(2nd meeting) Executive Board of UNDP, UNFPA and UNOPS (First regular session 2025)

Excellencies.

Excellencies, distinguished delegates, colleagues, a very good morning to you. I call to order the first meeting of the first session of the Executive Board of UNDP, UNFPA, and UNOPS. We will now proceed to the first item of the agenda, but before my opening statement to the Board, I'm very happy to welcome Mr. Achim Steiner to the podium from UNDP, Dr. Natalia Kanning, the Executive Director of UNFPA, and Mr. Jorge Moreira da Silva, Executive Director of UNOPS, and also Madame Massa Yafari, Secretariat of the Executive Board. And I'm very much looking forward to a productive first session with discussions amongst all of those that are interested in these various items. And also, I hope to work very closely with you and with Mr. Steiner To do that, particularly thanking the members of GRULAC for the trust that they have shown in the Permanent Representative of Ecuador to preside in 2025 the Executive Board of the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP, the United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA, and the United Nations Projects Office, UNOPS. Allow me to also welcome the members that are joining the board this year representing various regional groups: the Dominican Republic, Mozambique, Zambia, India, the Solomon Islands, Tajikistan, Georgia, Belgium, and Denmark. The bureau is counting on your necessary experience for helping us in implementing our work. I hope that we will have pragmatic and cooperative work, and I'm sure that that will be possible with Ambassadors Tesfaye Yilmaz Sabo, Permanent Representative of Ethiopia; Cornel Feruta, Permanent Representative of Romania; Jonny Beck Ismail Hikmat, Permanent Representative of Tajikistan; and Carl Lagati, Permanent Deputy Representative of Belgium. And I would like to recognize your presence in the meeting. I would also like to thank the Executive Board of 2024, in particular its President Mohamed Mohith, for the work that reflects the commitment of the Board to improve governance, financial management, and strategic planning in UNDP, UNFPA, and UNOPS, stressing ethical standards and institutional culture. The Secretariat team and the facilitators of the decisions that we hope to adopt during this meeting, I also express my trust in you. In concluding this part, I don't want to just be involved in protocol and symbolism. I'd like to particularly thank the teams of UNDP, UNFPA, and UNOPS in New York and throughout the world for their management which impacts and transforms the daily lives of people. Excellencies, it's— we're hearing all the time that the world is changing at an unprecedented rate. And that the global situation is very uncertain. Growing inequalities, the persistence of conflicts, the resurgence of humanitarian crises, as well as a growing deficit in trust in multilateralism, which is of great concern. These statements could be due, amongst other things, to the fact that the impact of climate change continues to be devastating. More than 120 million people have been forced to become displaced for various reasons, and a fourth of humanity, a quarter of humanity, is in areas affected by conflicts. Yesterday, Sunday, the Security Council held an emergency meeting due to the escalation of violence caused by the M23 in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, a situation which partly reflects what I've just said. Given these situations, surely we have to ask ourselves questions about the challenges that economies face in servicing their debt. It means they have to choose between paying their obligations or investing in basic services. So we must be very concerned about the future of women and girls facing limitation of the basic human rights, which threatens to reverse years of gender equality work and the building of societies free of violence. We also have to ask ourselves about the digital revolution, which although it's very promising, is increasing the gaps and leaving behind millions of young people that don't have access to technology. All of this with so many unknowns with regard to the possibilities for transiting towards a more multipolar and dynamic world where alliances and conventional paradigms are being called into question and where geopolitics is throwing up dangerous enigmas. In any event, however we define the global challenges, one thing nobody can argue with and it is this: there is no country or power that can do this— face this on their own. The best response for the planet and for humanity continues to be to move towards a strengthening of multilateralism through the transformative power of international cooperation understood in its broadest sense. It's within that framework that the management of UNDP, UNFPA, and UNOPS, because of their impact on the daily life of communities and of people, as I mentioned at the beginning, will be a beacon of hope and an incentive for investment in development. The Executive Board must ensure that these agencies stay the course and achieve results that benefit those— the people that most need those results, taking into account that the principal problem that humanity faces continues to be poverty. Essentially, this is the mandate received by the Board from the General Assembly more than 20 years ago when Resolution 48/162 was adopted. The North Star of the Executive Board is to provide assistance and monitor the activities of these agencies in accordance with the political guidelines given by the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council based on the responsibilities established in the UN Charter, always responding to the needs, vision, and ownership of the countries where the programs and projects are being implemented. All action of UNDP, UNFPA, and UNOPS should be centered on maximizing the impact of every dollar invested. Given the bottlenecks that are choking the development budgets. And here, if I may, I'd like to digress to point out that the annual development needs may exceed $4 billion— trillion dollars whilst military expenditure has been increasing 9 years in a row. Achieving the alarming historic figure of $2.4 trillion in 2023. In any event, the way to reverse this trend in— and of reducing development resources and to bring about sustainable funding is to show results which will restore confidence in the United Nations development system. Which goes hand in hand with transparent governance, rigorous supervision, and accountability with a policy of zero tolerance. Excellencies, I conclude highlighting 2 fundamental processes that will define the strategic direction of the Board in 2025. One, the adoption of the new strategic plans of the UNDP and UNFPA for the 2026 2029 period, and member states are already making their contributions to this. Secondly, the ongoing implementation of the Quadrennial Comprehensive Policy Review, the QCPR. That guidance will be key in the work of the Board during 2025. These processes are the pillars of the strategic management of the UN development system. And I'm sure that the Board will continue to act with a broad vision looking towards the future and that this will govern everything that the Board does including the responsibility to ensure that the agencies are managed in a professional, specialized, extensive, and conscious way that is aware of the complexities of the international agenda and regional problems. I'm fully aware of the challenges before us, but also I'm convinced that the Executive Board will play its role in seeking a new era for multilateralism and in building a safer, more peaceful, just, equal, and inclusive, sustainable, and prosperous world as determined in the Pact for the Future universally adopted in September Thank you very much. We will now proceed to agenda item 1, organizational matters, including the adoption of the agenda and agreement on the work plan. And I now invite, uh, Masa Jafari, Secretary of the Executive Board, to provide information on organizational and logistical matters and to outline the agenda of the session. You have the floor.

