaluation Office. We also welcome the evolution of UNFPA's support to 2020 census round, which will help strengthen preparation for the 2030 census round and support our work on demographic resilience. Speaking of our senior leadership, allow me to welcome my new Chief of Staff, Dr. Nigina Monteján, to her first Executive Board session in the role. Nigina has served at level of organization, most recently as Chief of the Innovation and Transformation Branch. She brings an innovative mindset and extensive experience in medicine, public health, and international development. I look forward to her continued invaluable contribution to executive office and to the organization as a whole. Welcome, Nagina. I would also like to welcome Sam Choritz, no stranger to this board, to his first executive board session as the director of the Division for External Relations. Dear Sam, I know how much you you can't wait to be watching South Africa and Mexico a little later today by hanging there just for a few hours. Mr. President, Excellencies, the world today is very different from the world in which UNFPA was created, yet the fundamental questions remain the same. How do we help every person realize their potential? How do we build resilient societies in times of change? How do we leave future generations better prepared than the one we inherited? We know how to. It is our joint responsibility for all future generations, including ourselves. We just need the drive to do so, and I'm grateful for your unwavering support and leadership on building the future we want and accelerate the pace to get to the SDGs in the most best shape possible. Nearly 6 decades after its creation, UNFPA mandate remains as relevant as ever. Countries are increasingly turning to us for support on population dynamic, demographic trend, and data for development, in addition to our work on sexual reproductive health and rights and gender-based violence and response. At a time of uncertainty and growing pressure on the multilateral system, our work continues to matter. Our goals are simple, but their impact is profound. Every pregnancy wanted, Every child birth safe, every young person potential fulfilled, and everyone counted because everyone counts. That is our mission given by you. That is our promise. And we, with your continued partnership, trust and support, I know we'll keep at it. I look forward to our discussion. Go NICS. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Executive Director. The— we will now begin interventions from member states. We will have first bureau members, then group and cross-regional statements, and then we'll continue with executive board members, followed by observer delegations. Speaking times: 5 minutes for group statements, 3 minutes for national individual interventions. There is no grace period., and then of course you are encouraged to make available full statements to e-statements@un.org. We start now our list of speakers. I have Finland, our Vice President, and then we have a group statement, Tunisia on behalf of Africa, followed by Sweden, Armenia. So I give the floor to Vice President from Finland, please.

Chair, Madame Executive Director, colleagues. Finland thanks UNFPA for the annual report and for its continued work for increasingly— in an increasingly difficult global context. The report confirms what Finland has consistently underlined in this board. Right now, UNFPA's mandate is more important and more needed than ever. Human rights, gender equality, bodily autonomy, and sexual and reproductive health and rights are not secondary issues. They are central to sustainable development, resilience, and the full implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action and the 2030 Agenda. Finland commends UNFPA for delivering significant results under the Strategic Plan 2022-2025, —including in fragile and humanitarian settings. At the same time, the report is clear that progress remains uneven. Momentum on family planning is slowing, reductions in maternal mortality are not advancing fast enough, and humanitarian action remains under pressure. In a constrained financial environment, UNFPA must remain sharply focused on its comparative advantages and mandate. This includes advancing SRHR, ensuring safe births, working towards responding to the unmet need for contraception. UNFPA needs to continue reaching women, girls, young people, persons with disabilities, and those left furthest behind. Looking ahead to the implementation of the new Strategic Plan, Finland welcomes the strengthened focus on population dynamics. Work in the new Strategic Plan and underlines that it must remain firmly rights-based. Finland supports the Secretary-General's UNAID initiative and we appreciate UNFPA's active engagement in these reform efforts. In the context of the proposed structural reforms, we continue to underline that decisions of this magnitude must not be rushed and that they must be based on sufficient and credible evidence. In any such discussions, safeguarding the full integrity of UNFPA's mandate remains a critically important point for Finland. Finally, Finland encourages UNFPA to continue strengthening realistic, data-based reporting. In times of pushback and financial uncertainty, credible evidence, transparency, and trust-based partnerships are essential. To conclude, Finland remains a committed partner to UNFPA and to the shared goal that every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe, and every young person's potential is fulfilled. Thank you.

I thank the Vice President from Finland for the statement. I give the floor to Tunisia on behalf of the African Group to be—

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have the honor to deliver this statement on behalf of the African members of Executive Board. At the outset, the African Group wishes to express its appreciation to Ms. Deane-Kaita for her comprehensive presentation and for her continued leadership in advancing the mandate of UNFPA under complex global circumstances. Africa attaches great importance to the role of UNFPA as a key development partner in supporting national efforts aimed at improving health systems, empowering women and girls, strengthening demographic resilience, and advancing sustainable development. The work of UNFPA on the continent continues to drive added value from its alignment with African and global development frameworks. In cooperation with the African Union and with the UN Economic Commission for Africa, UNFPA has supported African countries in addressing population dynamics as an integral component of economic transformation, social inclusion, and long-term stability. The group recognizes the strategic plan and integrated budget 26-29 as important instrument for supporting member states in responding to persistent and emerging development challenges. In this regard, we underscore that the effectiveness of UNFPA activities depends on their full alignment with national development plans, domestic priorities, and the specific realities of programme countries. Respect of national ownership and sovereignty must therefore remain central to programme implementation. Mr. President, the African Group wishes to emphasize that demographic These trends will continue to shape Africa's development trajectory in the years ahead. As the continent with the world's youngest and fastest-growing population, Africa possesses enormous human potential. Realizing this potential, however, requires sustained investment in health, education, employment opportunities, and social protection systems, particularly for women and young people. In this context, strengthening national statistics and data systems remains a priority. Reliable and disaggregated population data is indispensable for evidence-based policymaking, development planning, and effectiveness— effective monitoring of progress towards international agreed commitments, including ICPD Program for Action and Sustainable Development Goals. We therefore encourage continued support for national capacities in the areas of census surveys, civil registration, and vital statistics systems and welcome the use of innovative tools such as demographic intelligence platforms. Despite important progress achieved across the continent, major challenges persist in the field of maternal health and reproductive care. Africa continues to account for a disproportionate share of global maternal mortality, highlighting the urgent need for stronger health systems, improved access to quality services, and increased investment in maternal and reproductive health. At the same time, encouraging experience from several African countries demonstrate that targeted policies, political commitment, and effectiveness— effective partnerships can deliver meaningful progress. The Group also remains concerned by the continued burden of HIV/AIDS across many parts of the continent, particularly among vulnerable groups and young populations. While positive trends have been recorded in reducing new infections in several regions, additional efforts remain necessary to strengthen prevention, treatment, awareness, and healthcare access. We further commend UNFPA's strong engagement in humanitarian, development, peace nexus settings. Its leadership in gender-based violence prevention in crisis remains vital. We also acknowledge UNFPA's expanding work on climate change and environmental resilience. The Group encourages further strengthening of this work, including support for climate finance access, anticipatory action, and resilience-building systems. Mr. Chair, while recognizing these achievements, the African Group expressed concern regarding the continued decline in the share of core resources, which fell to 25% in 2025, below the funding compact target of 30% by 2027. Predictable, flexible, and core funding is essential to preserve UNFPA's ability to respond to country priorities, particularly in fragile and crisis-affected contexts. We further underline the importance of sustainable financing for national health systems. In this regard, the support provided by UNFPA in mobilizing resources, strengthening capacities, and promoting innovative finance approaches remain highly valuable. To conclude, Mr. Chair, the African Group believes that the partnership between Africa and UNFPA must continue to evolve in a manner that responds effectively to national priorities and emerging realities on the ground, including humanitarian crisis, displacement, climate-related vulnerabilities, and socioeconomic inequalities. The African Group reiterates its commitment to continue cooperation with the UNFPA in pursuit of

I thank the distinguished delegates of Tunisia for the statement on behalf of the Africa Group. And as there are no other interventions from groups or cross-regional statements, I will now continue with interventions by Executive Board members, beginning with Permanent Representatives and Deputy Permanent Representatives, followed by expert-level representatives. The distinguished Permanent Representative of Sweden has the floor next, followed by Armenia and Côte d'Ivoire. Swedish Permanent Representative, Your Excellency, you have the floor.

Chair, Madam Executive Director, Sweden commends UNFPA for the consistency of its commitment in stable settings under the most demanding humanitarian conditions. Let me begin where all serious policy must begin, with principle. Sweden's commitment to sexual and reproductive health and rights and to gender equality is steadfast.

At its heart lies a conviction that every person, wherever they are born and whatever circumstances surround them, holds the right to make decisions about their own body, their own life, and their own future. The pressures bearing down on multilateralism, on human rights, and on gender equality are real and they are intensifying.

Sweden remains one of UNFPA's most significant core donors. We have recently committed new humanitarian funding to Gaza, including support for UNFPA's sexual and reproductive health services and its work against gender-based violence.

And we reaffirm our longstanding support for midwifery and for the Maternal and Newborn Health Fund, a program of quiet, essential impact that deserves recognition well beyond what it currently receives.

On the UNHCR process, allow me to be both supportive and precise.

Sweden believes in the ambition of UNHCR. The multilateral system must earn its relevance in a world that is changing faster than its institutions. Greater efficiency, greater coherence, and greater accountability is a must.

We welcome UNFPA's engagement with that process, but when we look at a possible merger between UN Women and UNFPA, we have to be careful.

We see clear risk for dilution of mandates and weakened consensus.

This disruptions to life-saving operations during the transition and possible negative impacts on donor confidence and willingness to contribute.

There is a legal distinction here that in particular deserves to be named with care. UN Women's mandate is codified. It is anchored in the resolutions and founding instruments that gave the organization its form and its purpose.

In contrast, UNFPA operates more through ICPD frameworks, strategic plans, operational functions, and intergovernmental consensus language, rather than a single tightly codified mandate architecture.

These are structurally different things.

A reform proposal that treats them as the same risks eroding, through institutional reorganization, protections that were built through decades of joint effort. We would strongly welcome for the Executive Board to receive comprehensive information on all alternatives and to be consulted before the matter advances to the General Assembly. As things currently stand, we are not in a position to support a merger of UNFPA and UN Women.

In closing, Sweden looks to UNFPA to continue delivering on the full breadth of its mandate with efficiency, accountability, and transparency that sustains trust, and with the rigor that sustains results.

What ultimately matters is what reaches people at country level.

Thank you.

I thank the distinguished Permanent Representative of Sweden for the statement, and I now give the floor to the Permanent Representative of Armenia, who will be followed by the Permanent Representative of Côte d'Ivoire. Your Excellency, you have the floor.

Thank you, Mr. President, Madam Executive Director, colleagues. I would like to thank Executive Director Geita for her presentation and for her outstanding leadership in guiding UNFPA's crucial work. Armenia reaffirms its strong support for UNFPA's indispensable role within the UN system. Through its unique combination of normative leadership, technical expertise, and operational presence, UNFPA continues to advance the empowerment of women and girls, promote sexual and reproductive health, and rights, as well as strengthen demographic resilience. We welcome the Executive Director's Annual Report, which demonstrates tangible progress across the organization's strategic priorities. At a time when conflict, displacement, and other crises continue to affect millions of people, UNFPA remains a key actor addressing urgent humanitarian needs while ensuring access to essential sexual and reproductive health services and support for survivors of gender-based violence. UNFPA's support was also crucial in addressing the humanitarian challenges posed by the influx of refugees in 2023. Armenia highly values its longstanding partnership with the UNFPA Country Office and appreciates its continued support for its national development priorities.. A notable example is the substantive role of the Office in development of Armenia's Demographic Strategy for 2040, which provides a comprehensive and evidence-based framework for addressing long-term demographic challenges. We also welcome the recently adopted UNFPA Country Programme Document for Armenia for 2630, which establishes a forward-looking framework for cooperation and supports national efforts to advance inclusive development, resilience, and human capital development. Turning to UN Haiti initiative and the potential merger of UN Women and UNFPA, Armenia believes that any consideration of institutional reform should be guided by objective of full preservation of existing mandates, including those derived from the ICPD Programme of Action, Beijing Platform for Action, and Sido. It should ensure the continuity of life-saving services, maintain donor confidence, and carefully address operational and programmatic risks through a phased, transparent, and member-state-driven approach. As a member of Executive Board, Armenia remains committed to engage with all partners in support of UNFPA's mandate to strengthen its capacity to deliver meaningful results for women, girls, young people, and vulnerable populations. I thank you.

