(1st meeting) Executive Board of UNDP, UNFPA and UNOPS (Second regular session 2026)

Good morning, distinguished delegates, colleagues, please take your seats. Distinguished delegates, colleagues, please take your seats. Distinguished delegates, colleagues, please take your seats.

Good morning, dear colleagues. I kindly ask you to take your seats. Distinguished colleagues, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you. Good morning, dear colleagues. Ladies and gentlemen, I declare open the second regular session 2026 of the Executive Board of UNDP and FPAA UNOPS. This session is being held in accordance with the rules of procedure of the Executive Board and the approved annual work plan. And probably I would say in accordance with the energetic spirit exercised by delegates before the start of this session and of a new diplomatic season. Before delivering some comments, I would like to welcome to the podium, the Mrs. Diane Kitah, Executive Director of UNFPA, Mr. Jorge Moreira da Silva, Executive Director of UNOPS, Mr. Shauli Shu, Associate Administrator of UNDP, and Mrs. Masah Jafari, Secretary of the Executive Board. Now, I will keep my comments short. I just want to say that in between the annual session in June and this current session, there have been I think we've been going through intense conversations among member states, between member states and the entities themselves and the UN Secretariat as well. Member states have been informed through the appropriate channels, both informal and formal documents that have been shared with you and that's very much important. And what is most important is that not only a decision but beyond decision as well will continue to reflect on the best possible ways for member states to support the important mission and work of these organizations that are subject and guided through the work of this executive board. I think now at the beginning of the board, we have to calibrate our action towards the end of this board in a way that would bring added value to the overall effort, and I think it's feasible. There have been a number of intense informal consultations in the last two weeks. Discussions will be continuing this week on different draft decisions. And then I think there is important work ahead on some of them. Important work is necessary on others. But I think we are almost there and we have to get it to a good outcome. I want to salute the important engagement of the entities for the past, it's been what, three months almost? It was a vacation time, but nevertheless, I can tell you that we've been in contact all throughout and that continues now. And I've been also in contact with member states and that continues as well. We will continue to reflect together on the overall work. We continue the board with the agenda item one, organizational matters, including the adoption of the agenda and work plan for the session. And I invite Mrs. Massa Jafari, the secretary of the executive board, to provide an overview of the organization and logistical matters and to introduce the agenda and work plan for this session. Mrs. Jafari, please.

Thank you, Mr. President. Good morning again, distinguished members of the Executive Board and observer delegations. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to briefly highlight key arrangements for the second regular session. I will cover very briefly four areas: documentation, draft decision negotiations, the tentative work plan, and a few key logistical and procedural arrangements. In terms of documentation and negotiations, as noted during the pre-session informal consultation on 10th August, all key session documentation is available on the Executive Board website. This includes the tentative work plan, the logistics note, the list of informal consultations and briefings, links to the official session documents for UNDP, UNFPA and UNOPS are also available through their respective websites. The draft annual work plan of the executive board for 2027 has also been posted. Advanced virtual negotiations on draft decisions began on 18 August. Negotiations will continue in person this week during the formal session of the board and in particular from 1 to 3 PM with additional late afternoon negotiations convened as necessary and subject to the plenary schedule. Due to the UN Secretariat austerity measures, no meeting rooms are available after 6:00 PM. Any additional late meetings will therefore remain subject to confirmation. With your permission, Mr. President, I will now briefly outline the agenda as reflected in the tentative work plan. On Monday, today, 24th of August, The session will open with organizational matters, including adoption of the agenda and work plan for the session and adoption of the report of the annual session 2026. The board will then take up the UNFPA segment and hear the statement of the UNFPA executive director. This afternoon, the Board will first consider the UNDP Structured Funding Dialogue, including the Structured Dialogue on Financing the Results of the UNDP Strategic Plan and the Annual Review of the Financial Situation of the United Nations Capital Development Fund. This item will be followed by the UNFPA Structured Funding Dialogue. The afternoon will conclude with the update on the assessment of how the Executive Board executes its governance and oversight functions. On Tuesday morning, the Board will take up the joint segment on engagement with the UNAD initiative. On Tuesday afternoon, the Board will begin the UNOPS segment with a statement of the UNOPS Executive Director. The board will then consider UNOPS financial, budgetary and administrative matters, including the update on the distribution of excess reserves, alternative options to the current arrangements governing UNOPS reserves, and the update on the implementation of the findings of the 2024 Board of Auditors report. The afternoon will conclude with consideration of the UNOPS Process Innovation and Digitalization Program. On Wednesday afternoon, sorry, on Wednesday morning, the Board will continue the UNDP segment with the interactive dialogue with the UNDP administrator. On Wednesday afternoon, the Board will consider the UNDP and UNFPA country program documents and related matters, including country program documents and extensions of country programs submitted for the Board's consideration. The session is expected to conclude on Thursday morning, and I'm sure, Mr. President, you will relay some information regarding to that. The board will first consider the report on the field visit of the executive board to Panama. It will then proceed to other matters and the adoption of the decisions before the board. under organizational matters the board will consider the draft annual work plan for 2027 adopt the tentative work plan for the first regular session 2027 and conclude the second regular session I will conclude with a few key logistical and procedural points to facilitate the orderly and efficient conduct of the session the speaking protocol set out in the logistics note will apply Interventions will proceed in the following order: Bureau members, statements delivered on behalf of groups, members of the Executive Board, and then observer delegations. Within categories of Executive Board members and observer delegations, priority will be given to permanent representatives, followed by deputy permanent representatives, and then expert level representatives. The chair will retain the discretion to adjust the sequencing of interventions as appropriate to facilitate the efficient conduct of the meeting. The time limits will be strictly applied. Individual statements, including those by Bureau members, will be limited to three minutes. Statements delivered on behalf of groups will be limited to five minutes. Management presentations and responses will follow the specific time allocations established for each agenda item, generally ranging from three to five minutes. The 30 second grace period will not apply. Microphones will be automatically deactivated once the allotted speaking time has elapsed and delegations are kindly requested not to reactivate them. We greatly appreciate the cooperation of all delegations and colleagues in respecting these arrangements, which are intended to preserve sufficient time for meaningful dialogue between the Board and management. To support interpretation, delegations are kindly requested to submit statements to e-statements@un.org at least two hours prior to delivery. The subject line and the heading of the statement should clearly indicate the title of the session, the name of the speaker, and the number and title of the relevant agenda item. Statements will remain embargoed until delivery and will subsequently be published in the UN journal. Thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you, Mrs. Jafari. These are important clarifications for this session. Dear colleagues, I want to bring to you a proposal which Ms. Jafari alluded to, discussing this morning with the Bureau. And I want to thank on this occasion our vice presidents from Finland, Jamaica, Tajikistan, and Zambia for the important work. The proposal is to move the session on Thursday morning, which is the last session of the board from morning to the afternoon. So rather than starting at 10 a.m. to start at 3 p.m. and if that's agreeable to you, it allows also predictability to ongoing discussions on different documents, but also preparing some substantial matters much more clearly. So if that's if that's Agreeable to you, I think we can proceed along this line. Let me know if that doesn't work for you. So the proposal was not to organize the last session on Thursday morning at 10 o'clock, but at three o'clock on Thursday, the same day, Thursday being the 27th. Well, I see no reactions. It means that in the totality of the comments that they've made, the work plan and the proposed agenda, I take it that the Board wishes to adopt the proposed agenda and work plan for this second regular session. It is so decided. Now, the Board also has before it also the report of the annual session 2026 containing document DP/2026/24. It was circulated in advance. If there are no objections, I shall take it that the Executive Board wishes to adopt the report of the annual session 2026. It is so decided. Now we continue with our agenda item and please allow us indulge just a few moments before we proceed with the NFPA segment to adjust the podium. It will be very short, so please remain seated. Thank you very much for your patience, dear colleagues. We will now begin the UNFPA segment with the statement by the UNFPA Executive Director. Again, I welcome Ms. Diane Kitah, the Executive Director of UNFPA. Joining Ms. Kitah on the podium, we have Mr. Andrew Saberton, Deputy Executive Director for Management. We have Mr. Pierre Smith, Deputy Executive Director for Program. at the NFPA. We have Mrs. Julia Bunting, the Director of the Program Division. We have Mr. Samuel Choritz, Director of the Division for External Relations. Mrs. Shoko Arakaki, Director of the Humanitarian Response Division. And Mrs. Laila Baker, Regional Director, Arab States. And of course, we have Mrs. Elena Pierondini, the Chief of the Executive Board Branch of the NFPA, who will be serving as Secretary for this UNFPA segment. Before giving the floor to Mrs. Kita, we will view a short video prepared by UNFPA. Please.

We are UNFPA. We count people and make people count.

Because in a world of eight billion people, brimming with possibilities, all evidence shows that families thrive and countries flourish.

When each person has choices to live their own best life.

By interpreting data that tell the evolving human.

Story, we help governments plan for a future where every person can go to school, see a doctor, and.

Age in dignity.

We are UNFPA, working for a better tomorrow, starting today.

Thank you. I now give the floor to Mrs. Kita, Executive Director.

You have the floor, please.

Excellences, ladies and gentlemen, members of the Executive Board, dear friends, dear colleagues.