Thank you, Mr. President. Good morning, distinguished members of the Executive Board and observer delegations. I appreciate the opportunity to provide an overview of the key points and items to be considered during this first regular session of the Executive Board. With regard to documentation and logistics, the latest version of the tentative work plan for the first regular session 2025 and the note on session logistics were circulated electronically on 16th December 2024. These documents, along with the 2025 annual work plan for the Executive Board, are available on the Executive the Board website. Relevant links to all UNDP, UNFPA, and UNOPS official documentation for this session were also shared on 16 December, 6 weeks in advance of the session. Advance negotiations on draft decisions began last week on 23 January and will continue in person throughout the week from 1 to 3 PM, with potential evening negotiations following the conclusion of the afternoon plenary items. Due to ongoing austerity measures at the UN Secretariat, no conference rooms will be available after 6 PM, so arrangements for evening negotiations remain subject to confirmation. The Executive Board Secretariat will continue to provide regular updates on decision texts and related processes as needed. In terms of an overview of the agenda, this morning, 27 January, the session will begin with the consideration of organizational matters during which the Board will adopt adopt the work plan for the session, the report of the Second Regular Session 2024, and the annual work plan for 2025. The joint segment will follow, covering the status of implementation of the Board of Auditors' recommendations for 2023, an update on the assessment of how the Executive Board executes its governance and oversight functions. In the afternoon, the joint segment will resume with items on risk management, organizational culture, and addressing racism racism and racial discrimination. On Tuesday morning, 28 January, the UNOPS segment will begin with a statement by the Executive Director, followed by items on the comprehensive response plan in response to the recommendations of the 2 independent third-party reviews of UNOPS, as well as the report on the process innovation and digitalization program implementation. On Tuesday afternoon, the joint segment will continue with the follow-up to the UNAIDS Program Coordinating Board meeting. The UNDP and UNFPA segments will commence with the consideration of UNDP and UNFPA country programs and related matters. On Wednesday, 29 January, there will be no official meetings in observation of the Lunar New Year. On Thursday morning, 30 January, the UNDP segment will feature the interactive dialogue with the UNDP Administrator. In the afternoon on Thursday, the UNDP segment will address the Human Development Report and then UNDP evaluation. These will be followed by the UNFPA evaluation item. On Friday morning, 31st January, the UNFPA segment will continue with a statement by the UNFPA Executive Director. And in the afternoon of Friday, the joint segment will conclude with the item on field visits followed by the adoption of decisions from the first regular session and the adoption of the tentative work plan for the annual session 2025. Logistical— some logistical updates, Mr. President. I will conclude with a brief overview of key issues related to the logistics of the session. The session will continue to use the electronic system to manage requests to take the floor. Protocol will continue to be followed with regard to the order of speakers as follows. Following presentations by the panel, Bureau members will be provided the opportunity to take the floor first, followed by group interventions. Next, permanent representatives who were pre-inscribed by the previously communicated deadline of 22nd January will take the floor, followed by PRs who request the floor during the session. Deputy Permanent Representatives will follow in the same order. First, those who were pre-inscribed by the deadline of January 22nd, followed by Deputy Permanent Representatives requesting the floor during the meeting. Other delegations will then have the opportunity to speak in the same sequence. As is the practice, there are limits— time limits for interventions. Questions and interventions will be strictly limited to 3 minutes for individual interventions, 5 minutes for group interventions, with a 30-second grace period for interventions that exceed these limits. Submission of statements for interpretation. In terms of these, delegations are kindly reminded to submit their statements to estatements@un.org at least 2 hours prior to delivery. Subject lines should include the meeting, speaker name, and agenda item. Statements will be embargoed until delivery and subsequently made available in the UN Journal. Mr. President, thank you very much. My colleagues and I remain available to address any questions from you or the delegations.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you very much, Ms. Jafari, for your presentation. If I hear no objections, I will take it that the board wishes to adopt the proposed agenda and the work plan for the first regular session 2025. It is so decided. The Board also has before it the report of the 2nd regular session of 2024, document DP/2025/1. If there are no objections, I will take it that the Board wishes to adopt the report. It is so decided. Lastly, may I also take it that the annual work plan of the Board for 2025, document DP/2025/CRP1, subject to revisions throughout the year, may be adopted? If there are no objections, I will take it that the Board wishes to adopt its annual work plan. It is so decided.

Muchísimas gracias.

Thank you very much for being here. With us in the room. We'll just take a few minutes now to change some seats on the podium.

Buenos días nuevamente.

So good morning once again, dear colleagues. We'll now begin our meeting.

Agenda item 2, recommendation of the Board of Auditors, reports of UNDP, UNCDF, UNFPA, and UNOPS on the status of implementation of the recommendations of the Board of Auditors for 2023.

Documentos DP diagonal 2025 stroke 3, DP 2025/4, document DP/FPA/2025/2, and finally DP/OPS/2025/1, respectively. And I'm pleased to welcome to the podium Ms. Linda Maguire, Assistant Administrator and Director, Bureau for Management Services at UNDP. Mr. Andrew Sabaton, Deputy Executive Director of UNFPA. Ms. Sonia Leighton-Cohen, Deputy Executive Director of UNOPS is connected online and her representative is present here in the room and Mr. Pradeep Kurukul Lasyuria, Executive Secretary, UNCDF. Also joining us today we have the Board of Auditors. For UNDP and UNCDF, Mr. Richard Belin, Director of External Audit, France, and Chair of the Audit Operations Committee.

In English is my notes there, in English. For UNPA, Mr. Mauricio Vanderlei, Director of External Audit from Brazil. And for UNOPS, Mr. Sheng Ronnie Ge, Director for External Audit, China. Distinguished delegates, we will follow— we will proceed as follows: opening statement by the Chair of the Audit Operations Committee for the UN Board of Auditors, presentations by the entity representatives, comments from members and observers of the Board. I now invite Mr. Richard Belling, Director of the External Audit, France, and Chair of the Audit Operations Committee, to deliver his opening statement. Please, you have the floor, Mr. Belling.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Distinguished members of the Board, thank you for the opportunity to present the critical findings raised by the Board of Auditors on financial statements on operation of UNDP, UNCDF, UNOPS, and UNFPA for the year ended 31 December 2023. I'm satisfied to confirm that the Board has issued an unqualified opinion on the financial statements of these 4 entities. First, UNDP. As key findings with respect to the financial audit, the Board mainly noted weaknesses in the ERP Quantum's user rights control and segregation of duties. Second, on budget management, the Board noted that there was a complexity and lack of alignment between the annual and 4-year budgets. Moreover, declining unearmarked contribution and increasing staff expenditure call for improvement in clarity, forecasting, and resource allocation. Third, we also noted that UNDP's field presence needed a more strategic approach to align with local development priorities, improve communication, and enhance coherence between country offices and regional bureaus. Fourth, in addition, the Board noted that UNDP plays a key role on climate change mitigation and adaptation, but the alignment between corporate and country-based strategies was unclear and the varying definitions and approach to climate action across projects hinder effective measurement of results. Further, its greening moonshot initiative should expand its scope to capture indirect activities and the carbon footprint of project design and implementation. As for UNCDF now, the Board did not identify significant misstatements from the review of the financial records. The budget processes at UNCDF, while adhering to UNDP's financial regulation faced challenges due to informal planning, lack of alignment with the multi-year strategic framework, and insufficient reporting mechanisms which limit effective oversight and accountability. When it comes to the status of implementation of previous recommendations with respect to UNDP, out of 30 outstanding recommendations, 20 had been implemented, representing 67%, and 10 were still under implementation. As for UNCDF, the implementation rate of the recommendations was 100%. Now, I will go to UNOPS. The Board identified the following weaknesses: first, inappropriate financial derivative transactions with unqualified hedging instruments and insufficient internal control, leading to a net financial loss of €15.2 million. Second, ambiguity and deficiency in the management of shared service costs. Third, a need for continued involvement and targeted efforts to recover investment in infrastructure and innovation funds. And fourth, delivery delay and underperformance in output quality of infrastructure projects, posing a risk of financial losses and reputation impact. Status of implementation of previous recommendations. Out of 31 outstanding recommendations, 18, 58%, had been implemented. were under implementation and one had been overtaken by events. To finish, a few words about UNFPA. During the audit, the Board did not identify significant misstatements from the review of the financial records. However, the Board noted scope for improvement in the areas of the Humanitarian Response Division, HRD, the Quantum implementation, supply management, and revenue. As key findings, the Board noticed that the establishment of the HRD had been ineffective, as neither the new division's operations centre nor the global emergency response team had been implemented, and noted insufficient guidance in emergency preparedness, response, risk In addition, the Board noted the absence of an integrated accountability checklist and financial data quality dashboard in the new ERP system, Quantum, and— finish— inaccuracies in managing programme supplies and in recognition of contribution revenue. About the implementation of previous recommendations, Out of 46 outstanding recommendations, 29 had been implemented, that is 63%. 11 were under implementation and 6 had not been implemented. Distinguished members, Mr. Chair, this concludes my introductory statement. My colleagues and myself will be happy to answer any questions and provide any information the Board may Requires. Thank you for your kind attention.

Muchas gracias, señor Belén, por su.

Thank you very much, Mr. Belén, for your presentation.

An administrator and director Bureau for Managing Services to introduce the UNDP report on the status of implementation of the recommendations of the Board of Auditors for 2023. Señora.

Ms. McGuire, you have the floor.