I thank the distinguished Permanent Representative of Armenia for the statement, and I now give the floor to the Permanent Representative of Côte d'Ivoire. Votre Excellence, vous avez la parole.

You have the floor.

Thank you, sir. We align ourselves with the statement delivered by Tunisia on behalf of the African Group, and in our national capacity, we wish to deliver the following remarks. Sir, Côte d'Ivoire takes note of the detailed report of the Executive Director of UNFPA. We welcome the steadfast commitment of the organization for the advancement of transformative results by 2030, namely meeting needs in terms of family planning, eradicating pregnancy-related deaths gender-based violence and nefarious practices, as well as related rights. And this notwithstanding financial uncertainties and multifaceted crises. And yet my country knows that all of the efforts for the achievement of these transformative results are undermined by the debt burden and limited access of our states to international financing. A number of— there are a number of persistent challenges, including gender-based violence and sexual reproductive healthcare and combating obstetrical fistulas. This is a major concern for our country. And in this respect, I wish to applaud the triangular partnership for eradicating this disease by 2030, a partnership with— between the Korean Agency for International Cooperation and UNFPA through technical and financial support for Côte d'Ivoire. My delegation also wishes to pay tribute to Madame Diane Keita, and all of her staff for the high-quality work done on the ground, working at the risk of their lives in a taxing environment to ease the burdens of vulnerable populations. We tremendously appreciate their contribution to the humanitarian response in Africa, specifically in the north in Côte d'Ivoire. My country supports institutional reforms under the UNAID initiative in order to enhance efficiencies specifically the planned merger between UNFPA and UN Women. For this reason, we call for transparency, constructive consultations, and preservation of vital operations throughout the world, specifically in Africa. And to that end, we call upon UNFPA to frequently provide information about various stages of these reforms. We reiterate our satisfaction with the work of UNFPA, and we wish to assure the Executive Director of our full support. Thank you.

Thank you. I thank you for your statement, and I will now give the floor to the Executive Director.

Giving the floor to Executive Director Dan Keita.

Thank you. Thank you so much, Mr. President. I would like to thank Excellency representing Finland— now that is my President right here— for all the comments and support to the organization and the support to the UN Haiti process, as mentioned, and committed partnership. So we hear you, we will continue to deliver on our core critical mandate. I would like to thank as well His Excellency Ambassador for Tunisia representing the African Group and thank them for their support and on the work we do everywhere on the continent, and especially vital statistics, civil registry, and maternal mortality. And for that, I'm very, very proud for the agreement we just signed with the African Development Bank, and that will allow us to work together at the continental level to reduce maternal mortality. This is a great partnership at the continental level that will have a major impact. I would like to note as well his concerned about HIV. HIV, we are working with other UN partners and no later than next week we have a meeting under the leadership of UNDP to make sure that our part of the role as we co-lead the young people's access to medicine and information, as well as child and mother transmission, as well, are being taken care of. This is well noted. And the predictable funding, we count on member great to receive predictable funding, whatever level it is, but it is important. We are very grateful for our committed donors, because it's just what makes us continue working everywhere. For South-South cooperation, this is where I would like for the Africa Group— very proud when $30 million from the DRC, Côte d'Ivoire came to support, based on their census, to provide equipment to the DRC, just like Senegal did to support Gambians in their census as well. That's why we make savings in working on data and production. I would like to thank Her Excellency Ambassador of Sweden for the steadfast support and for the principled and rights-based approach to the work we do. Thank you. All your comments are very well understood, and we are going to work— continue to work, and we are grateful for all your support and resources provided everywhere around the world. I would like to thank His Excellency and Ambassador of Armenia for the support to our mandate, and as well for everything that we do in life-saving, and as well in support to demographic stability, CPD, and the influx of refugee. Thank you for that. I would like to thank His Excellency and the Ambassador of Côte d'Ivoire Je voudrais vous remercier, Excellences, Excellences.

I would like to thank you, Your Excellency, for the support of Côte d'Ivoire. But beyond that support, I'm personally very proud of the fact that Côte d'Ivoire is supported at the African level. And we have one of the best urologists, surgeons, has received the Population Prize from the UN Secretary-General this year, will receive this in a few weeks. And obstetrical fistula is a major challenge, and I wish to thank you for all of the efforts undertaken and supporting all efforts under UNAID.

Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you, Madame Executive Director, for your intervention. I will now continue with next round of interventions. I have Denmark, then followed by Switzerland and Brazil. Dear colleague from Denmark, Erik, you have the floor.

Thank you, Chair, Madam Executive Director, Excellencies. Let me begin by congratulating UNFPA on the progress achieved over the past year. Denmark appreciates the tireless efforts of UNFPA staff as well as implementing partners who continue to deliver results under increasingly challenging circumstances. Denmark is deeply concerned by the growing pressures on gender equality and sexual and reproductive health and rights globally. It is with great appreciation, therefore, that we note that the annual report of the Executive Director, which provides a clear overview of both achievements and challenges, including on the implementation of the Strategic Plan for 2022-2025. Against this backdrop, Denmark views the Secretary-General's UNAID Initiative as an excellent opportunity and a strong call for systemic reform to ensure that the UN system is fit to deliver impactful, sustainable results on the ground today and in the future. Denmark sees clear value in further exploring closer integration between UNFPA and UN Women, not as a cost-saving exercise, but as a means to strengthen coherence, institutional capacity, and a more effective and sustained delivery of mandates at country level while ensuring delivery remains uninterrupted. We wish to thank UNFPA and UN Women for their joint assessment report on a possible merger, which we find provides a coherent and balanced view of the potential risks and benefits by an organizational merger. Denmark The Netherlands remains firmly committed to the UN and effective multilateralism, as signed by our— as signified by our substantial core contribution to UNFPA, and also by our 0.7% commitment to ODA, which we have upheld for more than 40 years. As the annual report notes, investments in sexual and reproductive health and rights have shown to be among the most efficient in sustainable development. This underlines the importance of ensuring that the agenda is at the heart of the UN development system. We particularly note the significant progress in supporting the delivery and coordination of high-quality sexual and reproductive health services, as well as services to prevent and respond to gender-based violence. In closing, allow me to express our gratitude again for the the impressive results that UNFPA deliver. The work must continue and you can indeed count on Denmark's unwavering support to the UNFPA mandate. Thank you.

I thank the distinguished Deputy Permanent Representative, Ambassador Larsen, for the statement. I proceed next to the statement by Switzerland. Your Excellency, Deputy Permanent Representative, you have the floor.

Merci. Thank you, President, Chair, Madame Executive Director. Switzerland would like to thank the UNFPA for its detailed report closing the Strategic Plan 2022-2025. We welcome the fact that despite an exceptionally difficult context, the UNFPA has seen some excellent results. Switzerland particularly pays tribute to the humanitarian leadership of the UNFPA, particularly its role as a service provider for sexual and reproductive health in crisis situations. We appreciate these continued efforts to strengthen, to strengthen this service. At the same time, considerable challenges remain. Inequalities in terms of accessing basic services are growing. Switzerland is also concerned by the continued fall in basic contributions and recent cuts to humanitarian financing. We recognize significant progress and undeniable progress made by the UNFPA in the context of the reform of the UN development system for 2018. However, much remains to be done. We call on the UNFPA to contribute actively to implementing the UN80 initiative at the country level to overcome remaining challenges and speed up necessary reforms. Switzerland invites the UNFPA to, in particular, strengthen consistency within the system through shared services and joint programs and financing, particularly with UN Women. It's essential to ensure that these reform efforts lead to tangible effect efficiency gains at the national level. We encourage the UNFPA to implement indicators to specifically measure this progress. So, Madam Executive Director, Switzerland remains a staunch defender of the UNFPA's mandate in the current In this new world global context, the protection of sexual and reproductive health and rights, the fight against sexual gender-based violence, and the promotion of equality and dignity for all women and girls remain more important than ever. Thank you very much.

Thank you to the Deputy Permanent Representative of Switzerland for that statement. And I now give the floor.

I will now proceed to give the floor to the Deputy Permanent Representative of Brazil. You have the floor, and followed by China and Germany. Thank you.

Mr. Vice President, Madam Executive Director, thank you very much for your comprehensive briefing this morning.

Brazil welcomes the annual report's record of concrete results under the 2022-2025 Strategic Plan.

The achievements presented are impressive in both scale and relevance, and clearly demonstrate the value of UNFPA's field presence, technical expertise, operational reach, and specialized mandate.

We take note of the significant results achieved in Programme countries. They confirm UNFPA's ability to deliver effectively across development humanitarian and peacebuilding contexts, including in situations of vulnerability.

We also commend the report's emphasis on population data, demographic analysis and evidence-based policymaking.

UNFPA's leadership in population data systems, censuses, civil registration and demographic foresight remains essential to nationally owned development planning. We further welcome the report's balanced and transparent approach.

It recognizes the difficult global context in which UNFPA has operated, including increasing humanitarian needs, financial constraints, widening inequalities, and growing pressure on sexual and reproductive health and rights. At the same time, it shows that UNFPA has remained resilient, adaptive, and capable of delivering results where they are most needed.

We also welcome the new Strategic Plan for 2026-2029, particularly in strengthening focus—

its strengthened focus on demographic change and its commitment to supporting member states in accordance with national ownership, national policies and priorities. Mr.

President, Madam Executive Director, Brazil remains committed to engaging constructively within FPA and with all members of the Executive Board.

And you, Madam Director, you continue to enjoy our full support to your work. I thank you very much.

I thank the distinguished Deputy Permanent Representative of Brazil for the statement. I give next the floor to the Deputy Permanent Representative of China, followed by Germany. Your Excellency, you have the floor.

President China thanks Executive Director Keita for presenting the annual report and appreciates UNFPA's efforts in implementing its strategic plan for 2022-25, which yielded positive results. Amidst the ongoing profound shifts in the demographic, social, and economic environment, the importance of UNFPA becomes even more prominent. I would like to emphasize the following points. First, the strategic plan serves as the important guide for action. The Strategic Plan for 2026-29 is crucial for the implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. China supports UNFPA in advancing the 4 key outcomes of the new strategic plan in a coordinated manner. In order to achieve synergy, we also encourage UNFPA to leverage its expertise, study emerging demographic trends worldwide, promote the use of data and digital technology, and help developing countries respond to demographic changes. Second, core resources underpin the effective performance of mandate. Adequate and predictable core resources are essential for UNFPA to effectively implement its mandate and respond promptly to assistance needs.

China calls on developed countries to earnestly fulfill their ODA commitments.

We also encourage UNFPA to further expand global partnerships and improve resource mobilization capacity in order for the effective implementation of its strategic plan. Third, the reform process represents important opportunity to improve effectiveness. The agency is clearly mandated in the area of reproductive health and population development and is an indispensable part of the UNDA.

China commends UNFPA's work in promoting internal governance reform and improving organizational effectiveness.

China supports UNFPA's continued constructive engagement in the UN 8A process with a view to enhancing performance of its core mandate, improving delivery on the ground, and better serving the priorities of program countries. President, as a country with a large population, China has always attached great importance to our partnership with UNFPA. The implementation of the 10th UNFPA China Country Program is underway in an orderly manner. China remains committed to constructively engaging with UNFPA in the framework of its new strategic plan and contributing Chinese wisdom and Chinese solutions. We hope that UNFPA will achieve new progress on all fronts and make more contributions to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Thank you, President, and thank you, Executive Director.

I thank the distinguished Deputy Permanent Representative of China for the statement. I proceed next with giving the floor to the distinguished Deputy Permanent Representative of Germany. Please, you have the floor.