For the second regular session of the Executive Board for 2026, your guidance, scrutiny, and support make UNFPA's work in more than 150 countries possible, and I am deeply grateful for your partnership. Before moving forward, allow me one personal reflection. Almost exactly one year ago, this Executive Board endorsed my appointment as Executive Director of UNFPA. I remain profoundly grateful to member states and to the Secretary-General for the confidence placed in me. I also remember with particular appreciation the words of the then President of the Executive Board, the distinguished representative of Ecuador, who, reflecting the strength of support he had heard across the membership, said that he felt able to extend that endorsement on behalf of the General Assembly as a whole. I received those words with humility then. I remember them with the same humility today and with an even deeper sense of the responsibilities that such confidence carries. This first years entrusted with the leadership of UNFPA has taken me from communities confronting crisis to capitals navigating profound demographic change. It has confirmed something I have believed throughout my life in public service. Multilateralism must be felt, not merely discussed. People do not experience the United Nations through our organizational chart or resolutions. They experience it through results, through the midwife who arrives in time, the dignity of a survivor who receives care, the census that makes an invisible community visible, and the opportunity a young person has to shape their own future. It has also made me more convinced than ever that institutions must be prepared to change, but the promises we have made to people must not. In just a few weeks, world leaders will gather for the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly. Delivering on the Charter's promise to we the peoples, a promise of peace, dignity, prosperity, and progress requires member states and the United Nations system to work together with urgency and purpose. It all begins with people. Every person deserves a life of dignity, safety and opportunity. When people can exercise their rights and realize their potential, communities grow stronger, economies become more dynamic and countries become more resilient. This is the vision of the ICPD Programme of Action. It guides everything we do at UNFPA. Turning that vision into reality depends on the choices and investment we make now. We face an increasingly complex world. Conflicts and humanitarian crises are putting millions at risk. Health systems are under strain. Climate change is reshaping communities. Artificial intelligence and other technologies are advancing faster than our ability to govern them. Inequality is deepening. Financing is contracting and trust in institution is eroding. At the same time, countries are navigating profound demographic change from and growing population to low fertility and aging alongside migration and urbanization. Demography is not destiny, policy is. UNFPA health countries respond to this reality by connecting sexual and reproductive health and rights, population dynamics, and sustainable development. We champion reproductive rights and choices. We deliver life-saving supplies and services where they are needed most. And we equip government with the data and demographic intelligence they need to anticipate change, invest wisely, and build resilient societies. What does this mean for people? It means a pregnant woman in a remote community giving birth safely with the support of a skilled midwife. A girl staying in school and avoiding adolescent pregnancy. A young person with the information and services to shape their future. A survivor of violence receiving safety, support, and dignity. A family able to decide freely the timing and spacing of their children. It also means helping countries conduct censuses and turn demographic data into action to map vulnerability, target investments, strengthen and ensure that every person counts. The world we are preparing for, Mr. President, I have just returned from the regional conference on population and development in Latin America and the Caribbean held in Montevideo, the birthplace of the Montevideo Consensus, one of the world's most ambitious commitment to people-centered right-based development. Latin America and the Caribbean is undergoing one of the world's fastest demographic transitions, moving from high fertility to below replacement fertility in just a few decades. As populations change, policies must evolve with them. Countries need to invest across the life course, from childcare and education to elder care and long-term social support. The region offers an important lesson for the world. People are not a demographic problem to solve. They are the power with which we build our future. Each country's demographic path is different. There is no single policy response, but every effective response begins with rights, choices, quality data, and investment in human potential. UNFPA is uniquely positioned to support this work and to advance the exchange of experience through South-South and triangular cooperation. On innovating for impact, Mr. President, Excellencies, across our mandate, UNFPA is changing how we work to deliver greater and more sustainable impact. We are broadening our financing base, expanding partnership, strengthening national ownership, and using technology responsibly. Countries are showing what is possible. In Bangladesh, the government has committed to creating 25,000 new midwifery posts, an annual investment of $85 million, and the largest domestic investment in midwifery in the country's history. announced at the International Confederation of Midwives Congress in Lisbon, this commitment answered the global call for one million more midwives. Through the UNFPA Supplies Partnership, government invested a record $68 million in sexual and reproductive health commodities in 2025, almost six times more than in 2020. In that year alone, the partnership reached more than 23 million women, preventing 10 million unintended pregnancies, averted 3 million unsafe abortions, and saved an estimated $754 million in direct health care costs. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the government committed more than $12 million to the joint program on conflict-related sexual violence, the largest domestic contribution to UNFPA-led joint program to date. It also committed 30 million US dollars to support the country's first census in more than 40 years. We are also expanding our partnership with international financial institutions. Agreements signed in 2025 were worth approximately 46 million US dollars. In addition to our new partnership with the African Development Bank, our recent partnership with the Asia Development Bank will support expansion of the Philippines National Maternal Care Benefit Package, an initiative expected to mobilize around 500 million U.S. dollar for maternal health over five years and improve services for up to 1.2 million women each year. Philanthropic and individual support is growing as well. I thank the Gates Foundation and the Children Investment Foundation, Fund Foundation, for their longstanding partnership. Coefficient Giving, which is a philanthropic organization, awarded UNFPA Supply Partnership a 10 million US dollar grant. In 2025, individual giving mobilized nearly 10 million US dollar, including more than 7 million in core contribution. Innovation at UNFPA is not an end in itself. It is how we help country deliver better results for people. Today, 80% of our workforce regularly uses secure corporate artificial intelligence tool. Through our digital center of excellence, we are scaling practical innovation from AI-powered sexual reproductive health chatbot and drone delivery to virtual reality midwifery training and AI-assisted population survey analytics. In Uzbekistan, UNFPA supported the country's first population and agricultural censuses in 37 years, providing the disaggregated data needed to plan for more than 30 million people. In Somalia, we are helping bridge decades of population data gaps through satellite imagery, AI, and digital data collection. We have also introduced UNFPA's first foresight policy instrument, enabling countries' offices to anticipate emerging trends and strengthen program design. And our demographic future survey covering more than 108,000 young adults across 73 countries and territory is one of the largest studies of young people's aspiration for partnership, parenthood, and the future. Its finding will inform our next State of the World Population report to be launched in November. Innovation delivers greater impact when government, businesses, and civil society work together. Our Equity 2030 Alliance now brings together more than 130 partners. Through the Women X Collective, we are helping more promising women's health innovation from prototype to scale. Our coalition for reproductive justice in business is showing that investment in reproductive health in the workplace is good for people and good for business. I congratulate Finland on becoming the first government to join the coalition, and I invite others to follow. On humanitarian action, Mr. President, excellencies, humanitarian needs continue to grow as resources shrink. We are witnessing deepening protection crisis with rising attacks on civilians, health facilities, including maternity wards, and the safe spaces on which women and girls depend. A woman should never have to choose between giving life and losing her own. Life-saving sexual and reproductive health services, together with specialized gender-based violence prevention and response, must therefore be part of every humanitarian response from the outset. This year, 64 million women and girls of reproductive age will require humanitarian assistance. UNFPA is appealing for $1 billion to reach 34 million women, girls, and young people in 43 countries. Yet, halfway through the year, we had received less than one-third of the funding required, while overall humanitarian funding had declined by 36% compared with the same time last year. Following the earthquakes in Venezuela and in Colombia, UNFP rapidly scaled up maternal health, emergency obstetric care, and gender-based violence services for affected communities. Despite unprecedented constraint, our teams continue to deliver where needs are greatest. Since the start of the year, UNFP has reached 900,000 people with maternal and reproductive health services in Afghanistan, more than 200,000 people with gender-based violence services in Sudan, and nearly 400,000 people with reproductive health and protection services in Yemen. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, UNFP has activated its highest level of emergency response to the Ebola outbreak. Pregnancy and childbirth do not stop during a disease outbreak. Working with the government, we are deploying midwives, reproductive health kit, medical supplies, and protective equipment so that essential maternal health services can continue safely. In Ukraine, UNFPA is helping maternity hospitals move essential services into protected spaces. Today, two out of every three babies in Ukraine are born in a UNFPA-supported facility. These are not simply program outputs. They are multilateralism made real. I urge all member states to support UNFPA lifesaving humanitarian work. Distinguished member of the board, the work we deliver on your behalf is demanding. I wish to recognize the extraordinary UNFPA team, Andrew Saberton and P.O. Smith. our executive committee and representative, and every colleague from the driver and security officers to the program and operations team. This year, they have served with accountability, efficiency, and remarkable resilience. To them all, bravo, and thank you. On accountability, country ownership, and UNAT, Mr. President, excellencies, UNFP helps countries build strong institutions, strengthen national capacity, and deliver lasting results. We are proud to be a trusted and accountable partner. Oversight, transparency, accountability, and sound risk management remain at the core of our work. I am pleased to report that UNFP has again received an unqualified audit opinion from the Board of Auditor, our 16th consecutive year. We look forward to discussing this further at the January session. We also welcome the working group's effort to implement the Joint Inspection Unit's recommendation on the governance and oversight of the executive boards, and we stand ready to support this important process. The 12 country program documents and six extensions before you this week translate our strategic plan into nationally owned priorities. They are not simply administrative documents, they are instruments of country ownership, mandate legitimacy, and executive board accountability. We support a stronger resident coordinator system and greater coherence across the United Nation country team. A stronger resident coordinator system and a strong agencies are not competing ideas. They are mutually reinforcing. We should simplify and shorten instrument where possible and eliminate duplication wherever it exists. But simplification must preserve the governance function. Coordination and governance are not the same thing. We need both. UNFPA remains fully committed to the Secretary General UN initiative and to the ambition reform across the United Nations system. The objective is not in question. A United Nation that is more coherent, more efficient, and better able to deliver. The question is, institutional arrangement, best, which institutional arrangement best achieve it. Reform should ultimately be judged not by the structures we change, but what change for people. Nothing should be protected simply because it has always existed. Institutions are instruments of service. Our mandate and the people we serve are the purpose. Our task is not to begin with an institutional conclusion. It is to begin with the outcome we want to achieve. Every option should therefore be judged against clear test. Does it safeguard and strengthen the mandates entrusted by member states? Does it preserve the field capability, expertise, commodity, humanitarian data system, and political space required to deliver them? Does it improve financing accountability and impact? Mandate without capability is a promise without the means to keep it. As requested by Executive Board, UNFPA worked with UN Women under the guidance of the Secretary General's office to produce and assess alternative options. Irrespective of the eventual institutional model, there are significant opportunities for deeper collaboration between UNFPA and UN Women, and I am committed to pursue them. As the Secretary General has underscored, at this stage, the overall direction and scale of UNAT lie in the hands of member states to determine. Any decision affecting mandates or governance must therefore proceed through the appropriate intergovernmental processes informed by credible evidence and a clear understanding of costs, benefits, and risks. You entrusted us with this mandate. You approve our strategic direction. You hold us accountable for results. Your perspective, question, and scrutiny are not peripheral to reform. They are essential to getting reform right. My commitment to this board is very simple. I will engage with an open mind. I will bring you the evidence with candor, and I will listen. I will not ask whether a proposal protects UNFPA as we know it. I will ask whether it protects and strengthens what member states created UNFPA to do, and whether it enables us to deliver better for women, girls, young people, and the entire population. On financing the road ahead, Mr. President, excellencies, thanks. Thanks to the generous support of member states and our partners, UNFPA received more than $1.4 billion in contribution in 2025, a reflection of continued confidence in our mandate, results, and accountability. Even so, the funding environment remained difficult. In 2025, core funding declined by 10%, non-core funding by 14%, and humanitarian funding by 31%, leaving many crises underfunded as needs continue to rise. We welcome the growth of flexible instruments, including thematic and pooled funds, but core resources.