Thank you, Señor Presidente. Good morning, distinguished members of the Executive Board, members of the UN Board of Auditors, ladies and gentlemen. First, I would like to extend my congratulations to His Excellency Mr. Andrés Efraín Montalvo Sosa, the Representative of Ecuador to the United Nations and President of the Executive Board of UNDP, UNFPA, and UNOPS, as well as to the other new members of the Executive Board on their recent election. It is my pleasure to join you today as the new Director of UNDP's Bureau for Management Services to present UNDP's management response to the 2023 recommendations of the UN Board of Auditors. I would like to express my appreciation for your continued engagement with our audit observations, demonstrated by the insightful questions raised during the informal meetings. I would also like to thank Mr. Richard Ballin, Mr. Laurent Lemercier, and the auditors from the French Court of Accounts for their diligent work on the report. I will begin with some general remarks and will then provide an update on UNDP's progress in implementing the Board of Auditors' recommendations. This will be followed by updates on key actions taken by UNDP to strengthen our internal controls and the impact of these efforts on the organization. For the 19th consecutive year, UNDP received an unqualified, or clean, audit opinion for 2023. This reflects our continued strong commitment to sound financial management and adherence to international public sector accounting standards. It also demonstrates our ongoing focus on productivity transparency, and accountability, as regularly emphasized by the UNDP Administrator. While we are proud of this achievement, we do not take it for granted and remain committed to further improvements. The UN Board of Auditors issued 30 new audit recommendations for 2023. UNDP has made significant progress in addressing them. To note, as of the issuance of the UNBOA report in June 2024, UNDP had fully implemented 67%, or 20 out of 30, of the recommendations that were open at the start of 2023. Since then, we have closed an additional 5 recommendations from 2021 and 2022 audits, raising our total closure rate to approximately 83%. This will be formally reflected in the 2024 UNBOA Annual Report. report later this year. We have no outstanding recommendations from the 2018 to 2020 period audits, and 90% of our 2021 and 2022 audit recommendations are now closed. We expect to close the remaining recommendations by May 2025. For the recommendations issued in July 2024, we have already submitted 8 out of 30, or 27%, to the UNBOA for closure. While UNDP is a decentralized global organization, we continue to seek a balance between decentralization and effective oversight. Over the past year, we implemented robust accountability and oversight systems to strengthen governance controls and risk management. For example, we launched a new finance dashboard which provides transparency and detailed data on financial processes and transactions across the Global Shared Services Center's finance services rendered to country offices. In addition, we further enhanced our internal financial controls by developing risk and control matrices for key business processes, which will provide a strong foundation for the planned implementation of the Quantum Governance, Risk, and Compliance or GRC module, which is scheduled for 2025. In the area of budget management, we have taken several measures to enhance practices, ensuring alignment with strategic priorities and addressing the Board of Auditors' recommendations. Regarding Sustainable Development Goal 13 on climate action, UNDP continues to play a critical role integrating climate action across the UN system, and bringing extensive on-the-ground experience and knowledge of assisting developing countries to address the climate crisis. UNDP remains a key player in advancing global climate goals. Through our leadership in the Climate Promise and coordination of the Nationally Determined Contributions, we continue to support developing countries in addressing these challenges. On Sustainable Development Goal 16, on peace, justice, and strong institutions, I am pleased to report that UNDP has closed all related recommendations. We have strengthened regional bureau involvement in monitoring governance programs, fostering closer collaboration between regional hubs and Global Policy Centre for Governance, further reinforcing UNDP's leadership in promoting global peace, justice, and strong institutions. The implementation of audit recommendations contributed to further enhancing and strengthening our governance, internal controls, and performance, contributing to the achievement of the Strategic Plan 2022-2025. Moreover, these efforts also contributed to a sounder culture of ethics, integrity, and risk mitigation across the Organization. In closing, I want to reaffirm UNDP's commitment to the work of the UN Board of Auditors And express our gratitude for their excellent collaboration. My team and I are ready to address any questions you may have. With these remarks, I now turn it back to the president.

Muchas gracias.

Thank you very much, Madam McGuire, for your presentation. I now invite Mr. Andrew Saberton, representing UNFPA, to report. Report on the Status of Implementation of the Recommendations of the Board of Auditors for 2023. Mr. Sibberton, you have the floor.

Thank you very much, Mr. President. Mr. President, distinguished members of the Board, the Board of Auditors, members of the UN, ladies and gentlemen. Today I present an update on UNFPA's progress in implementing the recommendations of the United Nations Board of Auditors, building upon previous reports and discussions. UNFPA deeply values the Board of Auditors' audits, which are crucial for enhancing operational effectiveness, transparency, and accountability. I am pleased to report that UNFPA has received an unqualified audit opinion for the year ended 31 December 2023, marking the 14th consecutive year of such achievement. This consistent record underscores our commitment to accurate financial reporting, sound management practices, and adherence to the International Public Sector Accounting Standards, or IPSAS. The Board of Auditors has affirmed that UNFPA's financial statements present fairly in all material respects our financial position, financial performance, and our cash flows for the year. UNFPA has made significant progress in implementing the Board of Auditors' recommendations. Of the 49 recommendations, 7, 7 being outstanding from prior years and 32 newly issued in 2023, we have addressed 13. The UNFPA Executive Board website presents a detailed implementation status with estimated implementation deadlines for all the recommendations. Recommendations. With respect to the Humanitarian Response Division, while the implementation of some recommendations is still in progress, I want to reassure the Board that UNFPA delivered on its humanitarian actions. I would like to underscore some key achievements. In 2024, UNFPA provided over 10 million people with reproductive health services and ensured that over 3.6 million people were protected from gender-based violence in humanitarian contexts. New policy and procedures for our emergency response were issued to streamline UNFPA's responses to humanitarian crises. All vacant positions were filled, including the now fully staffed Global Emergency Response Team, which is to be deployed within the first hours of an emergency. Since the establishment of the Humanitarian Response Division, Contributions to UNFPA's humanitarian work have grown significantly, 5 times the pace of non-core development funding, and up to $444 million in 2023, now representing 41% of our overall contributions to UNFPA. As we continue to strengthen our humanitarian capacity, UNFPA is now finalizing the Minimum Preparedness Actions and aims finalize the advanced preparedness actions in 2025. Now, with respect to the implementation of Quantum, UNFPA has enhanced internal controls, updated resource management policies, and are developing additional reports and management dashboards, as well as tools for field officers to monitor data quality. And this is being done as an organizational IT priority in 2025. We are integrating financial management checklists in the results and resources planning tool, which was launched in 2024. With regard to the supply chain management, we've implemented a new organisational structure in the summer of 2024, and we adopted a new strategy for 2024-2029, focusing on supply chain management unit efficiency and effectiveness. The focus in 2025 will be on implementing this strategy. UNFPA has also developed a control mechanism to prevent revenue recognition and recording delays and has updated both the policy for the recognition of non-core funding and its standard operating procedures. The terms of reference of the Public Funding and Financing Branch were also updated. Furthermore, We have strengthened the Office of Audit and Investigation Services and established key policies to enhance our information security environment in information and communications technology. The updated terms of reference of the Oversight Compliance Monitoring Committee further underscore our commitment to governance and accountability. And yet, whilst we have made considerable progress, we acknowledge that challenges remain. We are actively addressing areas where additional progress is needed. UNFPA remains steadfast in its commitments to continuous improvement, transparency, and accountability, and to taking the necessary actions to implement all outstanding Board of Audit recommendations. In closing, I express my sincere appreciation and gratitude to both the Board of Auditors for their guidance provided, as well as to the distinguished members of the Executive Board for your engagement and oversight. Thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you, Mr. Saberton, for your presentation.

Sonja Leighton-Cone, Deputy Executive Director for Management and Policy, UNOPS, to introduce the UNOPS report on the implementation of the recommendations of the Board of Auditors for 2023. You have the floor.