Thank you, President, Madam Executive Director. First of all, many thanks to you for your leadership, but also for your very comprehensive, insightful, and I have to say inspiring presentation today. At the outset, I want to make a point that we, Germany, made time and again in this board and elsewhere. For us, sexual and reproductive health and rights are fundamental to human dignity, equality, and sustainable development. Access to quality sexual and reproductive health services, modern contraception, and comprehensive sexuality education is a precondition for gender equality and women's autonomy. At a time of increasing conflicts and humanitarian crisis, as well as growing pushback against gender equality and SRHR, we remain deeply convinced that UNFPA's mandate is today more relevant than ever. The annual report for which we commend UNFPA demonstrates UNFPA's tangible results for women, girls, and young people. We particularly commend UNFPA's contribution to reducing preventable maternal deaths and combating harmful practices, and we acknowledge the critical role that UNFPA plays in strengthening resilient health systems in high-need settings. UNFPA is operating, and you mentioned it, in an increasingly difficult environment marked by funding pressure and shrinking space for rights-based approaches. Germany therefore welcomes UNFPA's efforts to broaden its financial base through new partnerships and instruments. This being said, we note with a certain with a degree of concern the decline of ASEAN input in performance reviews of UNFPA representatives. We thus therefore encourage UNFPA to address the causes and to continue to strengthen the ASEAN system and the ASEANs, as well as advancing collective results in cooperation and framework delivery. Briefly on UNAID, we made our position very clear in the past few months. Germany supports a more coherent, efficient and effective UN Development System. Yes, reform is necessary, but reform must strengthen delivery, protect operational capacity, and safeguard mandates. This is particularly important for UNFPA, given the sensitivity and the importance of its mandate in the current political climate. Looking ahead, UNFPA's strategic plan— we acknowledge and we welcome— it will set an important framework for the years ahead and help to fully implement the ICPT Program of Action. In conclusion, Germany will continue to support UNFPA in protecting the rights, the dignity, and the choices of women, girls, and young people in all their diversity. I thank you.

I thank the distinguished Deputy Permanent Representative of Germany for the statement and proceed next giving the floor to the Deputy Permanent Representative of Cuba, followed by Bangladesh. Dear colleague, you have the floor. Thank you.

Señor Presidente, muchas gracias.

Thank you very much. Distinguished Executive Director of the UNFPA, we thank you for your detailed presentation. With little more than 4 years before we reach the goals in the 2030 Agenda, the The world, however, is not yet in a good position to achieve this agenda. However, in fact, since some, some of the progress made is facing setbacks, and we particularly facing crises in financing, particularly when developing countries need it most. In this context, women, children, young people, and vulnerable people are often the most affected, and their potential is limited even before they're born. Achieving zero preventable maternal death, zero unmet family planning needs, zero gender-based violence and harmful practices remain unmet promises and represent a responsibility for all member states. Cuba reiterates its commitment to the Cairo Plan of Action, the Montevideo Consensus, the 2030 Agenda, and our readiness to continue working closely with the UNFPA. After more than 5 decades of smooth cooperation, the UNFPA and the government of Cuba have now designed the 10th country program, 2026 to 2030. The support that we've received from UNFPA has been essential to adapt to fundamental challenges such as the high rate of the aging population and low fertility rates. However, this will— work is drastically affected by the worsening blockade by the U.S. against Cuba, which is having a brutal impact on the most vulnerable populations in areas such as health, education, and life itself. Just by way of example, more than 32,000 Cubans, pregnant Cubans, are currently at risk due to the power cuts and, uh, um, limits on diagnostic services. As a consequence of the energy crisis, the infant mortality rate has risen, and more than 100,000 surgeries have been postponed in Cuba, including 12,000 for children. Even in this difficult context, our country is committed to cooperating closely with the UNFPA to address maternal and infant health, family planning, and sexual and reproductive health. We will continue to fully support your mandate and the commendable work that has been so vital for Cuba. Thank you.

I thank the distinguished Deputy Permanent Representative of Cuba for the statement and give the floor now to the Deputy Permanent Representative of Bangladesh. You have the floor.

Mr. President, we thank the Executive Director for her comprehensive annual report and commend UNFPA for its support to communities, particularly in advancing maternal health, promoting gender equality, and strengthening climate-resilient health systems. We note that predictable and adequate funding remains essential for UNFPA to fulfill its mandate. Mr. President, following our successful national elections in February this this year, Bangladesh has entered a new phase of stable and inclusive democratic governance. In this context, we deeply value UNFPA's continued partnership in promoting the rights, health, and dignity of women and girls. We also appreciate its efforts to advance innovation, particularly in maternal health and midwifery. With our large and dynamic youth population, we also encourage UNFPA to further scale up targeted financing for youth programs in health, education, and skills, especially for adolescent girls. As one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change, we encourage UNFPA to support the efforts of climate-resilient health systems, including by strengthening, strengthening research on how climate change affects reproductive health. On LDC graduation, our proposal for a extension until November 2029 remains a prudent and forward-looking step. It will help safeguard our development gains, particularly in maternal and reproductive health, at a time of continuing global and domestic economic challenges. On the question of mergers under the UNAID initiative, Bangladesh reiterates the importance of a member-state-driven, balanced, transparent, and evidence-based based process. Mandates must be preserved, programs protected. It is equally important to preserve UNFPA's core operational strengths, including ensuring the uninterrupted delivery of life-saving services, preserve distinct technical expertise. Finally, Bangladesh has made notable progress in strengthening its midwife workforce, and we stand ready to share this this experience through South-South cooperation. We remain committed to working with UNFPA and all partners to advance the ICPD agenda and to ensure that no one is left behind.

I thank you, Mr. President.

I thank the distinguished Deputy Permanent Representative of Bangladesh for the statement and give the floor next to the Representative Ecosoc Ambassador of the United Kingdom, you have the floor, and followed by New Zealand and Norway. Thank you.

Amidst a difficult, challenging, a deeply challenging global context, as the largest bilateral funder to UNFPA, We remain fully committed to UNFPA's mandate and our shared vision for women, girls, and the most marginalized everywhere to live free from violence, give birth safely, achieve bodily autonomy, and lead healthy, productive lives. UNFPA is a key partner in progressing the UK's International Strategic Framework for Women and Girls at a time when their rights and agency are most severely threatened. The United Kingdom commends progress outlined in the Executive Director's Annual Report in reducing child marriage and providing life-saving services to over 80 million people in crisis. We remain concerned that unmet need for family planning has plateaued and that 80% of countries may not meet 2030 maternal mortality targets. This demonstrates the scale of the challenge we face together. We note the severe pressure on humanitarian funding in 2025 at a time when conflicts, displacement, and disease pose disproportionate risks for women and girls from disrupted services, increased care burdens, and rising violence. We encourage UNFPA to advocate for its role in integrated needs-based responses that deliver life-saving services through the most efficient means. As we move through implementation of the 2026 to 2029 Strategic Plan, we strongly encourage UNFPA to accelerate practical reforms that can deliver efficiencies through strengthen collaboration shared services, and improved coherence at country level in line with the wider UN80 agenda. This includes nurturing the right capabilities in the right places to accelerate progress for transformative results. Concerning UNFPA's strategic goal on demographic resilience, and given the declining funding for global data goods, what role does UNFPA envisage to better support countries to sustainably strengthen their primary data systems? Systems and national statistical capability in the long term. Finally, we count on UNFPA to remain steadfast in advancing the rights of women, girls, and marginalized people everywhere to live safe, healthy, and empowered lives free from all forms of violence. Thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of the United Kingdom for the statement. and give the floor next to the representative of New Zealand.

Thank you, President. Executive Director, New Zealand thanks you for your briefing and welcomes your annual report. We commend UNFPA for the progress achieved, including continued delivery against its three transformative results. In a challenging global context, this work is more important than ever. New Zealand therefore reaffirms its strong and consistent support for UNFPA's mandate and for the centrality of sexual and reproductive health and rights, gender equality, and the empowerment of women and girls. Turning to the broader system context, New Zealand strongly supports the Secretary-General's UN80 reform initiative as an opportunity to take forward meaningful reform. As we have emphasized alongside other member states, the UN development system must be more focused more efficient, and better coordinated, particularly at the country and regional level. For UNFPA, this includes continuing to articulate its comparative advantage while working in close partnership with other entities to deliver coherent, country-led support. As we consider the reform agenda ahead, New Zealand recognizes that a range of options are being put forward to strengthen the effectiveness and coherence of the development system. It will be important that these are assessed holistically and not in isolation, and within the broader context of UNAID reform. We also underline the important role of this Board in providing strategic guidance on these questions. As member states, we have a responsibility not only to consider the options presented, but to drive timely decisions on the way forward. Given the urgency of the challenges we face, we should move beyond analysis towards clear conclusion and direction, focused on practical action so that reforms can be implemented without delay. Finally, Executive Director, New Zealand remains concerned about the challenging funding environment facing UNFPA. Core resources are essential to UNFPA's ability to deliver flexibly, respond to crises, and support those furthest behind. We know that the global fiscal environment means that funding is not growing, but we also know that quality funding can allow us do to more with less. This is why New Zealand prioritizes providing quality core funding to UNFPA, and we encourage others to do the same. New Zealand reaffirms its strong support for UNFPA and its vital role in advancing the rights, health, and dignity of all women and girls, and we value our partnership with UNFPA, particularly in our own region in the Pacific. We look forward to continuing to work with UNFPA and fellow board members to ensure the organization remains effective, focused, and able to deliver in an increasingly complex environment.

I thank the representative of New Zealand for the statement and give next the floor to the representative of Norway.

You have the floor. Thank you, President. First and foremost, Norway wishes to thank UNFPA staff and partners for their tireless efforts seeking rights-based approaches and realizing sexual and reproductive health and rights for all. We thank the Executive Director for her briefing and for the annual report presented to us today. Madame Executive Director, we stand by you and UNFPA. We stand by your struggle to deliver life-saving services to those most in need. Norway has provided approximately $55 million to UNFPA in core funding this year. We maintain a high level of flexible and predictable funding also through thematic funds and through our embassies. We are using our political and financial leverage to rally support for UNFPA and other key partners on SRHR. We note that progress has— progress has stagnated in various areas and call on all member states to redouble their efforts ensuring quality and access to sexual and reproductive health services as an integral part of public health systems. When rights and democracy are weakened, the risk of conflict and crisis increases. It is the poorest and most vulnerable amongst us who will suffer the most when the ideological tide is turning and funding is cut. Strengthening the UN as a key arena for developing and defending norms on gender equality, inclusion, and health is therefore a priority for Norway. President, it is essential that UNFPA maintains a rights-based approach in its work. Our joint commitments run back to the Cairo Summit and have continued to evolve, as it has through the Nairobi Summit, where we agreed to intensify our efforts to ensure universal access to SRHR as a part of universal health coverage. We agreed also to uphold the right to sexual and reproductive health services services in humanitarian and fragile settings. We are not stepping back. These hard-won rights must be safeguarded. As we have seen at this board meeting, the rally of support for UNFPA is strong and runs across regions. Together, we will ensure that the rights of the most vulnerable are respected. This is our duty. I thank you for your attention.

I thank the distinguished representative of Norway for the intervention and would like to give the floor next to Madame the Executive Director for responding to the question. Yes, you have the floor.

Thank you so much. Thank you, Mr. President. I would like to thank Excellency Ambassador of Denmark for the comment, the support to the mandate and to our work. We appreciate Denmark's steadfast support and commitment and looking forward to working even more closely with Denmark and note as well that their support for for the merger for sustainable delivery. Thank you very much. We would like as well the Ambassador for Switzerland, thank you very much for your support and for the mention of localization, that is very important. Excusez-moi, je vais parler en français. Excuse me, I'm going to speak in French.

We thank you for the support in terms of the localization, despite the falling resources. We thank you for the support for our partners in the field in the areas where we can't do our work without that. So we thank you for that. In terms of the fall of contributions from member states, we are working with every member state to ensure that regardless of the amount, we at least receive it. And we thank Switzerland and all donors for their predictable donations and considerable donations. We fully understand the shared services with the UN Women, and I have a very personal comment on that. It didn't just start with the UN Haiti process. I think it's important to flag that. I was a country representative where I had to give UNFPA funds to UN Women and keep my— keep the funds in my office in Lubumbashi in the DRC, just to pool the resources together. Those are things that are already happening and we can continue to work on that. So thanks very much for recalling that. Now for the Ambassador.