Remain the foundation of UNFPA work.

They sustain our presence in more than 150 countries, support our normative mandate, enable rapid humanitarian action, drive innovation, and finance the oversight system that ensures accountability. I therefore respectfully encourage all member states to contribute to core resources, ideally through early multi-year commitment, while increasing support for our humanitarian response, including for the Humanitarian Thematic Fund and pool mechanism. To program countries, I encourage you as respectfully to continue expanding domestic investment and to work with us on financing solution that unlocks sustainable resources. Our strategic plan 26-29 is designed for this moment to accelerate the three transformative results, strengthen demographic resilience, and ensure that rights and choices remain at the center of development. Mr. President, excellencies, the women, girls, and young people we serve never see our balance sheet. They do not care about our funding architecture. They know only whether we are there when they need us. With less than five years remaining to achieve the sustainable development goal, the 2030 agenda is not an institutional deadline. It is a non-finished promise to the woman who should survive childbirth, to the girl who should live free from violence, to the young person who deserves the opportunity to shape their future, and to the country that needs reliable data to plan for generations to come. As my first board At my first board session as executive director last January, I asked, are you with us? Can I count on you? Over this first year, you have answered through your partnership, your support, and equally important, your scrutiny. Today, I offer you the same assurance. You can count on UNFPA. Together, let us ensure that reform strengthens service, that financing follows need, and that multilateralism is measured in life changed. The future will not be determined by how many we are, but what we enable each of us to become.

I thank you for your kind attention.

Thank you very much, Executive Director Kita. We will open up the floor for comments, statements from delegations. Before I do open the floor, I want to let you know that we will begin presentations, interventions with bureau members, followed by group and cross-regional statements. We will then hear from executive board members, followed by observer delegations. To the extent possible, interventions will be organized in the following order, Permanent Representatives, Deputy Permanent Representatives and expert level representatives. The sequence of speakers will be adjusted as necessary to ensure the efficient conduct of the meeting. Speaking times five minutes for group statements, three minutes for national or individual interventions, including interventions by Bureau members. There is no 30 second grace period. Microphones will be cut off. after the allotted speaking time has elapsed. As you know, the practice is for delegations to -- are encouraged to submit their full statements to e-statements@un.org for online posting. We now open the list of speakers, and I have first on the list, I have Tunisia on behalf of the African Group, to be followed by Cote d'Ivoire, Sweden, Brazil, Germany. Tunisia, please, you have the floor.

I thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, Madam Executive Director, Excellencies, distinguished delegates, I have the honor to deliver this statement on behalf of the African Group. At the outset, we thank the Executive Director for her comprehensive report and for her leadership during a period marked by unprecedented global challenges. The African group recognizes that the world is facing multiple and interconnected crises, including armed conflicts, humanitarian emergencies, and profound demographic challenges. These challenges continue to have a disproportionate impact on developing countries, particularly in Africa, where many countries are simultaneously addressing rapid population growth, urbanization, displacement, and the growing effects of climate change. Against this backdrop, We welcome UNFPA's continued commitment to placing people at the center of sustainable development. The group shares the view that investments in people, particularly women, girls, and young people, remain among the most effective investments any country can make to accelerate progress towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Agenda 2063. Mr. President, The African group welcomes the strategic focus on demographic change in the new UNFPA strategic plan. Demographic trends present different realities across countries and regions and responses must therefore remain context specific and nationally determined. For Africa, demographic change presents significant opportunities alongside important development challenges. As the continent with the world's largest and fastest growing youth population, Africa has enormous potential to realize a demographic dividend. However, this will require sustained investments in quality education, healthcare, decent employment opportunities, social protection, and the empowerment of women and girls. In this regard, we appreciate UNFPA's continued support to member states in strengthening demographic analysis, evidence-based policymaking and national planning capacities. We encourage the organization to further assist program countries in building robust national statistical systems and demographic intelligence, which are essential for informed policy decisions and long-term development planning. The group also welcomes UNFPA's efforts to harness innovation and digital technologies, including artificial intelligence, to enhance program delivery and operational efficiency. As these technologies continue to evolve, it will be important to ensure that their use is guided by principles of equity, transparency, national ownership, and capacity building so that all countries can benefit from digital transformation without widening existing development gaps. Mr. President, the African group remains deeply concerned by the scale of humanitarian needs worldwide and particularly across Africa, conflicts, climate-related disasters, disease outbreaks and forced displacement continue to place millions of women and girls at heightened risk and exposing them to increased gender-based violence and preventable maternal mortality. We commend UNFPA for maintaining its lifesaving operations despite severe operational and financial constraints. The organization's continued presence in some of the world's most difficult humanitarian settings demonstrates both its commitment and the critical importance of its mandate. However, we are seriously concerned by the continued decline in humanitarian financing at a time when humanitarian needs are expanding. We therefore reiterate our call for increased, predictable and flexible humanitarian funding to enable UNFPA to respond effectively to crises and to protect the dignity and rights of affected populations. Mr. President, the African group welcomes UNFPA continued emphasis on transparency, accountability, and effective oversight. We commend the organization for receiving an unqualified audit opinion for the 16th consecutive year, reflecting sound financial management and a strong culture of accountability. We also welcome UNFPA's constructive engagement with the implementation of the recommendations of the Joint Inspection Unit regarding governance and oversight. The group further notes with concern the decline in core resources, which remain indispensable for UNFPA to fulfill its universal normative development and humanitarian mandates. Core funding provides the flexibility required to maintain country presence, respond rapidly to emerging crises, strengthen international capacity support, innovation, and uphold accountability. I thank you, Mr. President.

I thank Tunisia for the statement on behalf of the African group. I give the floor to Cote d'Ivoire to be followed by Sweden.

Ambassador, you have the floor.

Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, Cote d'Ivoire thanks the Executive Director of UNFPA, Madame Diane Keita, for the quality of her detailed report, which we take note of. My delegation also subscribes to the statement read out by Tunisia on behalf of the African group and on a national basis, we would like to add the following, President. 32 years after the historic Cairo Conference and with four years left to reach the SDGs, the increasing number of conflicts, natural catastrophes, the debt burden continue to undermine the gains of the International Conference and Programme on Population and Development, which worsens inequalities. This is why, despite this difficult context, my country would like to welcome the gains made by UNFPA in the framework of three transformative results when it comes to reducing gender-based violence, the exploitation and abuse of women, girls and children, maternal and child mortality, and unmet family planning needs. Despite this progress, there are challenges in certain areas, especially when it comes to maternal and child mortality, the access that women have to modern contraception, and gender-based violence. With respect to this, my government has carried out structural and political reforms such as a law that ensures the right to employment and education for women, the criminalization of all violence against women, the creation of a strategy to promote equality between the sexes and women's empowerment, strengthening the healthcare system through healthcare infrastructure with an online platform and the launch of universal healthcare coverage. To these reforms we can add the multi-sectorial platform to fight against gender-based violence, a phone line to report abuse, and a program of shelters for women, Safe Home, to contribute to accelerating the decrease in maternal deaths and child marriage. We would like to pay tribute to UNFPA for its technical and financial support in the framework of the application of a modern civil state that will allow us to ensure legal identity for people and also to produce essential statistics in order to follow up on developments in our population. We also thank the fund for its effort to mitigate financial risks by strengthening resource mobilization with donors, by diversifying financing in a context characterized by a rise in humanitarian crisis. My country, to conclude, would like to reaffirm its commitment with the complete application of the ICPD, and we reiterate that we are very satisfied with UNFPA's work. They put their lives at peril to do so. I thank you, President.

I would like to thank the Ambassador of Cote d'Ivoire, and I now give the floor to Sweden, followed by Brazil.

You just have to press, please.

Microphone for Sweden, please.

Director, Sweden is a steadfast supporter of UNFPA's critical mandate and indispensable work in development and humanitarian settings. UNFPA, together with partners, contribute to deliver essential results on the ground for women, girls, young people, and persons in vulnerable situations, leaving no one behind. In today's challenging context, we must stand firm to protect and further advance our collective commitments.

And years of hard-won progress.

Multilateralism, human rights, gender equality, and sexual and reproductive health and rights are as vital as ever. Sweden appreciates the regular and harmonized structured funding dialogues and the transparent reporting that accompanies them. Sweden welcomes that UNFPA closed 2025 in a relatively good financial position despite significant challenges. We acknowledge the uncertainties regarding the future financial outlook. UNFPA's responsible budget management remains key to limit budget fluctuations. Flexible, predictable and multi-year funding is crucial. Sweden is a significant and long-standing donor of UNFPA core and non-core resources, including thematic funds. For example, last year Sweden was the largest donor of the Humanitarian Thematic Fund, and we recently made an additional contribution to the Maternal and Newborn Health Fund for UNFPA's important work with the Midwifery Accelerator. We encourage UNFPA's continued efforts to unlock additional funding through innovative financing mechanisms and domestic resource mobilization. To this end, partnerships with international financing institutions, the private sector, and partner countries is crucial. Sweden further attaches great importance to UNFPA's continuous efforts to ensure efficiency, accountability, transparency, and risk management. In closing, it is essential that UNFPA stands up for and deliver on the full scope of its mandate. Strong delivery at country level must be at the center. All women, girls, and young people that UNFPA serves deserves nothing less. In this undertaking, Sweden will remain an unwavering partner. You can count on our strong support. Thank you.

I thank Sweden for the statement. We have the following speakers on the list, Brazil, Germany, Bangladesh, New Zealand, United Kingdom, and Norway. I give a vote to Brazil, please, Ambassador.

Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, Madam Executive Director, my delegation reiterates its full support to UNFPA, which is a critical asset of the United Nations system, serving millions of people, especially women and girls, around the globe, as fully illustrated in the Executive Director's address. And Madam Director, one year into your term, I renew our firm support for you, for your leadership at UNFPA. Brazil supports systematic efforts to enhance administrative efficiency, whether under UNAD or beyond, always in order to achieve maximum delivery. As we have said in the past, full respect for the integrity of the mandates anchored in the ICPD Programme of Action, the Beijing Platform for Action and CEDAW is a condition for any future institutional configuration. I will have the opportunity to elaborate further on the issue of reform tomorrow. Madam Executive Director, as many other Member States, Brazil is concerned by the decline in core resources and the high concentration of UNFPA's donor base, particularly in light of prospects for further funding constraints during the 2026-2029 cycle. We recognize and stimulate ongoing efforts to diversify funding sources and mobilize additional domestic resources. At the same time, I am certain that you fully appreciate that increasing resources from program countries themselves must not mean doing away with predictable multilateral funding. Just as financing from international financial institutions should not replace voluntary contributions, in particular core funding, which remain essential to UNFPA's flexibility and its capacity to respond to countries' needs. In this context, we note that 93 country offices have developed 135 investment cases, 86 of which seek to increase investment by national governments. UNFPA is also exploring development impact bonds in Brazil alongside other countries. These initiatives illustrate the potential of financial innovation. I would welcome further clarification on how the transition from funding to funding and financing will take into account the very different fiscal and financial capacities of program countries. Mr. President, Madam Executive Director, my delegation remains committed to engaging constructively with the Executive Board and UFPA. I thank you.

I thank Brazil for the statement. I give the floor to Germany to be followed by Bangladesh. Germany, please, you have the floor.

Mr. President, Madam Executive Director, Excellencies, distinguished delegates, thank you for your statement and for setting out how UNFPA is responding to a rapidly changing operating environment of growing humanitarian crises, demographic shifts, fiscal pressure, technological change, and continued pushback against gender equality and sexual and reproductive health and rights. In view of these increasing challenges and the multifaceted pressures on the UN system at large, Germany strongly supports the UN 80 reform initiative, which also encompasses UN funds and programs. In this context, Germany values UNFPA's continued normative leadership and operational capacities to deliver for women, girls and young people, including in fragile and humanitarian settings. We look forward to our strategic dialogue in October to define concrete milestones for our partnership. We commend UNFPA for its transparent financial reporting and for delivering on all entity-specific commitments under the funding compact. At the same time, we are concerned by the decline in overall contributions, the 10% decrease in core resources being mentioned, and the sharp fall in humanitarian funding. These reductions are not abstract, they mean fewer services for safe childbirth, sexual and reproductive health services and protection from gender-based violence. Madam Executive Director, with 64 million women and girls of reproductive age expected who need humanitarian assistance this year, how is UNFPA prioritizing underfunded crises while safeguarding lifesaving SRHR and GBV services? We also welcome the new strategic plan's stronger focus on demographic change and data-driven support. Could you please elaborate how UNFPA will help countries translate demographic intelligence and foresight into practical policy choices while ensuring that rights and choices remain at the center? Finally, as UNFPA expands the use of digital technologies and AI, we would welcome further information on how risks and data protection are being managed. Germany remains committed to working with UNFPA and all partners to protect the rights, dignity and choices of women, girls, young people in all their diversity. Thank you very much.

I thank Germany for the statement. With a view to facilitate dialogue between Member States and the Executive Director, I would give the floor next to Bangladesh and then I will give an opportunity of the Executive Director and colleagues if needed to address some of the comments and questions and then we'll resume the list. with New Zealand, United Kingdom, Cuba, Norway. So I give the floor to Bangladesh now. Please, you have the floor.

Thank you, Mr. President. We appreciate the executive director for her comprehensive report and leadership. Mr. President, following the February 2026 elections, our government has taken a comprehensive three-R strategy. recovery, restoration, and reconstruction to revive the economy. We have started the transformative journey towards a trillion dollar economy by 2034 in line with our five year strategic framework, the UN sustainable development cooperation framework, and preparation for LTC graduation. We consider UNFPA as one of our largest development partners in this journey and we hope that UNFPA will implement their future projects in line with our national priorities. Excellencies, our dynamic young population remains essential to our development future. We encourage UNFPA to scale up financing for youth life skills, reproductive health and employability to harness this demographic dividends. Besides, as a climate vulnerable country, Bangladesh prioritizes climate resilient health system as reflected in our health national adaptation plan. We encourage UNFPA to strengthen research on links between climate change and reproductive health. Scaling up support for strengthening population and vital statistics systems remains a priority. We also encourage expanding child marriage prevention in high-risk districts and deepening GBV prevention and response in the next country program cycle. Bangladesh's graduation from the LDC category remains firmly on track. We have proposed for extended preparatory period until November 2029 to safeguard gains in maternal and reproductive health. We urge for UNFPA's sustained engagement throughout this transition. Mr. President, On the UN8 initiative, Bangladesh remains constructive but cautious. Any reform, including a possible UNFPA-UN Women merger, must be member state-led, transparent, and decided by the General Assembly while preserving UNFPA's core strengths. Bangladesh stands ready to share its.

Thank you. Thank you very much, Bangladesh. We go now to the executive director, and then we'll resume our list of speakers, please. Mrs. Kita.

Thank you very much, distinguished member of the board, for your question. I'm going to start with Tunisia and the African group. We take full note of your comments, and we are grateful for the support of the African group. And we hear as well the importance of the youth potential and double demographic dividend. Youth is the biggest bulge, but aging people are as well in the continent, in some of the country as well. We take good note of that. For the humanitarian needs and financing, we continue to mobilize, we continue to advocate the case, and we are really grateful for all our partners. Our individual giving is growing up, which is very important for us, and trying to put in place some system that will allow us to continue moving. Social protection system, quality education, and youth potential are really part of our data and demographic resilience. They are absolutely critical to ensure that future generations are taken care of. That's why during my speech when I say demography is not the destiny, policies are. So what is our strength on the continent really to work with member states to ensure that we help them, support them in presenting the the national development plan that can fit their own priorities. Thank you very much for the support and we count on everyone for the life-saving operation that we do, especially on the continent.

Thank you very much indeed, Your Excellency, Ambassador from Cote d'Ivoire, for your support for our program. Cote d'Ivoire is a country that has made significant progress in decreasing improving maternal health, and we would very much like to thank you for this. We are extremely grateful to you for your support, and despite all the sub-regional migration that is affecting Cote d'Ivoire and that is impacting education and healthcare systems, you are continuing to support.

And we appreciate support. not only in midwifery but on maternal health trust fund as well and everything that you do to make sure that no young girl suffer from anything around this planet. And delivering the full scope will continue the accelerator to work with you hand in hand to make sure that rights and choices are protected everywhere we can. And this is the time to say as well, thank you for your unwavering support for the gender diverse group because they matter more than ever. Thank you. Brazil, for your support. for your full support. I think what you said is absolutely critical. Brazil is one of our champions on demographic resilience for a very, very long time. So with you, we work on two scales. First, learning and using Brazilian intelligence to help us around the world, but as well, I work with your big institute on population, on data to ensure that programs move forward. I was lucky, I was telling you, Your Excellency, I met some of the biggest leader in Brazil last week in Montevideo. And the results are declining, but we remain hopeful. We remain hopeful why? For the simple reason that the work we do matters. Every single dime we have from your Your taxpayer money matters, and we know that's why we have such a good accountant, such a good accountability system. So I am positive that we'll make sure that you have the necessary resources we need to advance. You made a very important point on the funding and financing. And we are innovating, and all our colleagues here are trying to really make sure that we mobilize. We are even creating the last partnership we signed with the African Development Bank, it's to create a new financial mechanism on how to go on the market and mobilize resources. So how those rules work, how we work, they go hand in hand at every new system that is put in place. And I know Andrew Saboton sitting here, anytime we come with a new system, we have the money, they go through and see if that money goes with the country's legislation, they go to see if they go with the UN legislation and It is work in progress. It is work in progress. It's different from region to region, but we are grateful for your support, your unwavering support. And as we get into the coming weeks and months, we look forward to learning from all member states who are advanced in this kind of environment. And diversifying for us is critical. Private sector is critical more than ever. And private sector, I said, they make money. is good to make money, it's good to have business. And for us, what matters most as well when they do business is to make sure that they give back to society, their workforce, and to the community, their business work. So with all of the member states, we learn from you and the best practice, and we try to put them in practice. Thank you. Germany, welcome. I'm going to give the floor to my colleagues after, to Pio and to Andrew, in case I've forgotten something. So I continue my -- Germany, we are very happy to have you here, and your question is absolutely practical on demographic resilience. And demographic resilience is really the policy that we, what, that we analyze with country depending of their resources, their priority, and the reality they live in. So that's why demography by itself does not tell us. take us anywhere. But demographic linked to the environment, and that's the really clear core mandate of the UN, the people and the planet.

How do we make sure that the policy that are put in place have a difference? That is ongoing discussion with all member states at their level, because every country is different.

Even when they are near border each other, they don't have the same need at the same time.

So that as well is really.

Work in progress, and maybe this is the time to say it as well. You know, what we do at UNFPA, I always like to take UNICEF, don't mind me. When I grow up, I'll be UNICEF executive director. The fact is, you can put everything out there.

UNFPA, you can't.

What we do in GBV, what we do in demographic resilience are country-owned information.

So it is always very, there is, you will not see any.

Advocacy, anything out there on what we do because it's confidential to country. Our role is really to make sure that we respect right and choices.

And help country to define their policy and strategy.

I think it's important always to say this here, how many time partner want us to go on the field and visit some of the place. I said, nice, you'll give the money, you'll have to trust that on the result we are going to produce for you because otherwise it disturb what it is in place. But thank you for that. And we have had few years back a youth forum on right and choices. We look forward to having another one to discuss.

And our survey as well will be a good opportunity to see.

What is going on and what the young people want. And one of those key important is we want family. We want, but we need housing.

We need a stable job, et cetera, et cetera.