Mr. President, distinguished delegates, members of the Board of Auditors, and colleagues, allow me first to take this opportunity to express on behalf of UNOPS Executive Director our appreciation for the exceptional arrangements made with the support of the Secretariat to deliver my statement. and address you on matters virtually, given unforeseen events which have required me to remain in Copenhagen. This morning, I appreciate the opportunity to address you on matters concerning the implementation of recommendations from the UNBOH. Before I go into the status update on those recommendations, please allow me to start with the 2023 Corporate Financial Statements an audit report. I'm pleased to share with you that UNOPS received an unqualified or clean audit opinion continuously in a row for 12 years. Now, in relation to audit recommendations, UNOPS gives high importance to the implementation of UNBOA recommendations and is committed to full implementation of the recommendations in a full and satisfactory manner. Now, in relation to the status of implementation of recommendations, at the end of 2023, UNOPS had 12 open recommendations. With an additional 19 new recommendations received during the 2023 audit, there were a total of 31 open recommendations carried forward to 2024. These 19 new recommendations span various areas such as financial management, investment management, project budget procurement, and human resource management. During 2024, UNOPS focused on closure of recommendations, especially the longstanding recommendations, and I'm happy to confirm that all longstanding recommendations were successfully closed by the Board during 2024. Notable among them is the automation of the corporate financial statements, which was issued in 2018. As of now, the oldest recommendations for UNOPS are dating from 2021 and 2022, and they have been successfully implemented by now and are awaiting the UNBOA's review and closure in the upcoming 2024 year-end audit. UNOPS management continues to prioritize addressing audit recommendations. We are pleased that the UN Board of Audit acknowledged our significant process— progress in implementing pending recommendations during the interim audit. Out of the 31 open recommendations, 21 recommendations representing 68% are scheduled to be closed before the 2024 year-end audit commences in April 2025. Out of the remaining 10, 9 of them are anticipated to be fully implemented during the 2025 financial year, with only one recommendation scheduled for implementation in 2026, which requires an IT system for our performance management. We look forward to welcoming the Board of Auditors to UNOPS in April and May this year and receiving their assessment of our progress, particularly on the 21 recommendations we consider implemented. Before I conclude, I would like to use this opportunity to have a brief reflection on some of the issues raised by the BOA in their report. In their report, the board referred to hedging derivatives. UNOPS, however, objected to the language used in the recommendation relating to quote unquote unqualified and inappropriate transactions and instruments. Furthermore, UNOPS also objected to the quote net financial loss of 15.23 million end quote, as the calculation did not consider all the transactions in the portfolio. UNOPS does not apply hedge accounting as laid out under IPSAS, and the financial instruments used are allowable and eligible under UNOPS Treasury and Investment Management policies. UNOPS has agreed, as part of the comprehensive review of policies, to consider the suitability of the list of eligible instruments used for hedging and investment purposes. The second area I would like to highlight is related to shared service charges to the projects. The shared service model is considered as best practice, as the concept of pooling resources and attributing their cost to relevant projects is a standard practice and creates significant efficiency. UNOPS manages over 70 projects across various offices With the shared services amounting to over US$100 million. The surplus accumulated under the shared service cost is a result of timing differences in those projects spanning over the year. It should be noted that the balance of $29 million mentioned in the audit report is part of UNOP's liabilities to its clients as reported in UNOP's corporate financial statements until their UNOPS will, however, update our guidance to be released at the end of the first quarter to ensure the balances carried over at period end remain within reasonable limits to avoid these large timing variations. Finally, in paragraph 55 of 2023 audit reports, the auditors raised a concern regarding the methodology for calculation of excess reserves. UNOPS discussed this with the Board of Auditors extensively, resulting in the recommendation for a revised calculation methodology for excess reserves. In line with this recommendation, UNOPS has developed and submitted to the Executive Board a revised methodology for the calculation of excess reserves For review and consideration. The new methodology takes into consideration the liquidity when calculating the excess reserves. In closing, I want to reiterate our commitment to the successful implementation of audit recommendations as they are of paramount importance to UNOPS. I thank you for your time and welcome any questions. Thank you.

Muchas gracias.

Thank you, Madam Leighton-Cone, for your presentation. Finally, I invite Mr. Pradeep Kurukulasuriya, Executive Secretary of UNCDF.

The UNCDF report of the implementation of the recommendations of the Board of Auditors for 2023. Sir, You have the floor.

Mr. President, members of the Executive Board, Board of Auditors, and distinguished delegates, good morning. It's a pleasure to join you here for the first regular session of the UNDP-UNFPA-UNOPS Executive Board in 2025. Allow me first to congratulate Your Excellency, Mr. Andreas Montalva Sousa, in your new role as the President of the Executive Board, along with the new Vice President and all new board members. UNCDF looks forward to working closely with all of you during this important year as we prepare our new Strategic Framework for 2026-2029 and define our support for the next Financing for Development agenda coming out of FFD4 in June. Before I provide an overview of the UNCDF report on the implementation of recommendations of the Board of Auditors for 2023, allow me to give you a short glimpse of some of our work in 2024. You will hear more about this in the Annual Sessions in June. As many of you know, we are completing a significant restructuring of UNCDF, which is almost now complete, in order to refocus the organization to its original mandate by the GA as a fund that provides concessional financing to supplement and catalyze larger flows of capital towards economic development, SDG progress, particularly in those countries that are being left out of capital markets. It's in that context that our work in 78 countries in 2024, including 43 least developed countries and 21 fragile countries, are particularly meaningful to us, and the work that we have carried out together with UNDP and others in the UN development system to try to unlock domestic capital and attract private investment. It's in that context that our work in Tanzania with the issuance of the first sub-national water bond, our work in Rwanda with WFP and Mastercard Foundation to deploy a partial credit risk guarantee for youth-led, women-led entrepreneurs working in agriculture are particularly important. And as we reinvigorate the Organization's aspirations, it is fundamental that we do so against the backdrop of an Organization whose foundations are strong. And that makes the findings of the Status of the Implementation of the Recommendations of the UN Board of Auditors for 2023 all the more important. We are very pleased that UNCDF received an unqualified audit opinion from the Board of Auditors on its financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2023. This marks the 12th consecutive year of an unqualified audit opinion since UNCDF began presenting its own separate financial statements in 2012. I am also very happy to inform the Board that UNCDF has implemented all audit recommendations issued prior to 2023, and we have no recurring UNBO audit or longstanding audit recommendations. I'm told we have the highest implementation rate amongst UN entities under the oversight of the Board of Auditors, according to the Secretary-General's note summarizing the recommendations of all Board of Auditors reports for 2023. For 2023, the UN Board of Auditors issued 9 audit recommendations to UNCDF covering finance and management of the budget process. We've already commenced work on all 9 recommendations and, and are on track to close all outstanding recommendations by the agreed due dates, set for the 2nd and 3rd quarters of 2025. Allow me to highlight some of the main recommendations from the Board of Auditors and how UNCDF is taking action to implement them. The 2 recommendations related to finance are to clarify the distinct criteria between grants and exchange transactions, and to improve the reconciliation of payroll transactions in quantum. During 2024, we strengthened oversight to ensure the appropriate instruments are used for grants and exchange transactions, and new instruments were reviewed and cleared by the relevant internal oversight committees as per UNCDF's policies and procedures. On payroll reconciliations, we are now performing reconciliations on a timely basis in 2024. After introducing global payroll to general ledger monthly reconciliations in 2023. Regarding the management of the budget processes, the Board recommended that UNCDF formalizes the budget planning process to better link the annual institutional budget to the multi-year strategic framework, and that we also prepare a more comprehensive integrated budget in line with its strategic framework. In response to these recommendations, we are developing a new standardized budget planning process and exploring digital integrated tools to ensure greater visibility of both financial information as well as real-time implementation and result monitoring. Lastly, the Board of Auditors also recommended that UNCDF adopt a fundraising strategy and regular update to it. I am pleased to let you know that in late In the context of the UNCDF 2024, we finalized a Strategy and Action Plan for 2024-2025 Resource Mobilization to support the current UNCDF Strategic Framework for 2022-2025. This strategy will also serve as the basis for defining an updated Resource Mobilization Plan for the new Strategic Framework for 2026-2029 that we're now currently embarking on to develop. Excellencies and delegates, UNCTAD management will continue to closely monitor the implementation of all audit recommendations to ensure that we continue to enhance our productivity, accountability, transparency, and performance for results and impact, while making every effort to close the recommendations of UNBOA in a timely manner. I thank you for your attention.