Brazil, thank you so much for the— for the support and for recognizing the work we do under certain condition as well. And I really would like to note and appreciate all the effort of Brazil in population and development and data, and noticing how much it was important a few— 2 years back when we did this work on the quilombo population to make sure that we can insert population that are left behind. This is the kind of thing that Brazil does and that every country should be doing, and that we— muito obrigada for that. And China, Cai Qi, thank you for your for your support. Thank you for increasing our resources on South-South cooperation and supporting us and the country programme. We hear your comment. The fourth outcome is absolutely critical in the work we do, and let's make sure that we'll continue to support and make sure that we advocate with every country the increase of core resources and respect of ODA. Thank you. Ambassador of Germany, Excellency, thank you so very much for your constant support. Germany, just like some of our countries, are among our biggest donors, and the critical support not only on the mandate but also financial is absolutely critical to what we do everywhere, so thank you for noticing it. We broaden our partnership partnership with a financial institution because we have the same donor base, actually. That's what makes it easy. So we look forward to working closely again on the ground. Thank you for mentioning the RC system. UNFPA is one of the stronger believers in the RC system, as probably we are one of the agencies that facilitate their work on the ground, that contribute financially to their role, and we look forward that the RC system takes our mandate into consideration as well to make sure that they prioritize in their discussion, political discussion, HR, HR and everything that goes with it. But thank you for mentioning it. It's important. And of course, I'm going to leave in a few minutes when I finish the account to give the floor to Deputy Executive Director Andrew Saberton to talk about efficiencies several of you have mentioned. And the role we do, the work we do, not only at UNFPA, but for the UN system in general as well. I'll give him the word. And thank you for mentioning right and dignity of all people in their diversity. I think we are a human rights-based organization. We are international law, and that's very critical. When we say leave no one behind, I truly believe it's really leave no one behind. So thank you for mentioning it. Kuba, Muchísimas gracias for your comment and recognizing the work we do in your country. We are going to continue doing it and reinforce it. I think the Montevideo Consensus is absolutely critical in everything that we do, so looking forward to continue supporting Cuba together. Thank you. And Bangladesh, thank you, Excellency, for your comment, for your support. Bangladesh is a critical partner for us at several levels, not only for your own population, but being host of a major refugee population as well. We thank you for your steadfast commitment, your partnership, and we look forward to working not only on demographic resilience, but on predictable funding, as you require us to do, and to try to scale everything that we can at that level. You mentioned we're getting into the mousson season The climate resilience activities are important for health and health protection as well, so this is very well noted for all our lifesaving activities. Thank you, and for the South-South cooperation as well that you lead as well. Thank you. Ambassador Ecosoc from the UK, thank you for your comment. Thank you for your support. In 2025, you were our key— first key donor, and we appreciate We appreciate not only on core contribution, but on the supply, and supply is very important for all unmet needs around the world. We appreciate the work we do together, and for child marriage as well, jointly with UNICEF. So we continue to accelerate what we do, work. We will continue working and informing on the UNAT agenda. According to what member states are requesting for us and what role we can play on population development, helping country on developing national statistics. That's the work we have been doing all over. Our key ministry, contrary to the perception, is not the Minister of Health or Minister of Social Development. Our key entry minister is Minister of Development Planning everywhere around the world. The rest are subsidiaries. Minister, so we work with them, with the National Statistics Institute, Statistics, to make sure that not only we prepare the round of censuses under the leadership of UNDESA and economical commissions, but we make sure as well we work on civil registry and vital statistics differently. Now, for your question, there is one survey that will be problematic probably, the health— demographic health survey, because one major donor is not there anymore. With UNICEF, they will probably continue to do the mix, but for the DHS, we still need to see how with member states we're going to finance, help finance that. But thank you for your support and thank you for your comments. Ambassador for New Zealand, thank you for your comment. Thank you for your support and for the for the steadfast commitment in working in the Pacific region. I visited not that long ago the island of Kandavu with the permanent representative of New Zealand in Fiji, and believe me, when you go to that places so far remote, even though more— very beautiful, and having dedicated midwives working 15, 20 kilometers just to come and save life is just amazing. Thank you for your support in that regard. And maybe since I'm talking about midwife, I go back to Sweden and say how much your support in midwifery and everything that we do with them is very much important. This weekend I'll be marching with midwives all over the place representing the UN Secretary General in Lisbon and representing their workforce and their incredible work in some circumstances where nobody goes. So thank you very much to all of you for what you do. Norway, thank you, thank you. The year before the last was Norway was the biggest donor. That's why we have that core group of donors who really, you push yourself up. We are grateful for the support. We are grateful for your principles, principle, human rights-based approach in helping those most left behind and contributing to the world peace. When we help people, we contribute to the peace. So thank you for that. I hear the political and financial progress that need to continue and the gender inclusive approach as well, as well as the universal health coverage that is part of what we do. We work not only with WHO, but we work with ILO as as well, to make sure that not only the universal health is there, but the social protection aspect is seen in a more comprehensive way. Thank you so very much. I'm going to give the floor to Andrew Saberton so he can talk about efficiency, what we do not only at the UNFPA level, but at the UN level. Thank you, Mr. President. Andrew, over to you.

Thank you, Executive Director. Thank you, Mr. President. I'll just first talk about UNFPA and operational efficiencies, and then I'll go into the wider role. UNFPA is a champion of an agile back office, and it didn't need anyone or any new project to actually get it to go down that route. We were doing it ourselves well before UN80 or any other incentive there. Let me just say, give some facts here. UNFPA outsources more of its back office support operations than any other UN organization. They include, but this is not everything, all its treasury services, its payment services, all its staff entitlement services. It shares an ERP. It didn't buy its own ERP. We were the first signature on the fleet agreement. We don't want to buy cars. We want to actually lease cars from people who can benefit from economies of scale. As regards to those reform efforts, UNFPA country offices, we participate 100% in all business operation strategies. Every single country office is participating. 82% of our country offices operate out of a common premises. That's one of the highest in the UN system, and we participate in all existing common back offices that are actually operational at the moment. From this year's UN DSS report, report, you can see that we actually, uh, from, from these efficiencies, we made just under $28 million in operational efficiencies in 2025, which is actually double, approximately double what we made in 2024. We've achieved about $106 million efficiencies, uh, in those, um, uh, uh, since, since 2019. Um, we reinvest all those savings in the programs. I just want to make clear and also to applaud my Executive Director for saying in her very first speech that we are willing to outsource all of our back office operations as they become available. We need more providers to actually, within the UN system, to offer those services. And before I go on to my big role, I would also say, again, before UNHCR started, we had already engaged, anticipating a more restricted funding environment, in our own internal business model review to shape UNFPA on a continuous journey to be more future fit. We know this has got— not a point in time, this is actually something that's got to continue and continue and continue. And we'd already started that last year. And I will just remind the colleagues and Excellencies in the room, last year we finished project of actually moving 25% of our headquarter workforce from New York into Nairobi to deliver closer to the actual— put our programmatic people and our technical people closer to the ground to deliver better programs. Just quickly switching, if I may, one of the other things I may actually say is that I have the honor of co-chairing at this moment the Business Innovation group, which has a key role in UN80, particularly around the unified services roadmap. We share responsibility with that with the HLCM and WFP as regarding— and others regarding the supply chain. With regard to the humanitarian compact, we are in all pilots on the supply chain initiatives, so we are making sure we are on the ground and we are taking into account the special requirements needed in the supply chain for the products that UNFPA delivers. And actually, just to say, with the big role as regards efficiencies for the systems, I would just actually put out there, I would ask more organizations to do what UNFPA does. What do I mean by that? We didn't buy our ERP. If we all shared the same small range of ERPs, we could make extensive efficiency savings by sharing a lot more processes, etc. As I mentioned, we have actually outsourced all services currently available by the global— from global shared service centers by other organizations we have bought. We would encourage other organizations to buy rather than to create their own centres and offer. We've got to trust the system like UNFPA does, that we can buy without any lacking of efficiency or effectiveness from other agencies. Trust in that, so let us concentrate on what we do on the delivery of programme. We must also take a leap of faith in the common back offices, as I've mentioned UNFPA does. We know we might not get savings on day one, but we know the savings from consolidation will come to come. We must take a leap of faith in that and not opt out of it. We must also— and I am happy to say in the new mutual recognition— we must also take our mutual recognition seriously. All UN agencies signed— just about all UN agencies signed up to it 8 years ago, but it is struggling to be operationalized, not with UNFPA. We always use LTAs. We always look to actually not reinvent the process. Many of our policies are not our own policies. We have adopted them from other agencies. There's no need to do that. This is where efficiencies have come and I think we're actually showing a very good clear lead in this. Thank you.

Thank you, President.

Thank you, Ms. Keita and Mr. Saberton, for these responses. I will next proceed with Some further board members. There is Japan, the Deputy Permanent Representative of Japan, followed by the Deputy Permanent Representative of Nepal. Japan.

Thank you, Mr. President. Japan warmly welcomes the achievement and activities reported by UNFPA and highly commends the average achievement rate of 91.4% under its to the previous strategic plan, despite increasingly challenging circumstances. Now let me make 5 points. First, under the outstanding leadership of the Executive Director and led by Director of the Humanitarian Response Division, Mr. Okaguragaki, UNFPA provided life-saving services to 61.5 million people between 2022 and 2025. Japan expresses profound appreciation UNFPA's remarkable accomplishment in the humanitarian sphere. Second, Japan welcomes UNFPA's effort to enhance organizational effectiveness and efficiency, resulting in operational efficiency gains totaling $72.3 million during 2022-2025. We also welcome diversification of funding base, contributing to total revenue exceeding the $1 billion mark for 9 consecutive years. Third, we are pleased to see expanding private sector partnerships. In Africa, projects utilizing innovative Japanese technologies are already underway. We hope these partnerships will further accelerate progress toward achieving the Three Zeros. Fourth, we look forward to the forthcoming launch of the Demographic Futures Survey. To which Japan has contributed. As the survey directly supports strategic plans' priorities on youth and evidence-based policymaking, we encourage UNFPA to maximize impact and visibility of its findings. Fifth, regarding the UN80 Initiative, Japan believes that careful deliberations grounded in sufficient evidence and information are indispensable. In particular, About the merger of UNFPA and UN Women, let me reiterate our emphasis on the importance of preserving those mandates relating to demographic resilience, SRHR, gender equality, and women's empowerment. In concluding, Japan highly appreciates the dedication of UNFPA staff worldwide, especially those working in difficult circumstances on the ground. We are confident that UNFPA will continue to play a central role in enabling people to realize full potential and in advancing more inclusive and equitable societies. We reaffirm our commitment to working closely with the UNFPA toward a sustainable, inclusive, and prosperous future for all. I thank you.

I thank the distinguished Deputy Permanent Representative of Japan for the statement. I will next proceed to the DPR of Nepal, and then I will have the floor to the Permanent Representative of Chad to let him settle in. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. President. We thank Madam Executive Director for a comprehensive and forward-looking annual report for 2025. Nepal is experiencing a significant demographic shift with a large youth population, declining fertility, greater mobility of its workforce, and rapid urbanization. These trends present valuable opportunities to to harness demographic dividends, strengthen human development, and accelerate progress towards SDGs. This requires strengthening national statistical capacity, robust population data system, resilient health services, and sustained investment in human capital, including women and girls. We therefore appreciate UNFPA's role in strengthening census, civil registration, and vital statistics system and demographic foresight. Nepal values UNFPA's technical partnership in our efforts to achieve SDGs, especially Goal 3 and 5, expand digital civil registration and vital statistics system, improve access to SRHR rights, accelerate implementation of policy frameworks, provide humanitarian assistance during crisis, and plan strategies for the next census, among others. We also recognize significant milestones achieved in maternal health and family planning. Nepal has made steady progress in reducing maternal mortality, but the report's warning about the global U.S. $104 billion financing gap is a reminder that national gains remain fragile. UNFPA's continued support for midwifery, emergency obstetric care, and supply chain resilience is essential for countries with challenging geography and disaster risk like ours. While supporting UNFPA's call to end gender-based violence, child marriage, and other discriminatory practices, Nepal underscores the urgency of scaling up preventive measures, providing survivor-centered services, strengthening justice mechanisms, and bringing perpetrators to book. Our federal, provincial, and local governments are expanding safe houses, one-stop crisis centers, and digital reporting mechanisms. But as the report highlights, technology-facilitated GV— GVV is rising sharply. We encourage UNFPA to deepen its work on digital safety, online harms, and youth-focused prevention. We also appreciate UNFPA's humanitarian leadership Nepal is highly disaster-prone and vulnerable to climate shocks. The ability of UNFPA to rapidly deploy surge capacity, maintain SRHR services, and protect women and girls during emergencies is directly relevant to our national preparedness and response systems. As we look ahead to the 2026-2029 Strategic Plan, Nepal welcomes the addition of new outcomes on population dynamics and demographic change. This aligns with our one policy priorities on demographic dividend, aging, migration governance, and urban planning. We encourage UNFPA to ensure that this new outcome is backed by adequate resources, technical depth, and country-specific priorities and needs. Nepal reaffirms its strong partnership with UNFPA and looks forward to working together to advance rights, resilience, and demographic opportunity for all. Mr. President, let me conclude the question. How will UNFPA ensure that New Demographic Change outcome translates into practical country-level support? Including modeling, foresight, and policy.

I thank the distinguished Deputy Permanent Representative of Nepal for delivering the statement. Je donne la parole.