So depending the situation, demography policies need to be built in taking care of care economy for the young, but care economy for the older growing up as well. The Bangladesh, I will never stop to congratulate vis-a-vis the midwife, the one million midwife, because if We are all very useful. A midwife is whether midwife is a woman or man are very critical everywhere. They are the one to go to the last mile and to help save that woman who needs it and to discuss to the family. They are the one, we don't mention it, that with their cultural background help us well understand how things are going and avoid to be late. So for us, what you're doing is showcasing the strength and the importance of Bangladesh, the monsoon linked to maternal death is absolutely critical. So climate change has an incredible impact, again, in everything that we do. because sometimes you simply cannot be in a place that, you know, it's raining or the ground, the land is going forward. So thank you for your support, thank you for your trust, and we continue working on that and making sure that we can help you design the policy you want for your country. Mr. President, allow me to give the floor first to Andrew and then to P.O. so that they complement what I have not said in my speech. Thank you very much. Andrew.

Thank you very much, Edie, and thank you, Chair. I just wanted to come in and actually say in response to the question from Germany on all personal data protection matters, UNFPA has established its own internal UNFPA policy on personal data protection, which applies over all of its operations. and that subscribes to the UN principles on personal data privacy and protection on those matters. As regards AI, we ensure that all our AI tools used internally are protected in terms of data and for external use follow the UN guidance. What I can say is we are currently only using AI within our corporate system where we have guarantees that no data is retained by the provider or used for training AI models. We are further refining that strategy to elaborate on further on our risk management and responsible AI principles. And I should just say in terms of seriousness, I chair the an IT project board, an internal board within UNFPA. We have a standard agenda item on there regarding cyber security and we actually have as a member of that board an independent expert on cyber security and AI to actually give us an outside view. Thank you very much.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Edie, Mr. President, Excellencies and dear colleagues from the executive board. Maybe two points to pick up. The first on Brazil and as you rightly speak to the role that we play in terms of mobilizing domestic resources, Excellency. And of course, everything that we do is always in line with national ownership and priorities and in consideration of domestic fiscal space. But in fact, actually under our new strategic plan, we have a new output that is dedicated to making that helping make that shift from funding to funding and financing, which of course is about leveraging all streams financing from all partners under the ICPD programme of action. And I think one of the notable examples that we have is under the UNFPA supplies partnership. You know, that has driven record levels of domestic expenditure. And just in the years 2021 to 2030, spending on contraceptives has steadily increased across the programmes, 54 countries. So, you know, we have a lot of innovative examples like this that very much work in tandem with governments and where their national development plans are. Um, and maybe also then to our, uh, distinguished rep, uh, uh, DPR from, uh, Germany on the, the new output around demographic, uh, outcome rather, uh, around demographic resilience. Maybe just to say there are like four or five areas where we are tangibly working in terms of making this a reality at country level with our governments in terms of the work that we do. It's very much about helping to move from service delivery to very strategic political policy positioning. So that means helping governments beyond SRHR services, but to help anticipate demographic shifts, design forward-looking population policies linked to population trends. It's also about looking how to increase the integration of data and analytics using the various tools that we have. It's looking at that bridging of the humanitarian development nexus and how we encourage demographic insights to help understand fragility to plan for resilience. And finally, it's very much also about moving to more upstream engagement and partnership with our non-traditional partners in government. So not just the planning or the gender or the health ministries, but also our good colleagues in the ministries of finance, et cetera, so that we can move beyond health focused counterparts to more macro responses that are driven by all of government. Thank you, Dean. Thank you so much.

Thank you. We continue with the list of speakers. I give the floor to New Zealand to be followed by the United Kingdom. New Zealand, please.

Thank you, President. Madam Executive Director, New Zealand thanks you for your briefing and for your leadership of this organization and its vital work in these challenging times. We commend UNFPA for the progress achieved over the course of the strategic plan, including continued delivery against its three transformative results. in a challenging global context, this work is more important than ever. New Zealand 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 all women and girls. We also recognize the importance of robust population data and evidence to inform policy, identify vulnerabilities, and support effective responses. We welcome UNFPA's continued focus on reaching those furthest behind, including in fragile and crisis contexts, and on integrating its development and humanitarian work. We also emphasise the importance of youth and adolescent wellbeing, including meaningful participation and access to services. These issues are particularly important in the Pacific, where investing in young people is critical to long-term development outcomes. More broadly, New Zealand strongly supports the Secretary-General's UNAT reform initiative as an opportunity to advance meaningful reform. We need a UN development system that is more focused, more efficient and more coordinated, and better able to deliver for countries. For UNFPA, this includes continuing to demonstrate its comparative advantage, while working closely with other entities through coherent country-led approaches. Reform proposals must be assessed holistically, and based on clear evidence of improved effectiveness, efficiency and impact. In this regard, New Zealand has carefully considered the proposals put forward so far relating to a proposed merger of UNFPA and UN Women. While we support ambitious reform and remain open to options that strengthen coordination and delivery, we are not currently convinced there is sufficient evidence that a merger would deliver efficiency gains of a scale that would justify the risks involved. We are also concerned that merger proposals have not adequately demonstrated how the distinct normative mandates and strengths of both organisations would be preserved. We therefore welcome work that has begun on alternative reforms short of a full merger, and support further work on credible alternatives that could advance reform objectives by improving coordination, increasing efficiency, and enhancing impact, while safeguarding the mandates and comparative advantages of both organisations. Finally, New Zealand remains concerned about the challenging funding environment facing UNFPA. Core resources remain essential to UNFPA's ability to respond flexibly, reach those furthest behind, and deliver on its mandates. This is why New Zealand continues to prioritise quality core funding and encourages others to do the same. New Zealand reaffirms its strong support for UNFPA and we look forward to continuing to work together to ensure UNFPA remains effective, focused and fit for purpose in an increasingly complex environment. I thank you.

I thank New Zealand for the statement. I give the floor to the United Kingdom to be followed by Cuba and Norway. The United Kingdom, please.

Thank you, Executive Director Kita. The United Kingdom thanks UNFPA for their staff's dedication and professionalism, serving in challenging contexts and saving lives. You have our unwavering support. As UNFPA's largest donor, we strongly value its mandate and technical expertise. UNFPA's work expands access to sexual and reproductive health and rights, supports safe motherhood, and strengthens prevention and responses to gender-based violence. Its role in advancing the ICPD agenda is essential. Yet the funding outlook remains challenging. We welcome UNFPA's efforts to adapt to this, broadening its funding base while maintaining the confidence of existing partners. And we commend UNFPA's growing partnership with the private sector, philanthropy and development banks. These are helping to strengthen national capacity, improve access to affordable supplies and mobilise further domestic investment. We encourage UNFPA to build on its comparative advantage as a technical agency, supporting governments to integrate sexual and reproductive health and rights into their national health systems and incentivising domestic financing arrangements, supporting countries to transition towards self-sufficiency in their supply chains. Country ownership and sustainability are the foundation upon which international cooperation and assistance must be built. The UK welcomes the focus on organisational effectiveness reflected in the Joint Working Group report. The United Kingdom is fully committed to UN80. UNFPA has a valuable role to play in pursuing greater efficiency and coordination, including through system-wide shared services and critical common enablers, notably technology and data. These should deliver greater impact to progress the sexual and reproductive health and rights of women, girls and marginalised people. On the proposed merger of UNFPA and UN Women, there is not sufficient evidence for the UK to support a merger at this time. nor assurance that mandates will be protected. We have stood in unison with other Member States in calling for the preservation of distinct SRHR and gender equality mandates and support of the aforementioned work packages that will drive greater UN system coherence and impact. I thank you.

I thank the United Kingdom. I give the floor to Cuba to be followed by Norway. Cuba, please.

Mr. President, Madam Executive Director of UNFPA, we thank you for your excellent presentation of the reports and we ratify Cuba's staunch commitment to the mandate of the Fund and the successful implementation of our country program 2026-2030. Thanks to our collaboration with UNFPA, Cuba has been able to consolidate substantive progress in the promotion of sexual and reproductive rights, as well as move forward in the implementation of our program for the advancement of women, the family code, and the code for children, adolescents, and youth. Reaching These achievements demand of Cuba extraordinary efforts in the middle of a multidimensional war that is launched by the US against my country, which combines the threats of military aggression with economic asphyxiation and an energy siege, which prevents the normal functioning of basic services, including health, with grave impacts on the right to health and life for children, adolescents and women, including over 34,000 pregnant women that cannot have their prenatal sonograms. The rate of mortality has doubled and goes above 9.8 for 1000 births due to this policy of intimidation over 7000 containers including donations of the United Nations are stuck in ports across the Caribbean as part of the work of the UN and the office of the resident coordinator 170 shipments of basic goods have arrived to Cuba but they have not been delivered to their final destination due to the lack of fuel for over two months we have been waiting to ship 126 sexual and reproductive health kits, 20 beds and equipment for OB delivery rooms, over one million condoms and essential medications to attend births and address its complications, all of it donated by UNFPA. In this context, keeping or preserving our gains is extremely complex. The drop in important social and health indicators confirm that the blockade is real and it kills. Its consequences were directly observed during the recent visit to Cuba of the regional director of UNFPA, who we profusely thank because it was another showcase of the fund's willingness to continue supporting Cuba in very difficult moments. President, we ratify our support to UNFPA's mandate and we will follow up on relevant initiatives in the context of UNAD. We are convinced that any decision of this nature should fall upon member states and should be objectively evidence-based and grounded in a rigorous analysis of its implications. At the same time, we reiterate the need for the Fund to have sufficient, predictable and sustainable resources to fully develop its mandate. I thank you.

I thank Cuba for the statement. I have the following speakers on the list: Norway, and then I continue with observers, Kingdom of the Netherlands and Australia. I give the floor to Norway, please.