Thank you, Mr. Kurukula-Surya, for your presentation. The floor is now open for delegates who would like to address any points that we have just covered.

Thank you, Mr.

Chairman.

The distinguished delegate of the Russian Federation has the floor, followed by the representative of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Mr. Chairman, representatives of agencies, We're grateful for the presented update regarding the implementation of the recommendations of the Board of Auditors. Regarding UNEP-PA, I'd like to draw attention to the regular criticism of the Board of Auditors to the work of the Fund in terms of supply management. We're concerned that UNEP-PA often doesn't have timely, accurate, and updated information on operations regarding Thank you. Supply, which could have an impact on achieving program results. Particularly critical is the issue in the current situation. We call the Fund to focus priority attention on this situation, and we also welcome the development of a strategy of UNFPA on management of supply chains in accordance with the recommendation of the Board of Auditors, and we call the leadership of the Fund to ensure its implementation at all levels. Regarding UNOPS, at the beginning we'd like to say that we'd be happy to see the Deputy Executive Director personally, and we see maybe an inconsistency regarding the presentation virtually compared to We note the low satisfaction of partners of the agency regarding the cost-to-quality of services relationship, especially— this threatens the reputation of the agency as a provider of services in the area of development of infrastructure and management of projects. We call on the management to enhance its capacity to implement the mandate in different areas. We also would like to express concern regarding the inadequacies in procurement and applying the emergency procedure. Last year we already saw problems in purchasing in purchases and conducting UNOPS tenders. This could lead to abuse, and we call on UNOPS to resolve the situation. Thank you.

I thank the distinguished delegate of the Russian Federation, and I give the floor to the distinguished Distinguished delegate of the Netherlands.

Thank you, Mr. President. The Kingdom of the Netherlands wishes to thank the Board of Auditors for the insightful reports, as well as the agencies for their responses and progress in implementing the recommendations. We have asked various questions already in the informal briefings last week and will not repeat those today. We would, however, have appreciated the participation of the Board of Auditors in those informals, as our questions related not only to the management responses but also to the reports themselves. Making use of the Board of Auditors' presence in the room today, we would like to just make one remark. Whilst the technical nature of a report of the Board of Auditors is understandable and has value, it makes the information less accessible to the executive board, particularly to board members with limited capacities. We would strongly encourage the BOA, perhaps in cooperation with the agencies, to include in their reports not just the long-form summary— not just long-form reports and summary, but also, for lack of better words, a summary for member states and policymakers. An extra sheet on top of the reports that directs the board to where the BOA sees risks, irregularities, or room for improvement, written in less technical terms to ensure that all members of the Executive Board, and in fact everyone who reads the BOA reports, grasps at least the key points raised and areas that require our attention. It is something that we have spoken about before in the context of, for example, the S3i crisis, and it would help us tremendously in adequately performing our oversight role as Board members. Thank you.

I thank the distinguished Thank you, delegate of the Netherlands. I now give the floor to the distinguished delegate of Sweden.

Thank you, Chair. We would like to thank the UN Board of Auditors for its work and informative report. We note that the Board of Auditors report does not include information on specific findings in country offices and business units, and this would have been very useful to us, in particular when we fund programs that are managed by those offices concerned. We thank UNDP for its response and follow-up of recommendations and encourage UNDP's continued efforts in implementing the recommendations. We congratulate UNDP for maintaining a relatively high implementation rate. And we note the findings and recommendations to UNDP to review the model of resource allocations to country offices and strengthening of management and monitoring of country offices from regional bureau. It would be interesting to hear more about the next steps that UNDP will be taking in this regard. With regard to UNFPA, we note the progress made by UNFPA to implement recommendations, particularly regarding supply chain management. We encourage UNFPA to continue to strengthen its humanitarian response division and risk management in line with the recommendations. Finally, as regards UNOPS, we underline the importance that UNOPS, in line with the Board of Auditors' recommendations, strengthen its risk awareness and risk management to ensure transparency and accountability in its operations. Thank you, Chair.

I thank the distinguished delegate of Sweden. I see the distinguished delegate of Norway has also asked for the floor. I give you the floor.

Thank you, Mr. President, and thanks to the UN Board of Auditors for their report. We have one concrete question to the UN Board of Auditors, and that is about the UNOPS report. In the report on UNOPS, you referred to severe findings regarding what you consider as inappropriate financial derivative transactions with unqualified hedging instruments. You also pointed to weaknesses in the system of internal control, including what has been included in the reports to management and the Investment Advisory Committee. A new utter concern that management may not be able to follow the ongoing situation in respect of hedging through derivatives. In the statement from the UNOPS Deputy Executive Director today, the Executive Board was informed that UNOPS does not agree to the language of recommendations from UNBOA and to the calculated loss. And correct me if I'm wrong, in the informal consultations regarding this topic last week, this was also communicated and elaborated on. And we would kindly ask the UN Board of Auditors for their comments on this disagreement, if you could say. Thank you.

I thank the distinguished delegate of Norway. I now give the floor to the representative of Canada.

Good morning. Canada commends the UNDP for its 19th consecutive unqualified audit opinion. We take note of UNDP's report on actions taken and on further measures plan to implement the recommendations of the financial period ending on December 31st, 2023. We encourage UNDP to address outstanding and new recommendations promptly, especially high-priority recommendations in the areas of financial reporting, risk management, and the reform delinking the UN Resident Coordinator and Representative functions, and the management of programs and projects affiliated to the Sustainable Development Goal 16 related to climate action, as well as the 10 recommendations from prior years. We recognize UNDP's ongoing efforts to strengthen fraud risk management across the organization, yet we would welcome additional data on the general nature and number of fraud or presumptive fraud cases reported to the Board of Auditors by UNDP, including year-over-year comparative data. Thank you very much.

I thank the distinguished representative of Canada. Perhaps now we could ask representatives of the Board of Auditors, Mr. Bellin, Mr. Wanderley, and Mr. Shing-Ronnie Ghe, to respond to the comments Questions that were put with regard to their areas of responsibility. I'll give the floor first of all to Mr. Belin if you'd like to make any comments to react to what was discussed here.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

I noted that most parts of the questions were not questions but comments that we are not supposed to address. I see 3 or 4 questions, a series of questions about UNOPS. I will leave the floor to my colleague, Mr. Ji, Director for China, but before Maybe some general questions about the— there was one question formulated by the Netherlands about how the Board could better interact, the UN Board of Auditors could better interact with this Executive Board, and there was the suggestion that we attend the informal sessions. Which appears to be a good idea, in fact. As you know, it's not so common that we attend this Executive Board, and as the Chair of the Audit Operations Committee, I can confirm that we see value in attending this Executive Board regularly every year, and in addition, being present to the informal session could be also an asset. There was also a question about how to better communicate the findings in the report, improving the summary. We are also open to any discussion about that. I personally believe that it is a continuous progress in order to improve the way we communicate in the report. There was also a question more specific about UNDP. Formulated by Sweden, if I am correct, about the fact that we could better reflect in the report the findings that we make in the field. As you know, we have every year several field visits in country offices. For instance, it was a certain number of them for UNDP, same for other entities that have country offices, and I want to say 2 things. First, to confirm that we take into consideration the findings that we make in the field when elaborating cost-cutting recommendations that are in the Board of Auditors' report. But in addition to that, we issue to every country office copies to the management and the senior management management letters addressed specifically to specific country offices. So my opinion is that the Executive Board members could ask the management if they want to communicate the management letters which are internal. And in addition to that, we could think about how to better include in our report a specific focus on the transversal issues that we observed in the field, even though I say it again that we already take them into consideration when we issue general recommendations to the management. This being said, there was also a series of questions about UNOPS. including the question of the losses and the hedging instruments, and I will leave the floor to my colleague, Mr. G., to answer about that, and then I will ask Mr. Deelbekeek if he wants to elaborate further.