I now give the floor to the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Chad. You have the floor, sir. Thank you for your patience.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Executive Director for her insightful briefing, commend her leadership as Executive Director, particularly in these challenging times, and assure her of our full support. Chad highly values its cooperation with UNFPA, a strategic partner that supports the government action in addressing the numerous challenges the country is facing in the field of family planning, data collection, the upcoming national census, but also in fighting against harmful practices such as child marriage, female genital mutilation, gender-based violence, obstetrical fistula, among others. All that under the difficult sub-regional context that Chad is being confronted with, and with security challenge and humanitarian crisis due to conflict in neighboring countries. With the help of UNFPA, the government has achieved important progress in family planning, reproductive health, the fight against obstetrical fistula, etc. The government has also achieved important milestone towards gender equality and the fight against gender-based violence with the enactment of Ordinance 003 a major legislative instrument in charge for the prevention and punishment of gender-based violence promulgated on January 2025. Mr. President, the international context is marked by funding cuts, geopolitical tensions, conflict, climate degradation. The funding cuts has triggered reform in the UN system with the UN80 Initiative, and the potential merger of agencies such as UNFPA and UN Women. My country welcomes the UNHCR process as a necessary opportunity to build a more effective, coherent, and impactful UN that delivers for developing countries and advances the 2030 Agenda. However, my delegation wishes to stress that reform must produce measurable improvement in field delivery, and coherence at headquarters is only meaningful if it translates into more integrated support at country level. Regarding the potential merger of UNFPA and UN Women, given the utmost importance and also the specificity of the mandates of the two entities, my delegation believes that any reform should strengthen the service delivery while preserving mandate, protecting existing international commitment, and strengthening their implementation in line with the needs and priorities of member states. I thank you.

I thank you, Your Excellency, Permanent Representative of Chad, for the intervention. We have now exhausted the list of interventions from the members of the board. So I will give the floor to the Executive Director of UNFPA, and after that, we will proceed with the observers wishing to take the floor. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. President. I would like to thank Excellency Ambassador of Japan Mr. President, and for the support and for the strong comment made, not only on our development work, but on our humanitarian portfolio as well. And we look forward to continue working with you and give impact and visibility on the work we do. The survey you mentioned, the result will be out very soon, and we look forward to sharing that with you. Being in Japan earlier in the month, it was important. We had a discussion on our annual review with Japanese partner, not only on gender equality, maternal health, and demographic resilience as well. So thank you again for all the assistance that you provide us with, and of course inclusive development, and it's important for a peaceful and prosperous world for all. Thank you so very much for that. I would like to thank Honorable Excellency Ambassador of Nepal as well for the support and for all the work we do together in your country. Just like other member states mentioned, the climate resilience is absolutely important as well as the demographic dividend work that we do together. I'm going to give some time, because some of you mentioned the Outcome 4 on different work we do, to the Deputy Executive Director of the program. Your Excellency, Ambassador of Chad, thank you so much for your support and for the support of Chad. We are very, very proud of the work we do there. There's some other country, you have not only your population, but the refugee population, and and the resilience as the Chadians are proving is important, and we look forward to continue not only working on maternal health, but young people as well, and on every population left behind. Thank you for your support in the UN Haiti process. We will continue to provide to you every evidence that you need to enable you to take a sound decision in due time. Thank you. Merci infiniment pour vos commentaires. President, if you allow me, I would like to give the floor to the Deputy Executive Director Interim for Programme, Mr. Pio Smith, who has been working with the Director of Programme and team on the fourth outcome.

Pio, over to you. Thank you very much, Madam President. Thank you, Mr. President, and to all the distinguished delegates and excellencies for the interventions. And maybe just to say on the our new outcome around population dynamics and demographic resilience. Of course, it sits as part of a wider package that we are, you know, working on under our new strategic plan. And as DNA very rightly said, you know, we have been doing data and statistical capacity building for decades now across the board. But really, what we see now in our new strategic plan is more targeted, data-driven action better use of evidence, including baseline surveys and demographic analysis, and strengthening national health systems, particularly when it comes to data and financing, so that countries are increasingly able to support and harness the demographic changes that we're seeing. In terms of our program offer around the new outcome, I would say that, you know, it's moving from a very explicit focus now on demographic change, so it's very much about about, you know, explicit areas of results that are requiring countries to actively engage with these dynamics, such as fertility, aging, migration, urbanization. But it's also about the modeling, it's about anticipatory action and investments, particularly on the design of forward-looking population policies, but also the demographic shifts, tracking these, linking the population trends to, of course, planning and investments and developments when it comes to human capital and economic planning. Um, we are also working with many governments in terms of better and stronger integration of data and analytics, um, particularly when it comes to demographic analysis, population projections, and using tools like the Generations and Gender Survey. And it's not just in, in regular settings. We're also working very hard when it comes bridging that humanitarian development peace context and having very targeted demographic insights to understand better the fragility and displacement. Maybe just two final points to say that it's not just the downstream, it's very much also about the upstream engagement and partnerships. It's with making new partnerships with, of course, ministries of finance and other sectors, moving beyond health-focused counterparts. And also, my final point, Mr. President, would be to say that we are also, along with our colleagues in DESA, helping shape what I think is a new direction of travel for the UN system under the rubric of the High-Level Committee on Programs, which is under the auspices of the Secretary-General's CEB, so that we not only have common messaging, but also common approaches around demographic trends and the handling of that in the wider context of a UN cooperation framework. And the new chapter on this, if you like, is working with all of our ORCs to kind of have a common platform for that— a common framework, I should say, sorry— for that engagement. Thank you.

Edith. Thank you so much, Pio. President, before giving you the floor, I would like to go back to His Excellency from Nepal and mention as well the weaponized technical approach online for young people as well, on which we are working very, very closely. And allow me to commend you and Nepal for all the effort you did during the Commission on Population and Development, the session in helping member states to reach the most consensus possible. Thank you for that. Mr. President, I go back to you. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. Keita, for your Mrs. Ponssees and Mr. Piers Smith. I will now continue with interventions from observer delegations, beginning with permanent representatives and deputy permanent representatives, and as it may be, representatives from capitals, followed by expert-level representatives. I believe I have on my list the permanent representative of Mali, Your Excellency, you have the floor. Yes, vous êtes là-bas. Bon, très bien.

You have the floor.

Thank you, Mr. President. Madam Executive Director, I wish to begin by conveying to you my warmest congratulations to the Executive Director of UNFPA, not just for her leadership, but also for the excellent presentation that she has shared with us this year about the annual report of UNFPA. We align ourselves with the statement delivered by Tunisia on behalf of the African Group. And in a national capacity, I wish to deliver the following two remarks. The first has to do with reforms, and the second has to do with cooperation between Mali and UNFPA. On the planned reforms, including those related to UNFPA under the UNAID Initiative, Mali wishes to see these reforms not further erode the mandates of UN agencies. Of course, we would like to see a less— lesser degree of bureaucracy and red tape, but there needs to be action-oriented initiatives that help to meet the legitimate aspirations of people on the ground. Now, turning to cooperation with UNFPA, I wish to convey our particular gratitude to UNFPA for its ongoing presence and commitment for Mali and our people in a particularly difficult context. We have engaged in fruitful bilateral cooperation with UNFPA. Programs are underway and they are being wrapped up, but there is a new, uh, Mali UNFPA cooperation program that was negotiated, covered in 2027 to 2031. And this in particular is the fruit of a participatory, inclusive approach in close— with close cooperation with the national stakeholders. And this is aligned with national priorities, our strategic priorities, specifically Mali 2063 Vision and the National Strategy for Sustainable Development Emergence for 2034 to 2022-2034. We would like— we welcome the foregrounding of the importance of national resource mobilization, national implementation, territorialization of engagement, as well as greater South-South cooperation in particular through cooperation with the Alliance of the States of the Sahel. Our government remains fully committed to these programs. and we could recommend that the Executive Board at the right time adopt it, and particularly to continue to deliver the necessary political, technical, financial support to ensure that it is effectively implemented to benefit the people. For our part, despite the challenges which we have been facing, our government continues to mobilize national resources in order to contribute to the meaningful implementation of relevant of cooperation programs.

Microphone has been cut off. I do apologize, sirs. As the President, on my list I have the representatives, permanent— Deputy Permanent Representative of Belgium, Canada, to be followed by France.

Next to the Deputy Permanent Representative of Belgium, if you could please give the statement. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. President, Excellencies, Madam Executive Director.

Belgium thanks you for the presentation of your comprehensive annual report.

It clearly illustrates both the impact of UNFPA's work and the scale of the challenges ahead. We commend UNFPA for continuing to deliver essential services, including maternal healthcare, protection from on gender-based violence and access to family planning, particularly in fragile and humanitarian contexts. At the same time, the report highlights a concerning reality: growing needs combined with shrinking resources. These constraints risk undermining hard-won progress and limiting access to life-saving services for the most vulnerable. The persistent decline in core resources is deeply concerning. Predictable and flexible Sustainable funding is indispensable for UNFPA to fully deliver on its mandate, maintain its field presence, and act with the agility required by today's crisis. Belgium will continue to advocate for strong and sustained core funding. This comes in a broader global context marked by increasing pressure on multilateralism and a worrying pushback against gender equality and sexual and reproductive health and rights. In such a In this context, Belgium wishes to reaffirm its unwavering support for UNFPA's mandate and for the ICPD Programme of Action. Advancing SRHR and gender equality remains not only a moral imperative, but also a proven driver of sustainable development and resilience. We also encourage UNFPA to remain firm and principled in its defense of human rights, including sexual and reproductive health and rights for all, without exception and without discrimination. This leadership is essential, now more than ever. Turning to the UN Haiti reform, Belgium supports efforts to make the UN system more coherent, more efficient and more impactful on the field. At the same time, ongoing discussions on potential structural changes, including a possible merger between UN Women and UNFPA, raise important questions. For Belgium, it would It would be unacceptable for any reform to weaken or dilute the distinct and essential mandate— mandates of both entities: gender equality and sexual and reproductive health and rights. They must be fully safeguarded and their implementation and impact further strengthened to deliver on the promise to leave no one behind and achieve the SDGs. We look forward to the joint report of the two Executive Directors and we hope that the forthcoming with the support of the Secretary-General, will provide further clarity on the way forward. We underline the need for robust safeguards in any future processes, and at this stage, important questions remain that must be addressed in a transparent and inclusive manner. Madame Executive Director, Belgium remains a strong and committed partner. We count on UNFPA to continue delivering with impact, standing firm in its mandate, and reaching those who need it most. I thank you.

I thank the distinguished Deputy Permanent Representative of Belgium for the statement. I will now give the floor to the Deputy Permanent Representative of Canada. You have the floor, followed by France. Thank you.

Merci, Monsieur le Président. Thank you, President.

Madame Executive Director, representatives. Canada would like to express its thanks for the essential work of the UNFPA in a context of global crisis and heightened attacks on sexual and reproductive health and rights. We welcome the organization— we congratulate the organization for reaching more than 90% of the goals in its strategic plan to 2025 despite increasingly complicated operational environments. The UNFPA's achievements reflect the devotion and resilience of every member of your personnel. Canada would like to particularly thank those who carried out their roles while also adapting to new workloads. While we are concerned by the time and the resource used by discussions on the merger, while the attention should remain on the main mission of the UNAPI, which is to provide vital support to all women and girls, we would nonetheless like to reiterate our position. Canada staunchly supports the UN AT Initiative and the broader reform agenda promoted by the Secretary-General. These are reforms that should strengthen the service delivery, responsibility, consistency, and results throughout the UN system. In terms of the UNFPA and UN Women, to date the information provided don't meet the sufficient criteria for financial discipline or necessary risk management for Canada to be able to approve the merge of two GA-mandated entities. Canada believes that robust guarantees on the protection of the mandates are essential to ensure the continuance of the UNFPA FPA's normative work and particularly its specialized programs within countries. Gender equality and women's rights, particularly sexual and reproductive rights, are threatened in all corners of the world, including here at the United Nations. The internal legal opinions of the UNFPA underscore that the consideration at the GA level of a potential merger opens possibility and create an inherent risk that the UNFPA's mandate might be subject to review. In underscoring the Council's— the Board's supervising role, we underscore the fact that goodwill must prevail. Canada's priority is to assess credible alternatives to a merger which would allow for efficiency gains and better coordination. Canada firmly supports the UNFPA's mandate and its strategic plan 2026-2029. Thank you.