Thank you, President. I extend Norway's gratitude to UNFPA and partner organizations for your tremendous work to alleviate human suffering and uphold human rights. UNFPA's ability to deliver on the agreed transformative outcomes remains essential, namely, meeting the rising demands for family planning, ending preventable maternal deaths, and ending gender-based violence and harmful practices. More than 30 years ago in Cairo, Prime Minister of Norway at the time, Gro Harlem Brundtland, had this to say. Morality becomes hypocrisy if it means accepting mothers suffering or dying in connection with unwanted pregnancies and illegal abortions, and unwanted children living in misery. Yet, this is what is taking place. We cannot accept that the rights of women, girls, and LGBTQI people are undermined. Norway is seeking partnerships and alliances with those that wish to protect SRHR. We expect UNFPA to hold the SRHR banner high. We expect UNFPA to lead in upholding its normative mandate and delivering for the most vulnerable. Humanitarian needs have increased drastically in the past five years. We are deeply concerned about ongoing humanitarian crises, which seriously hinder access to SRHR services. UNFPA's humanitarian work is critical for providing protection against sexual and gender-based violence. and access to response services that meet the needs and priorities of survivors. Norway urges UNFPA to keep member states informed of the measures taken to adapt its humanitarian operating model in response to the evolving funding environment. UNFPA entered the 2026 to 2029 strategic plan period with a more challenging funding outlook than previously anticipated. Norway remains concerned about the decline in contributions. Unearmarked, flexible, sustainable and predictable funding to UN agencies is key to deliver on mandates, the SDGs, and to ensure strong internal oversight systems. We urge member states to increase funding to UNFPA, especially core funding. However, facing a decline in core contributions, Norway urges UNFPA to clarify how it will protect core functions and present clearly which thematic and geographic priorities the agency has. We highly appreciate the dedication and professionalism of UNFPA's leadership and staff who continue to deliver on sexual and reproductive health in highly complex settings. In a time of global setbacks on women's rights and challenges moving towards a complete overhaul of the UN family, we encourage the UNFPA leadership to keep member states informed about risks, efficiency gains, and most importantly, about the results of the work of UNFPA. Thank you.

I thank Norway for the statement. I give the floor now to the Ambassador of the Netherlands, to be followed by Australia. Ambassador, please. If you could just press, please press.

Okay. Thank you, Mr. President and Executive Director Kita. Please allow me to make three points and ask one question. First, the Kingdom of the Netherlands reaffirms its strong support for UNFPA and its vital role in advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights around the world. We believe that every woman and girl should have the opportunity to make decisions about her own health and future. Yet for many, conflict, poverty, discrimination and other barriers make sexual and reproductive health care difficult to access. That is why we value UNFPA's work. Its expertise, local presence and ability to strengthen the capacity of countries to reach people in challenging circumstances make real difference to the health and well-being of women, girls and their communities. And this brings me to my second point. We are concerned about the continued decline in core funding. Predictable and flexible core resources are essential for UNFPA to fulfil its mandate, respond to emerging needs and maintain its normative role. We have therefore decided to increase our multiannual core contribution this year to 36 million euros. We hope this 24% increase will also encourage others to maintain or increase their support to UNFPA. At the same time, we support UNFPA's efforts to diversify its funding base. We see considerable potential in leveraging additional resources through innovative financing, stronger investment cases and partnerships with IFIs and vertical funds. However, these approaches should complement, not replace core funding. And third and finally, we want to stress the importance of both UNAD and UNFPA's own reforms. We are concerned about the risks a merger could pose to the mandates of both entities and operational continuity. We are therefore not in a position to support the merger as presented in the assessment report. Instead, we encourage UNFPA and UN Women to pursue the alternatives identified. And that brings me to my question on internal reforms. We would like to ask how UNFPA sees the business model review moving forward in the coming year. Thank you.

I thank the Netherlands for the statement. I have Australia and then European Union and then Belgium. I give the floor to Australia, please. You have the floor.

Thank you, President, and Executive Director Keiter for your leadership and briefing. I think I'm still waiting. Thank you, President and Executive Director, Keita, for your leadership and briefing. Australia remains a steadfast supporter of UNFPA's critical role in advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights, gender equality, and supporting the dignity and agency of all people to make informed decisions about their bodies and lives. This includes UNFPA's important work across the Indo-Pacific, particularly in fragile small island developing states. UNFPA's contribution to strengthening resilient and inclusive health systems, building preparedness for future shocks, and delivering essential services during crisis is especially important in our region. I'd like to make four key points. First, we thank UNFPA and UN Women for collaborating closely on the preparation of further analysis regarding the proposed merger and alternate options. We underscore the importance of providing timely information and encourage continued joined up work to respond to member states' requests for clarity as the UN 80 reform agenda progresses. Second, Australia remains firmly committed to sexual and reproductive health and rights as universal human rights. These rights are not contingent upon status, circumstance, or membership of any group. They are derived from the inherent principles of dignity, equality, and non-discrimination. We continue to support UNFPA's mandate guided by the program of action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the commitment to leave no one behind. Third, we welcome the structured funding dialogue and its assessment of UNFPA's funding environment. We remain concerned that core funding has fallen to $340 million and continues to sit below the funding compact benchmark. Australia remains committed to flexible and predictable core funding, recognising its importance in enabling UNFPA to reform, innovate and respond to crises and emerging issues. Finally, as we advance reforms, Australia supports UNFPA's efforts to streamline business processes and strengthen organizational effectiveness. These processes should be efficient, fit for purpose, and support UNFPA and its implementing partners to deliver results as effectively as possible. This includes enhancing funding certainty for partners, multi-year planning and contracting, and maximum flexibility. We also welcome progress in strengthening supply chains and last mile delivery systems to help ensure people can access the health commodities they need to protect their health and realize their rights. Thank you very much.

I thank Australia for the statement. I give the floor to the European Union to be followed by Belgium. Ambassador, you have the floor, please.

Mr President, Madam Executive Director, colleagues, I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union as a donor. The European Union remains a strong supporter of UNFPA and of its unique mandate, both politically and financially. We highly value UNFPA's leadership in advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights, promoting gender equality, and addressing the needs of women and girls in all settings, including the most fragile and crisis-affected contexts. We commend UNFPA's leadership in providing comprehensive sexuality education, safe abortion care, and championing universal access to SRHR. as well as its critical role in last mile supply chain delivery, even in the most challenging humanitarian contexts. We also applaud the progress achieved despite growing global setbacks, especially in humanitarian settings. As discussions on UNAD advance, we welcome UNFPA's contribution to a more efficient, coherent, and fit for purpose UN development system. We encourage continued simplification of processes, reduced fragmentation and sharper prioritization. We also encourage further work on both the merger scenario and on alternative options to enhance alignment, impact and efficiency with UN Women, with the ambition of identifying the most effective institutional arrangements to deliver greater efficiency, coherence and impact, while fully safeguarding the existing mandates and the objective of gender equality and the advancement of the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights by all women and girls and their empowerment. We encourage continued efforts to translate reform into stronger country level delivery, better coordination with UN country teams and an even clearer role for UNFPA, including in humanitarian contexts and supply chains. And we encourage UNFPA to continue engaging transparently with member states and donors on reform efforts as you have been doing. The EU also looks forward to continuing our close partnership with UNFPA in support of women and girls everywhere. And I thank you.

I thank the European Union for the statement. I give the floor to Belgium to be followed by Portugal and then Spain. Belgium, please, you have the floor. Could you please just press the microphone and then it will be activated. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, Madam Executive Director, Belgium remains a strong supporter of sexual and reproductive health and rights, gender equality, and the empowerment of women and girls. We encourage UNFPA to continue exercising leadership in advancing the ICPD program of action and defending the rights and choices of all individuals. Belgium supports the objectives of the UNAT initiative and remains committed to engaging constructively in efforts to strengthen the effectiveness, efficiency and coherence of the United Nations system. In this context, we would like to acknowledge UNFPA's constructive engagement throughout reform discussions. We particularly appreciate the open and pragmatic manner in which UNFPA has approached the options under consideration, including a possible merger scenario. At the same time, Belgium believes that reform is a means, not an end. The objective is not to reform for the sake of reform, but a stronger UN able to deliver better results for those it serves. In that regard, several of non-structural options identified in the reports offer immediate opportunities for progress. Enhanced collaboration on GBV and ending violence against women and girls, stronger SDG5 data partnerships, improved governance coordination, and greater operational interoperability could generate tangible benefits in the near term. We encourage continued exploration of these and other innovative approaches that may help address existing challenges, including options not yet fully reflected in the current reports. The UN points to the creation of UN Women as evidence that institutional reform can preserve mandates while increasing impact. While that experience offers valuable lessons, the context today is different. Important questions remain and broad support among member states for major structural change has yet to emerge. We therefore believe that any future decision must be guided by evidence, demonstrate clear added value, and command the confidence of member states, the organization's concerns, and civil society partners. Rather than rushing towards structural decisions, we should continue engaging with all stakeholders to determine whether such changes would genuinely strengthen our collective effectiveness. Reform also comes at a cost. At a time when flexible resources are under pressure, maintaining the trust of both donors and program countries is essential. This makes sustained consultation and engagement all the more important. We commend UNFPA for continuing to deliver on its core mission throughout this process. The considerable time and effort devoted to reform discussions has not come at the expense of immediate implementations. On the contrary, UNFPA has demonstrated.

I thank Belgium for the statement. I give the floor to Portugal, to be followed by Spain, then Mexico, and then El Salvador. Portugal, please, you have the floor.

Thank you, Mr. President. I commend the Executive Director for her statement and commends Ms. Diane Keitha for her strong leadership and strategic vision at a defining moment for both UNFPA and the multilateral system. Portugal recognizes and is committed to ensuring that the organization remains agile, effective, and firmly focused on delivering results where they are needed most. As the world faces a growing convergence of geopolitical tensions, humanitarian crises, demographic shifts, inequalities, and pressures on the rights of women and girls, Portugal believes that UNFPA has never been more relevant. At a time when the multilateralism system is under increasing strain, UNFPA's normative leadership, technical expertise and operational capacity make it an essential partner in helping countries build more resilient, inclusive and sustainable societies. Against this backdrop, Portugal welcomes UNFPA's continued focus on delivering results and strengthening resilience while highlighting the transformative impact of empowering women and girls. Advancing the rights and opportunities is not only a human rights imperative, it also contributes to stronger societies, more resilient economies and sustainable development, benefiting society as a whole. As the UN AT initiative moves into its implementation phase, Portugal believes that a stronger, more coherent and more efficient United Nations should build on the respective strengths, comparative advantages and complementarities of its specialized entities. In this context, it will be important to ensure that the reform process preserves the technical expertise, normative leadership, operational capacity and trusted partnerships that organizations such as UNFPA bring to the UN system, while ensuring effective coordination and complementarity across the wider UN architecture. I thank you.