Okay.

Mr. G.

Thank you, Chair, and thank you, Mr. President. And also I would like to take the floor to thank all the members of the Executive Board for your continued interest and your attention to the BOA's job. And also, we have got some comments on the UNOPS, and especially relating to the cost-quality of some projects, especially those relating to the infrastructure. And also, you mentioned by the esteemed distinguished delegate of Russia about the emergency procurement overuse, and also for the concern relating to the SRI projects, and also the comments given by the Sweden delegate relating to the risk awareness, and also to further enforcement of the accountability in its operations. And also coming back to the question raised by the distinguished delegate of Norway, I would like to respond as follows. As Board of Auditors, we are entrusted by the member states to conduct our audit, mainly 2 types of audit. The first type is the compliance audit and the second type is the performance audit. In compliance audit, commonly we do or we review all the operations or the practice at UNOPS against the decisions by the executive board or the established policy framework or the guidelines that— or the SOPs that has been laid down by the administration and endorsed by the executive board. That is more for the compliance audit. And for the performance audit, we mainly measure the cost-effectiveness of the operations. And coming to the hedging instrument and also the investment management, the Board has raised several concerns. The first one is relating to the unqualified hedging instrument and the second is the deficiencies in trading options and also the deficiencies in internal control and the last point is the insufficient reporting to the management. For the unqualified hedging instrument, the Board has made it very clearly in our audit report. According to the IPSAS 41 or IPSAS 29, it is stated— it is very clearly stated there the writing option does not qualify as a hedging instrument. And also IPSAS 29 also means that a written option is not effective effective in reducing the surplus or deficit exposure of an hedging item. And this has been made very clear in those IPSAS rules. So in this sense, we insisted that the return option is not a qualified hedging instrument under IPSAS. And the second point is the deficiency in trading options. We would like to bring to the attention of the Executive Board that the use of some high-risk option products, like the exotic options that is adopted by UNOPS, such as barrier options, risk reversal in the call spreads, and et cetera. And this high— the risk profile of these exotic options, we believe, needs to be kept on close attention or look. As complicated structure and high volatility, this does not qualify or it was not appropriate for hedging, let's say. And also, we noted that commonly the trading direction in some of the transactions are the same, which should be the opposite because the hedging is to offset the fluctuations of the revaluations of the foreign currency or the exchange. Commonly, in UNOP's case, it is euro liabilities, but the trading direction remained the same, which indicates that that is not for offsetting the fluctuations of the revaluation of the liabilities, but really for premium. That is what we have identified, and we conducted the audit not just based on some individual transactions, But we conduct an overall review of all the transactions between 2021 to 2023. So that is an overall review. But of course, some, some in certain instances, due to the volume of the transactions, we conduct our audit on a sample basis, which we have made very clear. And also another point we would like to mention is appropriate dynamic hedging ratio. We actually have analyzed the 12 quarters over 3 years, and we noted in only 3 quarters the ratio has fallen within the range as requested by the operational instruction on treasury and cash management. And this is also a kind of deviance from what has been given or requested in the guidance, in the UNOPS guidance. And also, for the internal control, just as we have mentioned, we believe that a kind of level, a certain level of segregation of duties should be guaranteed. We note that the same executing both trading and the risk control, the same team conducting the two, should be disaggregated, you know, roles should be kept with or should be kept on look, and this should not be the way. So we believe that the duty segregations, complete records, and the competent system capacities should be the way. And also, we believe in this sense, the insufficient reporting to the management should be corrected or improved here, especially that we need to report to the Management or the management and the Investment Advisory Committee on all those nature, strategy, internal controls, potential gains and losses of derivatives to the management or to the Executive Board for your review and attention during your consideration of these hedging activities. And that is my response to the question raised by our esteemed esteemed Norway delegate. Thank you very much.

I'd like to thank, uh, Mrs. Bellin and G. I don't know, Mr. Bellin, whether you want to add anything.

I just wanted to briefly leave the floor to my colleague, Mr. Wanderley, about UNFPA. Thank you.

Mr. Wanderley, you have the floor.

Thank you very much. I would like to bring to your attention, to the Executive Board, some issues about the UNFPA. The report that was presented today was done by the Chilean team, our predecessor in the Board of Auditors. I would like to take this opportunity to share a prospective view of the areas we are focused on during the audit of the 2024 financial statements that will be presented here next year. Because it's aligned with the concerns that were presented by the distinguished representatives of Russia, Netherlands, and Sweden about the supply chain management, about the humanitarian department, the implementation of the Humanitarian Response Division. And I would like to say that we are concerned with that. We are focused on these issues during this year audit. We assigned 2 audit teams, One team of financial auditors to provide assurance on the reliability of the financial statements, and another team specialized in procurement, as we assessed this area as key for the UNFPA mandate delivery. The management audit team is assessing supply chain governance, risks, and controls, focused on sourcing, planning, time management, economies of scale, and stock certification. And we are looking forward to get good insights and results from these audits for the UNFPA administration and for this Executive Board. Thank you very much.

I thank you, Mr. Wanderley, and also I'd like to thank Mr. Bellin and Mr. G. And at this point in time, I'd like to ask I would like to ask whether the representatives of UNDP, UNFPA, UNOPS, UNCD, and UNCDF would like to make any comments in the order that I mentioned. You have the floor.

Thank you, and thank you, distinguished delegates, for the comments and questions. So perhaps in order, just to reflect UNDP's no objection to the Netherlands' suggestion of UNBOA participating in the informals. Also to thank Sweden, the delegate from Sweden, on the comments. We are, as part of our strategic plan, our current strategic plan, we've committed to review and to pilot a revision to the criteria for allocation of regular resources to better align these to countries' development needs and also the economic inequalities situation that they each have. So that is something that we would appreciate working together with the Executive Board on. In terms of— let's see, and, and thank you too for the comment on relatively high implementation of the recommendations. On management and monitoring of regional bureaus' oversight, this is something we've, we've also made substantial progress on in updating the corporate accountability framework, which, as you know, distinguishes the different levels of responsibilities at country office, at regional bureau, and at corporate. And also, of course, getting the balance between decentralization and centralized oversight right. And then just finally, Canada on fraud. I think that is— those— that's data, data on presumed of fraud and actual fraud is something that's reported through our Office of Audit and Investigation, and we will— but we of course will be providing information on fraud and recoveries to the annual session. Just to say, we have been making some progress on tracking and recovering funds lost through fraud. Between 2013 and 2023, we've recovered about 43% of the recoverable amount of loss. So it is very much a priority of ours to, of course, prevent but also seek to, to address the, the impact. And, and maybe just finally on management letters, which was a, a comment from, from you and Boa, just say that those are, are essential, but they're very much for management. And so as UNDP, we see them as a, as a key tool for management as such and not necessarily for a broader governance tool.

Thank you, Madam McGuire. Mr. Savaton, you have the floor.