I thank you to the Deputy Permanent Representative of Canada, and I now give the floor to the representative of France. You have the floor.

Thank you very much, President. Thank you very much to the Executive Director for the clarifying presentation. Indeed, in 69 countries, women are still not yet free to take decisions on their own health. 800 women die every day due to sexual and reproductive health. This reflects inequalities, discrimination, and violence. That are inherent in all aspects of sexual and reproductive health. It is inconceivable that maternal health still depends on where a baby is born despite decades of jointly forged development. Madame Executive Director, it's urgent to work, and the UNFPA is on the front line here. That's why France has dedicated €89 million, which has allowed €25 million women to have access to sexual and reproductive health systems, to strengthen national health systems, to improve supply chains and integration of the national health systems. The UNFPA's unique experience in this area gives it a central role to play in effect in supporting member states in their public policies. It allows them to work within communities, in displaced communities, Ukraine, Palestine, Sudan, and other places. Madame Executive Director, gender equality and respecting the rights of women and girls are priorities for the French government, and in Ukraine we are particularly working in this area. We support the distribution of vital medical items and also are supporting in Gaza reconstruction of a maternity hospital. And infant healthcare. We are also providing obstetric and neonatal care. This context of reform calls for us to take strategic decisions for the future of the United Nations. Looking at the merger for the UNFPA currently at the assessment stage, and we will be looking at these proposals in the light of several criteria. In terms of significant, credible efficiency gains and the preservation of mandates. It's crucial for member states and the Council and the Board to be included in these discussions. The credibility of our multilateral system hinges on this. And we encourage the UNFPA to continue with its adaptation efforts, including in the field, as it has done during the Feminist Diplomacy conferences in Paris and elsewhere. We reaffirm our support for the UNFPA. Thank you.

Thank you very much for that statement.

I will now give the floor to the Deputy Permanent Representative of Liberia, followed by the Netherlands, Australia, and the Russian Federation. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. President. The Republic of Liberia thanks the Executive Director and the UNFPA team for their steadfast leadership and continued support to member states. Liberia values its strong partnership with the UNFPA, particularly in advancing maternal and reproductive health, strengthening demographic data systems, empowering youth, and addressing gender-based violence. These are— these areas remain central to our national development priorities under the REST Agenda for Inclusive Development and the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. As the— as discussed on the UN initiative and broader systems reforms continue, Liberia underscores the importance of ensuring that efficiency gains do not come at the expense of mandates. Reforms should strengthen, not weaken, the capacity of operational entities such as the UNFPA to deliver tangible results for people on the ground. Many countries, particularly developing countries, rely on the services of organizations such as the UNFPA. We believe that any reform process must preserve the unique mandate of UNFPA while enhancing coordination, reducing duplication, and improving efficiency at the field level. The ultimate measure of success should be a more responsive, effective, and impactful United Nations that delivers better outcomes for member states and the communities it serves. Liberia remains committed to working closely with the UNFPA and all partners to advance sustainable development, promote gender equality, and ensure that no one is left behind. And I thank you.

I thank the distinguished Deputy Permanent Representative of Liberia for the intervention. We have the Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan in the room. Your Excellency, I give you the floor.

Thank you, Mr. President, Executive Director Keita, distinguished delegates. The delegation of Kazakhstan thanks Executive Director Keita for her report and comments UNFPA's steadfast leadership. Navigating headwinds like financial pressures, geopolitical tensions, and rights pushbacks requires immense institutional resilience. We applaud UNFPA's ability to consistently deliver for women and youth, remaining an indispensable technical authority and provider of last resort. Kazakhstan highly appreciates the results achieved during the 2022-2025 cycle. Preventing over 140,000 maternal deaths, treating 50,000 women for obstetric fistula, and averting 66 million unintended pregnancies are monumental milestones. Furthermore, ensuring 70% of the global population ensuring that population was accurately counted during the 2020 census remains crucial for equipping governments with the data needed for evidence-based policymaking. While we welcome total contributions exceeding $1.4 billion in 2025, Kazakhstan shares deep concern over the continuous decline in core funding. We support, in this regard, UNFPA's focus on innovative financing and domestic resource mobilization, particularly through the UNFPA-Supplies Partnership, to broaden the resource base and secure predictable resources. Turning to the humanitarian sector, the 2026 humanitarian appeal requires urgent international solidarity. Kazakhstan welcomes UNFPA's progress in aid localization, directing 35% of humanitarian funding straight to local partners in 2025. Mr. President, Kazakhstan warmly welcomes the strategic plan's fourth outcome, focusing on demographic change and population dynamics. We agree that issues like aging, fertility transitions, and migration must be approached through the lens of people-centered resilience, grounded in individual rights and choices. Additionally, we commend the increased focus on innovation, integrating artificial intelligence tools and digital health platforms. In conclusion, Kazakhstan remains firmly committed to its partnership with UNFPA. We fully endorse the agency's unwavering commitment to the highest standards of operational accountability, transparency, and its zero tolerance policy for all forms of wrongdoing. I thank you.

I thank the distinguished Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan for the statement. I give next the floor to the Ekozok Ambassador of the Netherlands. You have the floor.

Thank you, Mr.

President. The Kingdom of the Netherlands commends UNFPA for its vital role in advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights globally, as was clearly demonstrated in the 2025 Annual Report. We look forward to working closely together to further accelerate progress towards the 3 transformative results under the current strategic plan. Our longstanding partnership and multi-year core funding to UNFPA reflects our confidence in and continued support for the agency's mandate. And performance. The Kingdom of the Netherlands also supports the UN AT Initiative and the broader efforts to make the UN development system more efficient and effective, particularly at country level. Ensuring that UNFPA can continue to deliver on its full mandate while increasing its impact is essential. We, we remain concerned about the risks that the UNFPA-UN Women merger could pose to the mandates of both entities and to their operational continuity. We are therefore not in a position to support the merger as presented in the assessment report. At the same time, we do strongly encourage further strengthened collaboration between UNFPA UN Women, and we look forward to receive and consider alternative options that enhance coherence and impact of the UN development system while firmly safeguarding the distinct mandates of the organizations.

We do note that the business model review remains on hold pending later—

greater clarity on the implications of UN 80 for the future of UNFPA.

While we understand this, we would welcome more information on the consequences of this delay for UNFPA's ability to remain resilient and future-fit.

Could UNFPA elaborate on how postponing the business model review affects its capacity to make strategic choices in a context of significant and growing funding pressures? In conclusion, we express our appreciation to Executive Director Keita and to the UNFPA staff at all levels for their dedication and professionalism, often under very challenging circumstances.

Thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of the Netherlands for the statement and will give the floor next to the representative of Australia, followed by the Russian Federation. Thank you.

Thank you, Executive Director.

Uh, we commend UNFPA's delivery at scale as set out in the annual report. The report demonstrates strong performance in working to advance sexual and reproductive health and rights, which remain central to health, human rights, and inclusive development. In 2025, this included positive outcomes in ensuring access to life-saving sexual and reproductive health services in humanitarian settings. I would like to make the following points. Firstly, the report underscores good progress in key areas of upstream work, such as systematic approaches to strengthened midwifery workforces, which are vital to improving family planning and maternal health. Further, further focus on upstream work will be important to driving sustainable improvements. Persistent yet preventable maternal mortality and gaps in family planning services point to a need for increased advocacy, including to embed this work in universal health coverage systems. Secondly, we welcome UNFPA's sustained focus on supply chains that keep modern contraceptives and other essential commodities available. We continue— we commend work to increase domestic resource mobilization and ask UNFPA to communicate early where risks are identified. Thirdly, Australia recognizes UNFPA's leadership on combating gender-based violence, including support to survivors through integrated services and safe spaces and advancing the abandonment of harmful practices such as child marriage and female genital mutilation. Our partnership with UNICEF and UNFPA working to support governments and communities to eliminate harmful practices in the Indo-Pacific region is delivering good results and shows the value of strong UN collaboration. Finally, Australia has supported inclusion of Pillar 4 on demographics in the 2026-2029 Strategic Plan. We see continued increase in demand for support with demographic analysis and policy development, which UNFPA is uniquely positioned to provide. We request UNFPA ensures this is adequately resourced We continue to strongly value our partnership with UNFPA and remain committed to supporting your vital work. Thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of Australia and give the floor next to the representative of Russian Federation. You have the floor. Thank you. Mr.

President, I wish to take this opportunity to also welcome the Executive Director of the UNFPA and to thank— to express gratitude for the report. We affirm the key role of the Fund in the implementation of the UN Programme of Action of the Conference on Population Development. We welcome the fact that the report has set out progress in helping to eradicate maternal death as well as infant mortality. Like other member states, we wish to note the growing demand among member states for the Fund to study dynamics of demographic changes, and this is reflected in the strategic plan for the year 2026 to 2029. Specifically for the region where my country is located, there are characteristics of reduced birth rates and aging of the population. And in this connection, we are conducting a policy to help promote greater birth rates, and this is rooted in providing direct maternal— material assistance to families, first and foremost large families, with the promotion of traditional values among the youth. The Russian Federation stands ready to share experience that we have gained with interested nations. I now wish to briefly touch upon the— proposed merger of UNFPA and UN Women. Like other colleagues, we have observed that there is a lack of specific information about principled aspects related to the prospects of preservation of the current unique mandates of both organizations. We fear that the merger is fraught with risks of reduced attention being paid to such traditional mandates of UNFPA such as death and death reduction programs as well as neonatal and obstetrics and aging urbanization and other programs. There is an issue of collapse of budgets and growing costs related to financial infrastructure as well as reconsideration of regional and country-specific presences. We believe it is feasible to continue to comprehensive study various structural and non-structural aspects of solutions without linkages to concrete timelines. Thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of Russia for the statement and give the floor next to the representative of Korea. You have the floor.

Thank you, Mr. President. The Republic of Korea would like to thank UNFPA, particularly those working in challenging and perilous environments, for their unwavering dedication. We recognize UNFPA's critical role as a provider of last resort in humanitarian settings and appreciate its continued efforts to deliver life-saving services for women goals under the previous strategic plan. At the same time, the challenges ahead remain significant with multiple crises unfolding. In this regard, we'd like to offer 3 observations. First, it is important to continue demonstrating how UNFPA's achievement translate into tangible development outcomes and added value for member states. While the reports present impressive results, it is equally essential that it reflects member states' perspectives to provide a more comprehensive picture of impact on the ground. In particular, reports should incorporate both a donor perspective for accountability and a program country perspective for development effectiveness. Second, the inclusion of population dynamics and demographic change as a new outcome under the current strategic plan is welcome. Demography trends such as population aging, declining fertility rates, and urbanization are increasingly shaping developmental development trajectories across all regions. As the UN entity uniquely positioned in this area, UNFPA's leadership in leveraging its expertise and integrating demographic insights into broader development efforts will be highly valuable to the wider UN membership. Third, continue the efforts to diversify the funding base while enhancing operational efficiency will be vital. UNFPA has demonstrated resilience in a challenging financial environment and will further strengthen its capacity through scenario-based planning and realistic target setting. However, as development resources continue to shrink globally, further efforts to explore innovative financing approaches are needed to sustain development gains and achieve lasting impacts. In closing, we support the shared vision of ending gender-based violence and ending preventable maternal deaths and unmet need for family planning. And also, we remain committed to working closely with UNFPA to advance the health, rights, and well-being of women, girls, and young people. I thank you.

Thank you. I thank the distinguished representative of the Republic of Korea for the statement and give next the floor to the distinguished representative of Portugal. You have the floor.

Thank you, Mr. President. Portugal commends UNFPA for its steadfast leadership and for the consistency and resolve with which it continues to uphold and deliver on its mandate: safeguarding women's health, dignity, and autonomy, particularly in contexts where rights are contested and essential services face growing constraints. In today's global context, UNFPA's work is increasingly necessary. Pressures on sexual and reproductive health and rights, rising humanitarian needs, and growing financing constraints all point to the same conclusion: countries need a strong UNFPA with the expertise, field presence, and operational capacity to support those most at risk. Portugal particularly values UNFPA's ability to bridge policy, data, and delivery. Its work across sexual and reproductive health and rights, maternal health, gender-based violence, humanitarian response and population data reflects an integrated and evidence-based approach that responds to pressing and evolving country needs. At the same time, we remain concerned that progress in these critical areas remains fragile. This should serve as a warning signal. Gains cannot be taken for granted and will only be sustained through continued political commitment, predictable financing, and resilient supply chains. Portugal remains a strong supporter of UNFPA. At a time of increasing pressure on sexual and reproductive health and rights and essential services, preserving UNFPA's mandate, field presence, and operational strength is essential. I thank you.