I thank Portugal for the statement. I give the floor to Spain to be followed by Mexico. Spain, please.

Thank you. President Spain would like to thank the Executive Director as well as all of UNFPA's team for this dialogue. We would like to reiterate our strong support for the fund and our mandate. And we're doing this in a moment that is very complex due to growing financial restrictions as well as due to wearing rollbacks when it comes to gender and the rights of women and girls. Spain especially values your leadership when it comes to promoting health and sexual and reproductive rights, prevention and responses in the face of gender-based violence and other negative practices, as well as its work on demographics and data are key to move forward when it comes to human rights and sustainable development, and they are also fundamental priorities of our feminist cooperation. Our commitment is also reflected in the strategic relationship that we have built with the Fund. The recent signature of the Strategic Association Plan reaffirms our shared priorities and showcases our willingness to continue strengthening this partnership along with our commitment to predictable, flexible and quality financing. Madam Executive Director, I would like to also refer to UNADi and specifically the debate on the future of UN Women and UNFPA. Spain firmly supports UNADi and we share the goal of moving towards a United Nations that are more effective, coherent and capable of achieving better results. But we also consider that any structural reform should be evidence-based, it should be solid, it should fully preserve mandates agreed by Member States and should show a clear added value. In this regard, we welcome the work done through recent deliberations in Executive Boards, as well as the introduction of the report on alternative options. This analysis offers a promising pathway to strengthen the cooperation between UNFPA and UN Women by better integrating country-wide actions, joint work to address gender-based violence, and better cooperation when it comes to data and on SDG number five and progress in interoperability and shared services. Spain considers that it is a priority to delve into these options before we move toward institutional reforms. The mandates of UNFPA and UN Women are complementary, but they cannot substitute each other and they cannot be interchanged. It's about strengthening our mandates, not weakening them, especially when it comes to gender equality and sexual and reproductive health, especially when it comes to supporting for vulnerable groups. Madam Executive Director, you can count on Spain as a committed partner for UNFPA, as well as support for its mandate and all the rights that we are called upon to protect and improve. I thank you.

I thank Spain for the statement. Part of the conversation, of course, will be continued tomorrow. We have a dedicated session on UNAD and more details will be exchanged between the entities and member states tomorrow morning. I have Mexico, El Salvador, France, Guatemala, Dominican Republic. I give the floor to Mexico, please.

Thank you, President and Madam Executive Director. We would also like to congratulate you for your work. Mexico recognizes UNFPA's work to promote gender equality as well as sexual and reproductive health and rights and sustainable development. We would like to highlight the extraordinary work that the fund has done in our country, where it works with different sectors in order to make sure that every pregnancy in Mexico is a wanted one, that each birth is safe, and that each young person can reach their full potential. Among different high impact actions in the framework of our collaboration with UNFPA in Mexico, we strengthened actions in our national strategy to prevent teen pregnancies, and we developed the project Safe Teen First in order to promote comprehensive sexual education and prevent teen pregnancies. In the framework of our population mandate, the fund works hand in glove with the Mexican state to strengthen our capacities to improve our forensic analysis with excellent results. Mexico recognizes that UNFPA works in an international context that is especially complex, characterized by growing challenges for health and sexual and reproductive rights, as well as gender equality and human rights, as well as considerable demographic changes. My country is concerned that the fund requires a billion dollars to reach 34 million people, mostly women, adolescents and girls in 43 countries, and that it is far from reaching the required despite the fact that the year is more than halfway over. In this sense, we recognize the fund's efforts to raise funding and innovate. This includes the strategic use of AI. We praise these advances and we would like to know more, Madam Executive Director, about the risks and benefits of AI. of incorporating AI. What could this mean? We also value your efforts to catalyze innovative national financing mechanisms as well as partnerships with IFIs, the private sector, and philanthropy. For Mexico, preserving the specialized work of UNFPA is critical. We recognize that in its current structure, UNFPA's mandate should be preserved and strengthened. In a latter segment, Mexico will refer to the merger project and alternatives in the framework of UNAD. Madam Executive Director, we value the support and coordination offered by your agency to my country and the results on the ground. At the end of the day, that's why we're here for, to generate results. And you can count on Mexico to work, to strengthen the work of the fund. I thank you.

I thank Mexico for the statement. I give the floor to El Salvador to be followed by France. El Salvador, please.

Gracias.

Thank you, President. Madam Executive Director, first El Salvador would like to once again recognize UNFPA's role as a leading implementer in interventions that prioritize attention to different population groups with the goal of contributing to improving their quality of life, reducing inequalities, and ensuring access to services and other resources that ensure a decent life for them. Recently, El Salvador participated in the sixth region of the regional conference on Population and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean, which was held in Montevideo, where delegations had the opportunity to deliberate on aspects related to demographic changes in the region, as well as transformations that require public policies that constantly evolve in order to adapt to their more pressing needs. My delegation would like to reiterate its commitment to addressing and working with key population groups, among them people with disabilities, older adults who require comprehensive efforts that are focused on their specific needs and that are able to adapt to the context where they live. And we thus welcome current efforts underway between the government of El Salvador and UNFPA to consolidate a new country program for 2027-2031. We are sure that this will strengthen our national actions around priority issues, amplifying our results and creating impact in the lives of different population groups throughout our territory. And in line with the latter, we would like to welcome the work of UNFPA's country office in El Salvador and our representative, Mr. Marcus Behrend and his team, as well as the work of the regional office, which is led by Ms. Paula Narvaez. I would like to conclude my statement by underlining the importance of UNFPA mandate due to its specific and specialized character. Its contribution cannot be replaced by any other agency within the UN system. when we seek efficiencies in the organization and UNFPA in particular should be geared towards improving coordination and amplifying the impact of our interventions. Therefore, we echo the call that we already made in June during our annual session so that UNFPA's mandate is preserved and respected, especially in the context of current reforms through UNAD. I thank you.

Thank El Salvador for the statement. I give the floor now to France, to be followed by Guatemala.

Mr. President, Executive Director, dear colleagues, first of all, I'd like to thank the Executive Director for your presentation. France reiterates its full support for the UNFPA. As we're well aware, UNFPA is at the front lines of protecting sexual and reproductive health rights. Its work is crucial. to ensure that women can take decisions freely regarding their sexual and reproductive health, that they can have access to their choice of contraception and to avoid the deaths of hundreds of them every day when they decide to give birth. That is why France has dedicated 80 million euros to women's healthcare access and sexual reproductive health rights to improve the supply chain and to improve services. And UNFPA's expertise in this area is to be commended. Its humanitarian work helps it work with displaced persons and refugees in Iran, in Jordan, in Palestine, in Sudan, in Ukraine. Our support for UNFPA is a major priority of our pro-women policy. We are working with UNFPA to combat impunity for gender-based violence and to provide sanitary products for displaced persons, to provide psychological and social help to women throughout the world. Through our fund, we also provide obstetric and neonatal assistance to mothers and children in Africa. 2026, we will continue our support for the work on the ground of UNFPA in the DRC, in Jordan and in Sudan to the tune of 1.5 million euros. The reform context means that we have to make our system more effective to help women, girls and different peoples. In this current context of questioning progress that has been made, we are aware of any changes made to UNFPA's mandate. We appreciate the various different scenarios that have been laid out for the agencies and UNFPA backed up by figures. UNFPA, France would encourage UNFPA to continue its efforts to change this. It would invite UNFPA to highlight which resources can be targeted here. Today and tomorrow, France will continue to stand beside you, Madam Executive Director, to ensure all of your mandates are fully implemented. I thank you.

I thank France for its statement and I give the floor to Guatemala. followed by the Dominican Republic. Guatemala, you have the floor.

Muy buenos dias.

Very good morning to all. Thank you very much, Mr. President. Thank you, Executive Director. Guatemala would like to thank you for the report that you introduced, and we recognize the precious support that your agency has provided to my country for decades. We especially value your contribution to strengthening our national capacities when it comes to maternal health, teenage pregnancy prevention, population data, and the promotion of opportunities for women, adolescents, and youth, especially in vulnerable communities and Guatemala has supported these communities for decades in an international context that is characterized by important demographic changes as well as economic and social transformations, we consider that it is especially relevant to uphold UNFPA's role in order to help countries understand these changes and translate evidence into public policies. We also consider that any reform process should strengthen the effectiveness of the United Nations system, preserving its mandate, technical expertise and the added value of UNFPA. We reiterate our gratitude for the support provided to Guatemala as well as our commitment to continue strengthening the strategic cooperation that is always included in our development plan in Guatemala. Thank you so very much.

I thank Guatemala for the statement. I give the floor to the Dominican Republic.

Mr. President, Madam Executive Director, distinguished colleagues, we would like to thank the Executive Director of UNFPA for the report she introduced. We would like to praise UNFPA for its leadership when it comes to demographic intelligence and the strategic use of AI to accelerate impact. This allows states to navigate through demographic changes and improve health and reduce poverty through planning that preserves rights as well as options. We would encourage continuing to support the strengthening of national statistical systems with disaggregated, inclusive and accessible data. We recognize UNFPA's commitment to reforming the development system, and we underline the importance of preserving its technical capacities as well as its operational presence in countries, especially in least developed countries, small island states and conflict settings where their experience cannot be substituted. We would like to thank you for revising the document with options and we value your efforts to address concerns raised by Member States. We consider that the mandates of UN Women and UNFPA are complementary. They cannot be replaced. They are not interchangeable. That complementarity needs to be preserved regardless of whatever scenario we adopt. We value the support provided to the Dominican Republic through our seventh country program. especially its technical contribution to reduce in a sustained fashion teenage pregnancies which has dropped over 50% in the last five years and the strengthening of our national statistical system. This trajectory shows the specific value of UN's operational presence which we just highlighted. In the future we would like to know how UNFPA will sustain its humanitarian presence given the financing gap that it is currently facing and we would like to thank the Executive Director and her team for their leadership and we reiterate our support to them. I thank you.