Thank you, Mr. President. I'll respond to the questions for UNFPA as I— as they were given, really. And firstly, a response to distinguished delegate from the Russian Federation. I would actually like to reassure him that the UNFPA supply chain is— development of it as a separate unit is a journey that we've started. It's not completed, but it's gathering at pace. The Board will recall we used to previously have, about 4 years ago, just a procurement division in Copenhagen. We changed it to supply chain management. Management unit to extend the parameters of the supply chain over which we had visibility and control within the organisation and established a new terms of reference, which constituted a new structure that came into effect in the summer of 2024, a 4-pillar structure which actually included a lot of specialised new staffing areas as well, including risk management and GRC, and quality assurance, in addition to the normal sourcing, procurement, bookkeeping type areas of procurement. That was immediately followed by the endorsement in the third quarter of last year— sorry, the fourth quarter of last year— of the new supply chain management strategy. It was approved by the Executive Committee, and as I mentioned, We're actually now full steam ahead in implementing that strategy. One significant part of that will actually be the rolling out of a number of IT developments that actually support or are peripheral to our ERP Quantum system, and this is a key ICT strategy for 2025. One of those items will actually include the shipment tracker, which actually will track those stocks from end to end as they pass through the system. That actually went live, or is going live, in January this year as an interim measure, and we will have a longer-term solution even better than that to follow. So, and also we have started work on what we call a control tower as well, which will give us even more visibility from end to end. That's from right the way from the initial sourcing right the way to the last mile assurance. A lot of this work is done with a lot of private sector engagement as well to ensure that we actually work to the best industry practices on our procurement when it can actually be measured like that. And what I would actually just say to avoid any issues, there was no issue at all with the counting or valuation of our stocks in our financial statements. Otherwise, that would have been reported by the Board of Auditors. So it was not a material item from that respect. With regard to the Netherlands UNFPA comment, UNFPA would welcome the inclusion of the Board of Audit in informals. In fact, UNFPA has actually previously had the Board of Audit at its informals. It only couldn't do in the one last week because there was a clash of agenda items with the Board of Auditors. They were invited and couldn't attend, but regardless of that, we'll make sure that they do attend the next time. In regard to the comments from the distinguished delegate of Sweden, I can assure you in both the Humanitarian Response Division and the Risk Management, we are strengthening both of those areas. I've already mentioned to you in my statement about the strengthening that's already happened with the emergency procurement— sorry, the emergency policies and procedures, which give us— tell us what we do immediately on the calling of one of the scale-up of the— sorry, the calling of one of the 3 levels of emergency, who does what, when, and how it's reported, automated there. We've already established and now fully staffed the Global Emergency response team, but this is, again, similar to the supply chain, a journey we're on and a journey we're evolving and getting stronger. I also would actually say that the upcoming preparation of the new strategic plan gives us an example to actually— gives us an opportunity to actually look at the humanitarian division again and further strengthen it. On risk management, Those of you who were able to attend the informal last week will have heard of a number of areas where we've actually strengthened the risk management, and particularly most recently with the actual rollout and training right across our global network on risk management, of training to focal points, and also the establishment of risk committees. And also, as you know, we have recently— well, not recently, a couple of years ago— launched our first ERM policy with a risk appetite statement, so which we're now actually operationalizing. So I can assure you, in both of those areas, we will continue to actually strengthen. So with that, Mr. Chair, I'll go back to you.

Thank you.

Gracias, señor Sabaton.

Thank you, Mr. Sabaton. I give the floor to Madame Leighton-Kahn in representing UNOPS. You have the

Thank you, Mr.

President. In response to the questions from the distinguished delegates of Russia, we would like to inform that the results of the 2024 survey reveal a positive increase in global partner satisfaction across all key parameters since the previous survey in 2022. Which is the one that the Board of Auditors had been able to look at when they issued their report. Notably, 81% of respondents reported satisfaction with our services, which is more than 5 percentage points above 2022. Willingness to recommend UNOPS remains high at 80%, and trust in UNOPS also increased At 83%, we also have increase of more than 7% in the perception of value for money and timeliness. But we remain an area where we are committed to improving on and communicating better. The recent partner survey indicated a significant increase in the level of satisfaction regarding our. Quality and our performance with a 5% improvement in timely delivery. Value for money also saw a positive change with a 7 percentage point improvement compared to '72 to 2022. In regards to the questions around procurement, we're deeply committed to ensuring the highest standards of transparency, accountability, and efficiency in our procurement process, including during emergency situations. The UN Board of Auditors had previously issued an audit recommendation regarding UNOPS emergency procurement procedures, and in response to that, UNOPS is currently conducting a comprehensive review and assessment of its emergency procurement procedures. A task force is working diligently to align these policies with best practices and ensure they meet the evolving needs of emergency operations and rising challenges and potential risks. Per the implementation timeline, UNOPS expects to request the closure of this recommendation in Q1 of 2025. Additionally, we're enhancing capacity building by strengthening training and guidance for staff involved in the process to ensure compliance with established policies and procedures, as well as improving oversight mechanisms to detect and prevent potential irregularities.

irregularities.

In relation to the question from the distinguished delegate of Sweden regarding risk awareness and management, the global context and our own operational environment are constantly changing, and for UNOPS, this means that our enterprise risk management will continue evolving as a proactive, dynamic, and integrated activity guided by our newly established risk and compliance group. But ultimately, we believe it is a shared responsibility. To further advance UNOPS' risk maturity and future-proof our risk response capacity, we have a number of initiatives, including embedding risk management principles across our service lines, including delineating our risk appetite to better understand trade-offs, We're improving the protocols and extending the scope of our Engagement Acceptance Committee, which we have renamed to Portfolio Oversight Committee, which now covers high-complexity, high-risk projects across all lifecycle stages. We have integrated our process innovation digitalization initiative with second-line defense capabilities. Established cybersecurity risk management framework, and we have deployed a more integrated, systematic, and dynamic risk management system as part of our project program portfolio approach. To the well, the question was raised to the UNBOA, so I don't think that we will respond very much to the response. Just to say. We provided some additional comments that we don't think we had a chance to be reflected on, and nonetheless, we remain committed to reviewing the policies as guided overall, and we will be briefing members about that in future updates. Thank you, Mr. President.

Gracias.

Thank you, Madam Leighton-Khan. I now give the floor to Mr. Kuru Kulasuriya for his comments.

Thank you, Mr. President. I think the recent restructuring of UNCDF, which was focused on ensuring that the organization goes back to its original mandate, also addresses, I think, a number of issues that have Yes, I would like to add to some of the issues that have come up here. The segregation of functions— we now have a front office that deals with the upfront programming, with a middle office that does oversight, and a back office that does operational support, thereby ensuring that some of the issues that we have discussed actually has a minimal risk of occurring, given the very specialized work that UNCDF is now gearing up to enter into. To and scale up, which is to try and help private sector investments get crowded into high-risk markets. That, of course, means that we must, by definition, have a very strong internal control framework, which we are now updating, and also the adoption of many practices and policies that are part of the UNDP constellation, but which hasn't necessarily translated into UNCTAD and in particular things like anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism. These policies are now being adopted and applied across the board on all UNCDF programmes and will continue to do that. The strengthened administrative arrangements with UNDP as the host of UNCDF also becomes incredibly important in order that many of the systems and policies are also available for application in UNCDF, and we've gone the extra mile now to ensure that, in response to other audits, including by the Office of Audit and Investigation, that we have updated our own policies in order that we are aligned with the UNDP's, but also in line with the carve-outs of the financial rules and regulations that UNCDF has. We will continue to take lessons from the conversation today and make sure that they're also integrated as part of our own ongoing work under the observations made by UNBOA, so that we also exercise a little bit of preventive action here to ensure that we don't have similar issues occurring in UNCDF in the future.

Thank you.

Muchas gracias a usted.

Thank you for your response.

Report that the draft decision on joint agenda item 2 on recommendations of the Board of Auditors is being prepared. We will revert to this item later to adopt the decision.

Now, I would ask you for a brief pause to change the podium seating arrangement.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Distinguished delegates, please take your seats. We will start momentarily. Distinguished delegates, please take your seats. We will start momentarily. Thank you.

Buenos días con todos y todas.

Good morning once again.

We continue the joint segment with Agenda Item 4, update on the assessment of how the Executive Board executes its governance and oversight functions. As outlined in Decision 2024/12 regarding the Joint Inspection Unit's report titled Review of Governance and Oversight of the Executive Board of UNDP, UNPA, UNOPS, UNICEF, and UN Women, document JIU Thank you. At the meeting of the Joint Inspection Unit, the Executive Board committed to a 2-track process that constitutes, A, an information gathering exercise, and B, the establishment of a working group. It was also decided to include an item for decision on the progress of the consideration of the Joint Inspection Unit report on the agenda of Every formal session until decided otherwise. As president of the executive board, I will now provide a brief update on the progress made in implementing this decision.