I thank the the distinguished representative of Portugal and give next the floor to the distinguished representative of Belarus. Yes, you have the floor. Thank you, Mr.

President. Distinguished colleagues, first and foremost, I wish to take this opportunity to thank the Executive Director of UNFPA for the report that has been presented and for the work that has been done by the Fund in supporting states' efforts as they seek to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals under Agenda 2030. We attribute tremendous significance to cooperation with UNFPA throughout the protracted period of cooperation. We have constructive cooperation that has been established at all levels. This is seen in the visit to our country in the fall of 2025 by the Deputy Director of the Regional Office of UNFPA Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Mr. Birk, we welcome the constructive nature of cooperation with the country office in Minsk and its focus on taking into account national priorities and needs. The Fund is contributing to strengthening demographic policies in Belarus, providing comprehensive access to means for the safeguarding of sexual and reproductive health care of women, adolescents, and young people. Cooperation with UNFPA is also important in the context of implementation of projects on aging as well as supporting persons with disabilities. A key component of our joint efforts was reflected in the country program of UNFPA for Belarus, which was adopted last year for the period 2026 to 2030, which aligns with national interests and aligns with the goal of implementing national priorities in the area of demographics for our country, program and strategy for sustainable development for the period up until 2040. We have set out goals for taking into account the need to provide— establish sustainable partnerships with the private sector and civil society. We view the country program of UNFPA as a key tool, and UNFPA, in our view, is an important partner in socioeconomic development of our country, and we look forward to continuing to advance this cooperation We reaffirm our commitment to building a healthier, more sustainable, and prosperous society. We cherish the hope that the reform conducted of the UN Development Programme will not weaken the capabilities or the mandate of the Fund and will not result in lessened support for recipient states. Thank you.

I wish to thank the distinguished representative of Belarus.— and we'll give the floor next to the representative of Mexico, followed by Bulgaria and Italy. You have the floor, representative of Mexico. Muchas gracias.

Thank you very much, Mr. President. Distinguished Executive Director, Mexico recognizes that the implementation of the Strategic Plan 2020-2025 for UNFPA was developed in particularly complex international environment marked by increasing challenges for sexual and reproductive health and rights, gender equality, and human rights in general. And particularly for this reason, we welcome that despite the rise in political and social polarization, the UNFPA has continued to strengthen its leadership to safeguard the progress made for women in their full diversity and of the most vulnerable populations. Madam Executive Director, the UNFPA has been fundamental in making progress to build a fairer, more equitable, and more prosperous Mexico. This strategic partnership contributed to positioning Mexico as an international reference point in the defense of the Program of Action for the International Conference on Population and Development, as well as through the Montevideo Consensus, particularly with regard to the guarantee of the X exercise of human rights, focusing on sexual and reproductive rights and gender equality. We are enormously grateful that UNFPA continues to work with the Mexican government to strengthen policies, financing mechanisms, and health systems at the national and subnational level to guarantee a comprehensive life cycle approach for sexual and, um, reproductive health and rights. We particularly welcome the fact that this contributes to shared prosperity, closing territorial gaps through projects for teenagers, indigenous rural communities, women, and other groups in a vulnerable situation. We also highlight the role of UNFPA in national capacity building in demographic information through censuses, monitoring, and evaluation. These are all essential tools to ensure more effective, transparent, evidence-based cooperation. For these reasons, Mexico will continue to support the efforts of the UNFPA to sustain the progress made and to protect essential services to adapt in the international— to an international environment that is increasingly complex. To the extent that we can within our national resources, we will contribute preserving the UNFPA mandate. We take note of the lessons from the country assessment and we believe it's a priority to main— to focus on sustainability, the multicultural approach, cooperation with other national partners and long-term partnerships. Thank you very much.

I thank the distinguished representative of Mexico for the statement and give next I give the floor to the representative of Bulgaria, followed by Italy. You have the floor, Bulgaria.

Thank you, Mr. President. Allow me to start by commending UNFPA and its dedicated staff for the remarkable results achieved during the final year of the Strategic Plan 2022-2025. At a time marked by multifaceted crises and growing pressure on multilateralism, UNFPA has demonstrated resilience, adaptability, leadership, and an unwavering commitment to its mandate. UNFPA has contributed to expanding access to family planning, reducing preventable maternal deaths, and advancing efforts to eliminate gender-based violence and harmful practices. These achievements translate into healthier societies, greater opportunities for women and girls, and stronger foundations for sustainable development. Bulgaria particularly appreciates UNFPA's leadership in strengthening population data and demographic analysis. In a year of profound demographic transformations, reliable data and evidence-based policymaking are essential tools for building resilient societies and sustainable development pathways. We also commend UNFPA's humanitarian work. The organization continues to provide life-saving sexual and reproductive health services and protection for women and girls in some of the most difficult and dangerous environments in in the world. This contribution remains critical at a time when humanitarian needs continue to outpace available resources. At the same time, we remain concerned by the challenges identified in the report, including regarding persistent financial— financing gaps and the growing backlash against girls' and women's rights, gender equality, and SRHR. These trends remind us that the progress achieved cannot be taken for granted. Continued political commitment and advocacy, strong partnerships and sustainable financing will be essential to safeguard and advance the gains made over the past decades. As UNFPA embarks on the implementation of its new Strategic Plan, Bulgaria welcomes its emphasis on resilience, innovation, demographic foresight and national ownership. Mr. President, the report before us is not only an account of achievements. It is also a reminder of what is possible when the international community acts together in support of human dignity, equality, and opportunity. Behind every statistic stands a human story: a mother whose life was saved, a girl protected from violence, or a young person empowered to make informed choices about their future. We remain convinced that investments in women, young people, and demographic resilience are investments in a more prosperous, stable, and sustainable future. Bulgaria remains a strong supporter of UNFPA and its unique mandate, and we stand ready to continue supporting you in your vital work. I thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of Bulgaria and give the floor next to the representative of Italy. You have the floor.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, distinguished Executive Director. Italy would like to thank you for your exhaustive presentation and also for offering for giving us the chance to engage in this dialogue and reiterate our appreciation for the working mandate of UNFPA and its staff and the common priorities that we uphold. The protection of women and girls from all forms of violence and harmful practices, together with the promotion of maternal health, stand high on that list.

Italy has recently reconfirmed its support to the Joint Programme for Ending Female Genital Mutilation and calls for the increase of our collective support to this longstanding program that has proven to be very effective in working in close collaboration with governments and partners across all levels and sectors. We commend UNFPA humanitarian action in the most challenging emergency settings and the efforts deployed at a country level in a context of decreasing resources.

We support intervention based on strengthened interagency cooperation and integration and a more structural engagement with and of the private sector sector to mobilize additional resources and accelerate results. Italy also attaches great importance to UNFPA's work on population dynamics and demographic change. We welcome the integration of this dimension as a dedicated outcome of the strategic plan, equipping countries with the data and analysis they need to anticipate and navigate demographic shifts. As you have recalled this morning, there are realities priorities to be understood.

Madam Executive Director, Italy is deeply committed to a multilateral system that delivers where it matters most and stands ready to invest in people.

UNFPA is a crucial agent of this effort, and we appreciate your steadfast leadership in steering the program's response to new priorities and persistent challenges. In the context of UN80, we are driven by the objective to serve better.

We remain committed to preserve the UN development mandates and make them more impactful. We also pursue a UN development system that is forward-looking and more interconnected and agile to deliver the actual change we need in the lives and in the well-being of women and girls on the ground.

In all these areas, you can count on Italy's continued commitment and engagement and support. Thank you.

I thank the representative, distinguished representative of Italy for the statement and will give the floor next to the representative of Spain, followed by Morocco. Spain, you have the floor.

Muchas gracias. Thank you very much, Mr. President. Spain would like to thank the Executive Director and the whole UNFPA team for the presentation of their annual report and above all for their leadership at an particularly complex time for the international system and for the agenda for gender equality and the rights of women and girls. The, uh, report highlights the enormous added value of the UNFPA and the relevance of its mandate in a context marked by protracted humanitarian crises, growing protection needs, deep demographic transformations, and worrisome setbacks— in rights, the work of the UNFPA is more necessary than ever before. Spain particularly values the Fund's contribution to promoting the sexual and reproductive health and rights in response to gender-based violence and harmful practices, as well as the strengthening of data systems and national capacity to design public policies, evidence-based public policies. The support to the UNFPA also reflects two strategic priorities of Spanish international cooperation. On the one hand, our commitment to feminist foreign policy, which puts women and girls at the heart of international action. On the— in addition, our support for effective multilateralism and for robust multilateral organizations that that are able to have an impact on the ground. These are principles that inspire the new multilateral strategy that we are developing. Therefore, Spain continues to see UNFPA as a, as a vital strategic partner. We are pleased just a few days ago to have signed a new strategic partnership for 2026 to 2029. This reaffirms our shared priorities and our willingness to continue strengthening this partnership. The new framework also reflects our commitment to predictable, flexible, and quality financing, including contributions to the regular budget, which are so fundamental to ensure that the UNFPA can effectively carry out its mandate and meet the needs of the most vulnerable populations. In the context of the current debate on the future of the multilateral system, Spain believes that any reform effort should start by recognizing the value and the specific contribution that bodies such as the UNFPA give to the UN system. We reiterate our full support to the Fund, and we hope to be able to continue working together for gender for gender equality. Thank you very much.

I wish to thank the representative of Spain for delivering the statement and give the floor next to the representative of Morocco, followed by El Salvador. Morocco, you have the floor. Monsieur le Président.

Mr. President, Madam Executive Director, Excellencies, Morocco wishes I wish to thank you for this interactive dialogue, which is a place for exchanging views in an international conference that is both a context that is both demanding and difficult. I wish to take this opportunity to welcome the high-quality cooperation between the Kingdom of Morocco and UNFPA, which is fully in alignment with our 2020 program for 2027 and aligns with the priorities of the new model for development for the Kingdom for the period up until 2035. This is at a turning point, this dialogue, as member states are considering institutional significant requirements through the UN80 initiative related to UN Women and UNFPA. We support the Secretary-General's vision to enhance coherence, coordination, and efficiencies of the UN system for development, as well as to provide tangible improvements and support for countries to enhance development pillars and to accelerate achievement of the SDGs by relying on gains and expertise that already work. In this regard, we highlight the three following essential priorities: full preservation of mandates, maintenance of operational capabilities and capacities on the ground, adequate, predictable, and sustainable financing, including through regular resources. And now turning specifically to UNFPA, the mandate for maternal health, family planning, and demographic of data, as well as youth policy and fighting against violence against women and girls, is at the heart of development in Africa. Any institutional development therefore needs to reinforce and not dilute this comparative advantage. We also wish to stress the importance of skills transfers, national ownership, as well as greater South-South and triangular cooperation as a key to enhancing the impact of UNFPA, particularly in Africa and in other developing regions. In light of new demographic realities, growing youth populations, aging, migration, urbanization, UNFPA needs to remain positioned to provide operational integrated responses through the presence of the agency in host states and through the continuity of joint programs with governments. Lastly, Executive Director, my delegation remains fully engaged with all partners to see to it that the reform process safeguards operational capabilities of UNFPA for the preservation of mandates issuing from the Cairo Programme. Thank you.

I thank you for your statements, Mr.

President. Give the floor to the representative of El Salvador. Oh, there you are.

Mr. President, Madam Executive Director, El Salvador recognizes the UNFPA's role as a strategic partner in advancing in the implementation of initiatives that bring us closer to fulfilling the commitments set out in the Cairo Programme of Action and the Montevideo Consensus on Population and Development. These international intergovernmental agreements remain valid and are more relevant than ever, particularly in this current context. In this regard, my country continues to strive to put people at the center of our policies while promoting increasingly integrated public policies. Our efforts have covered various areas to ensure the full achievement for human rights of older persons, efforts to eradicate pregnancy among girls and adolescents through the multi-stakeholder initiative called Getting to Zero, the deployment of mobile units and the strengthening of youth-friendly and specialized services to ensure maternal health, as well as ensuring comprehensive services for women and girls in vulnerable situations, as well as the development of multi-sectoral strategies to strengthen response mechanisms focused focusing particularly on addressing sexual violence. Executive Director, the UNFPA's mandate has been fundamental for the design, monitoring, and consolidation of the strategic initiatives that I've just mentioned. In this context, we would like to conclude by particularly expressing our thanks for the valuable technical and financial support provided by the Fund in the latest population and housing census. This was a milestone— that has strengthened the demographic intelligence in our country through enhanced statistical capacities applied to evidence-based public policymaking and the optimization of social investment. Given its fundamental importance, we hope that the UNFPA's mandate will be respected and preserved in the context of proposals related to the UN 80 Initiative. Initiative involving the UNFPA so that the pursuit of greater efficiencies does not result in the weakening and fragmentation of its various projects in the field. Thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of El Salvador for the statement. And last but not least on my list, the distinguished representative of the European Union. You have the floor.

Madam Executive Director, Excellencies, colleagues, I am delivering this statement on behalf of the European Union as a donor. The European Union warmly welcomes this opportunity to reaffirm our unwavering support for UNFPA in its critical mandate. Your work is indispensable, especially in advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights, a cornerstone of gender equality, bodily autonomy, and sustainable development. The EU commends UNFPA's leadership in providing comprehensive sexuality education and safe abortion care and championing universal access to SRHR even in the most challenging contexts.

From combating gender-based violence to ensuring life-saving maternal health services, your efforts save lives and empower women and girls worldwide.

We applaud UNFPA's holistic approach linking SRHR to youth empowerment, climate adaptation, and crisis response. The EU stands firmly behind UNFPA's three transformative transformative goals: zero preventable maternal deaths, zero unmet need for family planning, and zero gender-based violence and harmful practices.

And we applaud your progress despite global setbacks. Increasingly, we see misinformation campaigns distorting SRHR, funding cuts targeting the health of all women and girls and all their diversity, and politicized attacks on gender equality, even in multilateral spaces.

The EU will not tolerate this regression.

SRHR is non-negotiable Full stop.

As a longstanding partner, the EU remains one of UNFPA's largest donors. Our partnership is concrete and impactful.

Our contributions reflect our shared commitment to leaving no one behind, particularly in crises where SRHR services are too often deprioritized. We urge all stakeholders to redouble support for UNFPA's resources, ensuring predictable, flexible funding to meet rising needs.

Madam Executive Director. In closing, the EU values your strategic vision and calls for continued collaboration to counter pushback against UNFPA's mandates.

You can count on the EU as a steadfast ally in this endeavor.

I thank you.

I wish to thank the representative of the European Union for the statement. And now, as we approach the end of our meeting, I invite the UNFPA Executive Director to make concluding remarks and maybe address some of the observations made. And I believe also we have a video again.

Yes, so I'll try to be quick, Mr. President. Thank you very much. I'll start by Mali. Merci infiniment, Monsieur l'Ambassadeur du Mali.

Thank you, Ambassador, for your support for the programme and for the support for the United Nations Conference, for which you requested that there be a lesser degree of red tape and greater presence on the ground, and I wish to note that we will continue our support for Mali. And perhaps now is the time to mention that the European Union is also providing us support in Mali in a significant way. Thank you for the ongoing support and the continuous support in the various initiatives we are undertaking. Specifically, thank you for your efforts to leave nobody behind. We take note of your willingness to continue We will continue to collaborate and we'll provide you with the information that you need to be able to take decisions on issues related to reform. In English, I forgot.

Sorry, maxima mia culpa.

Canada, merci beaucoup. Thank you very much, Canada. And I would also like to thank you for recognizing the work of our personnel on the ground. I think that it is exceedingly important and we are very grateful for what they are doing. For the support from Canada, support on matters of principle related to human rights and the rights of human— in human rights. We would— and we can— we, and we, we request that you provide guarantees for us to continue to work better on the ground. As you mentioned, as a UN, we, we support the efforts and we look forward to, to doing this in as legal way as possible. Body autonomy and the lives of people are very important, and thank you very much again for your support. Friends, thank you, thank you for your support, thank you for being champions of feminism alongside Colombia and Spain and Morocco. Soon it is my honor to, to participate in the meeting in France, two meetings One, with the President, and when we have support at the highest levels, of course, this is— this speaks volumes. And thank you. Beyond the difficulties, the financial difficulties that you have been experiencing, thank you for having set out the $18 million that have been pledged. We are very grateful for that because this helped us to address with significant challenges. Thank you very much for that. And of course, for your nearly ubiquitous presence with us on the ground on the humanitarian front as well.

Thank you so very much, Your Excellency, for your comment and support to the mandate. We do, and for our tangible result, we must remain, uh, with you working to preserve the mandate and to make sure that we leave no one behind on in Liberia. Thank you for that. Kazakhstan, thank you for your strong support and thank you for your partnership and warm hospitality on my recent mission to Astana. It was an honor to witness the government investment in health system strengthening, reproductive health, and investment in human capital development, including young people building on artificial intelligence. The Netherlands, danke veel, thank you for your continuous unwavering support for the mandate and for what we do together and for being with us and for increasing our resources. We are very grateful to that and we'll continue to provide you everything that you need to showcase our evidence on the ground. Australia, thank you very, very much. I was in Australia not long ago met with high authorities at every level in Australia and met with the civil society as well. And thank you for steadfast commitment and our mandate everywhere around the world, specifically in the Pacific, but again for the combating technical facilitated gender-based violence as well. We appreciate your assistance in the work we do with civil society and every— everyone. Ambassador Russian Federation, Thank you for your comment and support. Population development is important dynamic. And thank you mainly for mentioning aging and promoting birth, but as well the traditional national value. We work with— that's why our country programs are very, very important. Sovereignty is critical, and we work according to the principle that country put themselves forward into it. And urbanization is important link to population activities. Korea, thank you so much, Excellency, for your comment. We appreciate Korea's longstanding commitment and support to UNFPA, particularly on demographic changes, which is the foundational of success of development of Outcome 4, and we appreciate the workup we do with your statistical institution as well. Thank you very much. Portugal, muito obrigada. I'll be there this weekend, very much looking forward to it, for the work that we do. And everywhere you need a strong UNFPA, and thank you for that support on SRHR, on human rights, and making sure that we leave no one behind. Thank you. Belarus, thank you for your comment, and support as well and making sure that we contribute in the country that we work on specific mention and our sexual reproductive health and rights. And we appreciate the excellent collaboration focus on demographic resilience, particularly on policy on aging, and that serves us as an example in the region. Thank you very much for that. Mexico, thank you for your support. We work on so many different levels and in what we do, and we hear you. Continue to reinforce what we do on demographic resilience and making sure that as well we continue to contribute to more equitable work, and the Montevideo Consensus remains our north star with the ICPD. Bulgaria, thank you for your support. Demographic resilience, you really showcased the way. We continue to doing that work everywhere around the world, and your support matters in everything that we do. Thank you. Italia, grazie mille. Thank you for your support to UNFPA, to our joint program with UNICEF, but thank you for the invitation by Minister Tajani for the Women Day to showcase the work we we do interfaith religion. We don't mention it very, very often, but we work with all religion to make sure that gender equality is possible everywhere. I think it was a great session between Muslim and Catholic region— religion there. Thank you so much for this opportunity to showcase what we do at UNFPA in Rome itself. And of course, the Mattei Plan is important for us, and we look forward with the African Development Bank and what you do to work on the African continent on that. Grazie. Spain, muchísimas gracias. Coming back from the latest feminist meeting, it is a particular honour to see His Majesty the King, the President, and the Minister, and all government aligned in supporting not only the UNFPA mandate, but as well gender, sexual reproductive health. We appreciate it. We appreciate every effort that you do and that we do together for increasing our budget for the years to come as well, and the strong support we are getting from you. Thank you very much for that. Morocco, merci infiniment pour le soutien.

Thank you for the support. Thank you for your championship about South-South cooperation. Morocco has provided many resources for the countries in the sub-region, and of course our efforts on the ground are very important as are the results. Thank you very much for your support. Thank you and for His Majesty.

Muchísimas gracias for your comment and for the Montevideo consensus. We continue to count on you and continue to work all together. And a comment was made to get more information on how the BMR is going to proceed. We can discuss that later on. We have the information, but the I'm conscious of the timing of the board, but Andrew is present and myself. We are withholding it simply on the aspect that can wait. Those who cannot wait, we are still working and implementing. Let me be very simple on that. EU, as donor, we are grateful to your work. We are grateful to the results we get. We are grateful for you to be sensible in what we do, not only in supply chain management, to see if in the UN reform that supply will be benefiting the UNFPA supply. Thank you for being on the ground everywhere with very visible to the last mile. We have no word to thank you enough and we appreciate your presence. Mr. President, Excellency, distinguished executive members of the board, I wish to thank you once again for your active and constructive engagement and support, and above all, for your commitment to UNFPA mandate and life-saving work. On behalf of our staff around the world and some of my reps in the room here today, my rep in Afghanistan, my rep in Yemen, my rep in Mali, my rep in Sudan, my rep in Palestine, my rep in Haiti, my rep in Lebanon, my rep in Myanmar are in this room. They have been listening since the beginning of this week. The rep in Ukraine and the rep in Iran could join, of course, because— and the DRC, because they could They have work to do. They need to be with their staff. But we are proud of them. We are proud of them. Because of them and their team, we can stand tall here in front of you. Thank you for thanking them. They will share that with their team. As I said before, I firmly believe that more unites than divides. And if there is one thing that really unites the world, it is football. The first match of the World Cup kicks off at 3 o'clock today between Mexico and South Africa. We are everywhere. So go Mexico, go South Africa. And I wish both teams and all countries competing the best of luck. But the ticket a little bit expensive, but that's not a story. I have no ticket. If you have one, please. But seriously, beyond football, we are all united in wanting a better world for our children and for future generation, and a world of peace and prosperity. At UNFPA, we know that when women have choices, young people have opportunities, and healthy, empowered populations fuel growth, that better future comes within reach. In more than 150 countries across the globe, we work on your behalf. We make that happen on your behalf. We believe that truly sustainable peace and development are built by those who will inherit them. Them, and young people are already leading the charge. They are rejecting division. They are rejecting discrimination. They are promoting equality and inclusion. Young men are using sport as a platform to challenge violence against women and girls. For many young women, sport is a forum to express their talents, independence, and empowerment. To close, I would like to introduce to you a few of them. With support from UNFPA They are driving positive change in their communities, and they require all of our support and investment to continue the cycle of change. The ball is on our court. Video.

Around the world, young people are stepping onto the field, not just to play sport, but to lead. I am passing the ball to Freddie here in Papua New Guinea. Through rugby, he's encouraging men and boys to challenge violence against women and A community below me, plant the light, be loose. That's all.

Now my belly is standing up strong, standing up one time.

I'm bringing peace.

Now me passing the ball. Here in Paraguay, the young people are raising their voice for equality, inclusion, and a future free of violence. Now I pass the ball to Anastasia from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, young people are refusing to inherit silence, division, and discrimination. I now pass the ball to Reem in Egypt.

In Egypt, I work with healthcare workers and young people to fight harmful practices and raise awareness on the inequalities facing women and girls. I now pass the ball to Bothali in South Africa.

As young people, we're not waiting for change, we're leading it across Eastern and Southern Africa while empowering young women to shape shape their own futures. And now I'm passing this ball to continue the cycle of change. This is what youth leadership looks like, but they cannot do it alone. Invest in young people and they will help build a more equal, peaceful, and hopeful future for everyone. So now we pass the ball to you.

Thank you. I want to thank the Vice President, Väinämä, from Finland, for chairing this segment of the meeting. We conclude now consideration of Agenda Item 13, Annual Report of the Executive Director, and of course, as usual. A draft decision is under preparation, I think is still being considered. Before concluding this morning session, dear colleagues, I want to encourage you— there will be, I think, discussions on what the remainder of the decisions that we are supposed to adopt at the end of the session. I would encourage you to make full use of the— to even going beyond 3 o'clock in parallel with the session to try to conclude UN 80 resolution. We should not start from the assumption that we can automatically continue tomorrow. There is something that we will determine together, but of course we have to be aware that there are costs. I think we can make arrangements to meet tomorrow, but there are costs associated with this particular decision that the board will be taking. So I would strongly encourage all of us to make full good use of the 2 hours, even more today, so we can end the business this evening. We'll determine at 3 o'clock or later this afternoon how exactly we go ahead depending on the discussions in the informal meetings. So having said that, thank you very much, Executive Director. Thank you to all the colleagues. Have a good day and a fruitful lunch break. This session is closed.

And just to remind everybody that the negotiations will be in Conference Room E. Thank you very much. Starting now.