Estimados Distinguished members of the Executive Board and observers, I'm happy to inform you of the advances achieved in implementing the decision of the Executive Board in evaluating the way in which it fulfills its governance and oversight functions. Our work began with Decision 2022/63. 22 of the board, which requested options and cost estimates for an evaluation, including the viability evaluation by an external third party of the UN system. Through decision 24/12 adopted by this board in its annual session 2024, we welcomed the report 2023/ 2007 of the Joint Inspection Unit on review of the governance and oversight of the executive boards of UNDP, UNFPA, UNOPS, UNICEF, and UN Women, and we committed ourselves to conduct a gradual and inclusive process to study and implement its recommendations. The Board committed itself to beginning a process that included, A, compiling information, and B, establishing a working group. As far as compiling information, in November of 2024, the Board received preliminary observations from the administration and independent offices of UNDP, UNFPA, and UNEP on the report of the GIU. As requested by the Board, these documents have been published on their respective websites of the documentation portals of the Executive Board and of the entities, ensuring transparency and accessibility for all members and observers. As far as the creation of our Working Group, I'm happy to inform you that the candidates of member states for the working group, which were facilitated by the board in consultation with regional groups and cooperation with the boards of UNICEF and UN Women, approved a procedure of tacit agreement on January 24th, so last Friday. The group has been set up. It's made up of 15 members with equal regional representation and will begin its work immediately after this session. I'd like to also inform you that at the moment the Bureau is conducting an inter-regional consultative process in cooperation with the bureaus of UNICEF and UN Women on the draft mandate that will make it possible for the group— working group to start working. We hope it will be adopted in the next few days. For this, I would request support, flexibility, and readiness of every— all of you to move forward in this direction. I have no doubt that we can do the kind of work that can satisfy expectations that have been generated. Fulfilling their mandates in an efficient and effective way. As I reiterated in my initial statement when we began this morning's meeting, as we move forward, I would urge all member states to be— to continue to be committed and united in fulfillment of this shared vision. Together, we must ensure that our I hope that the UN boards continue to be inclusive and continue to maintain the highest standards of governance and oversight, setting an example for the entire UN system. This is something that I also mentioned during my intervention this morning. Thank you very much for your attention.

Thank you.

Now I will open the floor for those who wish to comment on this topic. A representative of Finland asked for the floor to speak on behalf of a group of states. I give you the floor, to be followed by the representative of Brazil and then the representative of New Zealand. Finland, you have the floor.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

I have the honour to deliver this statement on behalf of Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Georgia, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Mexico, Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, Kingdom of the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye, and the United Kingdom, and my own country, Finland. In June of last year, the S-Group Board, as well as the boards of UNICEF and UN Women, established a working group to study and report on the recommendations of the Joint Inspection Unit's review on governance and oversight of these Executive Boards. The fundamental reason underlying this decision remains the same: a shared goal of ensuring that the agencies deliver results on the ground in a way that maximizes positive impact in partner countries. And as the Executive Board, it is our duty to arrange our work so that we have adequate tools to effectively exercise our governance and oversight responsibilities. Responsibilities and take well-informed decisions to minimise risks and maximise the ability of our agencies to deliver. We cannot afford to repeat mistakes made in the past, and we cannot afford to act as a rubber-stamping body. We should use our hard-learned lessons to make targeted improvements where it counts, to make the Executive Board truly fit for purpose. The JRU Review and its This follow-up remains timely, with multilateralism and the UN system under increased pressure, and the agencies faced with constrained resources. Our endeavour is relevant not only for the agencies over which the Executive Board presides, but for the entire UN development system. In the recently adopted Quadrennial Comprehensive Policy Review, Member States have called on the United Nations Sustainable Development Group entities to further strengthen their internal oversight mechanisms and encourage the governing bodies to strengthen their— the execution of their governance and oversight functions. With the establishment of the Working Group, we took an important first step to answer this call. We thank the agencies for their constructive engagement in this process so far, including their management and independent offices, for providing information notes outlining their initial views. We count on your continued cooperation going forward, as it is essential for achieving meaningful and lasting results. We have no doubt that this process has the potential to make the Executive Boards more relevant, agile, and effective. As we approach the final strategic planning period before 2030, our deadline for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, it is upon us to make every effort to accelerate the implementation of our common Sustainable Development Agenda. The JIU Review concludes with noting that among all parties there is a shared agreement that inaction is not an option. Therefore, let us continue to act together and learn from the good practices we have at hand. We look forward to the discussions of the Working Group as they will guide our collective follow-up in the months to come. I thank you.

I thank the distinguished delegate of Finland for your statement, and I now give the floor to the distinguished delegate of Brazil, followed by the representative of New Zealand. You have the floor.

Thank you, Mr. President.

Taking the necessary steps to implement Decision 2024/12 on the GIU report and its working groups. We look forward to actively participating in the working group as one of the representatives of the GRULAC region. Brazil has carefully reviewed the draft terms of reference prepared by the Bureau. And we wish to express some concern regarding efforts to alter the delicate balance achieved during the 2024 Annual Session, particularly with regard to the scope and structure of the Working Group through the discussion of these Terms of Reference. Brazil believes that the TORs should remain consistent with the language of Decision 2024/12. Without prejudging any discussions on the recommendations before the boards. In this regard, we have submitted amendments to the draft TORs. On the GIU report itself, Brazil would like to respectfully offer 2 comments. First, we align with the preliminary observations made by management regarding the importance of considering the unique context of the United Nations system. Our organization has a distinct governance structure where certain criteria, such as geographical balance, may not be as prevalent as in other practices or standards. It is therefore crucial that we ensure our decisions align with the broader UN governance framework and the existing oversight mechanisms. Second, with regard to the potential creation of new committees within the Board, we'd like to highlight that not all Board members have equivalent resources in terms of human capital, whether in New York or in their capitals. The establishment of additional bodies would entail more meetings and documentation, which may challenge some members' capacity to engage fully with all relevant discussions. This could create an imbalance in participation and oversight. Thank you very much, Senhor Presidente.

I thank the distinguished representative of Brazil, and I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of New Zealand.

Thank you, Mr. President. New Zealand aligns with the group statement delivered by Finland. We also wish to make some brief remarks in a national capacity. New Zealand welcomes the milestone to be achieved at this session of the Executive Boards, namely the conclusion of the preparatory stage of the Board's response to the JRU's report following its review of governance and oversight of the Executive Boards, and the commencement of the Working Group's work. As the QCPR resolution rightly underlined, Effective governance is key to the UN development system's ability to deliver tangible development progress. It is also an important reflection that we as member states are responsible for ensuring the UN development system is positioned to thrive. Mr. President, New Zealand hopes the working group will be able to achieve some early wins that can strengthen and streamline executive board processes reduce the burden on both UN entities and Member States, and enable the Board to focus on strategic risks, opportunities, and robust operational accountability, accountability without getting bogged down in information and decisions that are more appropriately the responsibility of senior management officials. As we Member States demand ever higher standards of efficiency and accountability From UN development system entities, New Zealand looks forward to advice from the working group as to how we as a board can also be more efficient and accountable ourselves. Our citizens deserve no less.

Thank you.

I thank the representative of New Zealand. Thank you for your comments. There are no further requests for the floor. So at this time, I'd just like to inform the Board that a draft decision on joint agenda item 4, on the update on the assessment of how the Executive Board Executes its governance and oversight functions.

Prepared, we will revert to this item later to adopt the decision. Quiero agradecer.

I'd like to thank you for your constructive comments, and you can rest assured that we have taken note of your comments, and of course we will. Try to continue this conversation in the most effective and efficient way possible. Thank you very much once again. The meeting is adjourned.

Distinguished delegates, a quick lunch break and then with the facilitators we will reconvene in this room for the decision negotiations. So 12:30 PM, in 25 minutes, in this room. Facilitators have kindly agreed, and for the technical focal points of the entities, it's only the technical focal points who will be requested to remain in the room.

Thank you.