I thank the Dominican Republic for the statement. I give the floor to Canada to be followed by, we'll let you know. Ambassador of Canada, please you have the floor.

In implementing all funding compact 2.0 commitments. Canada strongly supports the UNAD initiative and the Secretary

General's broader reform agenda and supports evidence-based UN reforms that strengthen delivery, accountability, coherence and results across the UN system.

With respect to the proposed.

UNFPA and UN Women merger, the information provided to date does not currently meet the thresholds of sufficient.

Evidence, financial rigor, or risk management required for Canada to support a merger of these two entities at this time. Canada looks forward to continued engagement with both entities, fellow member states, civil society.

And UN senior leadership to further examine alternative options and advance discussions on the most effective path forward.

Thank you.

I thank Canada for the statement. We have no other requests for the floor for the time being, I think. If someone wants to step in after, we'll do that after the executive director and colleagues will address the questions and comments from member states. Please, executive director, you have the floor.

Thank you, Mr. President. And I thank all the distinguished members of the board and excellencies for their comment, question, and support. And let me start, I hope I'm on the right. I think the first country that spoke was distinguished delegate from Cuba. Cuba, thank you very much for your comments, and we appreciate the partnership that we have together and the work that we do as a country team in the action plan and to deliver critical aid to restore the health services. after recent energy crisis. And as well, it was my privilege and honor to meet with the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs during the Montevideo Consensus and talk more about what we do together. So we appreciate your support. Norway. Thank you for your support. Thank you for your support and being our core largest donor in 2026. And we delivering for the most vulnerable is exactly what we do. We try to do every single place. That's why the support and the core resources are absolutely critical in the work we do. We appreciate not only your partnership, but both the political and financial. And going to Norway earlier this year, it allowed me to speak to parliament, which for me is very important when I'm in countries because what we work with apart from the private sector institutional financing organization is taxpayer money. So talking to your parliament is absolutely critical for us as well as to civil society and young people as well. New Zealand, thank you for your comment and your support. It's, and for the work we do together for you, and for Australia, we know how much small island countries are important, as much as the big ones. It was a particular honor for me to be with New Zealand for health facility in the Caribbean communities, and as well on where women empowerment is happening in collaboration with other agencies like UN Women, UNICEF, and UNDP, the CDF, for instance, to be working all together, UNFP working on the health centers where UN Women was working on the economic empowerment and UNCDF of UNDP on the capital. And I think that's the kind of thing as well on the ground we do together as UN sister agency. We appreciate the funding. We appreciate all the support you are giving to us. Thank you for that. Netherlands, thank you for your continued support. Thank you for increasing our budget. And it's always a very good news after the meeting in Spain and the feminist foreign policy meeting. It was important to that discussion to meet with your delegation there and to continue that dialogue. I said in my opening speech that I value your partnership to all members, but what I value most, and you are all doing that, is your scrutiny. You never hesitate. You are even more kinder in this room than when it is the one and one. And that's why probably make you trust what we do because you are being as transparent as we can to all of you. So we appreciate that very much. So thank you, Ville. I'm being lost in my papers, but I'm going to get there. United Kingdom, thank you so much for emphasizing our unique technical capacity and what we deliver on SRHR. It's so, so critical and on supply and data. You know, we speak always about rights. Right, because right are social, right are security, right are being a human potential first and foremost. And thank you for that. Thank you for being one of our biggest contributor on supply. Just like some, the Netherlands and France, we appreciate that support very much. So, and the data, we will continue to work hard. We will continue to pitch with all of you the necessity for core funding, but we are very grateful for everything that we're receiving currently. Germany. Thank you. I don't know if I have replied to Germany first or I'm going back. I did Germany. Okay. Thank you. So Germany is out of my way for this time. Until next. But Germany, allow me, since I pitched your name again, for the assistance as other country that you're giving us, France as well, on giving, providing us with, in turn, with people to help us do our job. Because when resources diminish, it's good to have staff coming to help us do the work. So much, much appreciated. Australia, thank you so much for your support and continuous leadership. It was extremely important for us to be in Women Deliver in your country because it helped us meet not only with officials of the government, but it helped us meet as well with parliament and civil society. And I think that was extremely important.

And it helped us as well.

Meet with your senior retiree on health services, on obstetric fistula repair, who we can use around the world to make sure that we continue to deliver what we do in trying to save as much money we can with the resources we have already. We are very grateful to all your assistance for the core funding, et cetera. And leave no one behind is a, it's very difficult. Because leave no one behind is so different from the countries. It's so different from where we stand. The younger somewhere, for the minority in some countries make such a difference in what we do. So we appreciate that. We appreciate your support you gave us to not only into the seeds and the Pacific Island, but throughout the world and our humanitarian film essentially.

Portugal.

Portugal, we appreciate your comment, we appreciate your congratulatory note, and we appreciate most of all for you and hosting the midwifery conference. It was important, one million more midwives, and we had the women, we had the men, and we had all those who make a difference in every single day life. Going to the last mile is not an easy feat, and doing that, we can do it thanks to all our donors. We appreciate that support very much so. Belgium, thank you for the engagement. We appreciate our collaboration. We appreciate everything that we do together and your question to ensure that we are on the right track. We are working with the right community and we are respecting rights and choices. Structural change, you know, we are tomorrow we'll have a dialogue on the UNAD so we go in deep depending on those situations. But for us, what matters most is the people we serve. What multilateralism for us is what we can achieve with the resources we have. And for that, we are grateful for your continuous support and constructive engagement with us. Mexico, thank you for your support. We appreciate the collaboration we have with you. We have a very specific way of working, including the forensic work we do together, and that's what we do, and we don't -- we cannot talk about it. We don't make any advocacy about it because what we do in country are very specific to every country, and definitely, definitely onto the country ownership and sovereignty. So we are proud to continue doing that work. And El Salvador, as well, for the national census that you have undertaken. It's so important, those data work and the population projection that we are here to support, continue to support, and our team on the ground continue to do exactly that. So for all Latin American Caribbean countries, thank you for what you did in Montevideo. I think it's one of the most progressive work that exists in population development. We are happy that you stand strong on what you do.

Uh, Canada, um, thank you so much Canada for your comment and for being here. It's a pleasure to see you here.

Responsibility on everything that we do. We appreciate your strong support and your question and scrutiny. I'm so grateful to all of you when you ask us what is in there, and we have tried throughout the past month to try to respond to you honestly, sincerely to all of you, starting with our president, because I think that's what needs to be recognized as well. Thank you. We'll continue to deliver. We'll continue to do exactly what Canada has helped us to do. are strong today in demographic resilience, in vital statistics and civil registry is thanks to Canada as well. So thank you for that. Thank you so much for that.

France, thank you. Thank you for the 80 million for supplies. It's absolutely crucial to what we do. It saves lives. right up until the last line and that is where it is happening when there's no one else there and we really appreciate your support for our mandate for the difficult issues of rights and choices and human lives and we continue to bank on your support in all these issues and in particular in those countries that have the most the biggest humanitarian crisis. Thank you so much, Spain.

And your support, your increasing our budget in this very difficult time. We are very grateful to that. And thank you so much for sharing with us your new policy, feminist policy that we received from the Minister of Foreign Affairs a few days back, and look forward to continue our work together with you. The Netherlands I think I said the Netherlands already, right?

Yeah.

Have I forgotten one country? Mexico, Guatemala, Cuba, Portugal, Belgium, Australia, Norway. Colleagues, while I try, Excellency, to find my paper and see if I'm not forgetting anything, let me give the floor to Andrew to speak up on some of the issues that were mentioned by some of the delegates.

Andrew, please.

Thank you, Executive Director. And I just want to return, distinguished members, to a couple of the areas where you asked for more information. In response to the Netherlands, wanted to know an update on the status of the business model review, the BMR. As you know, the BMR was launched in May 2025. It was an internal exercise with a number of work streams that were all intent on making sure we were more fit for the future and that we could deliver effectively, efficiently, and at scale for women and girls in every context, specifically delivering on our ambitious strategic plan and maximizing country office impact. Now, three of those specific work streams were actually put on pause pending the outcome of the UNAT merger assessments and subsequent member state guidance. That included the country office configuration, the optimization of headquarter presence, and the regional office configuration. However, under the leadership of the two DEDs, we are continuing to work on five specific, continuing our work on five other specific streams of the BMR, which are about defining technical and program support models, integrating humanitarian and development action within overall programming, developing an updated model for management and operations, and reshaping headquarter and regional office functional roles, and finally establishing principles for UNFPA engagement in middle-income countries. So those five work streams were considered significantly important that we would carry on regardless of the outcomes of UN80, and we expect to deliver on those by the end of the year. Yeah. In response, and I'm afraid I can only give a short answer to the response to the question or inquiry from Mexico on really on the benefits and risks of AI because it's a very, could be a very long conversation. But frankly, if we start with the benefits, well, just pick off three of them, enhancing individual productivity and AI enabled tools have been available to all staff UNFPA since early 2023 with fully integrated productivity solutions actually now in place. The organization's heavily invested in workforce training to ensure staff can effectively use these technologies. And actually, according to our own internal surveys, over 84% of personnel of UNFPA now use AI productivity tools regularly. That's in their daily work And I think I can actually say that UNFPA is probably the widest take up of AI of any other UN system organization. We were there first and are expanding the use. So that's the so enhancing individual productivity. Secondly, we're strengthening knowledge management by enhancing systems with AI supported document classification, tagging, intelligence search and summarization. For example, we have a knowledge agent and an evaluation assistant now, which is leveraging AI in the areas of the evaluation work. And of course, most importantly, we are using AI to improve the delivery and impact across UNFPA programs. We're using at the front end very much so that our IT work is not just about support services anymore, but it's about making sure we do better, more impactful delivery examples. would include from training, midwifery training in some countries is now done with AI and BRC with the census gathering censuses and technology there and population analysis that comes from that. So on the demographic resilience outcome, this is actually surely going to be a game changer in using AI with that. In terms of the risks, we are committed, as I mentioned earlier in response to the inquiry from Germany, we're committed to responsible AI governance and risk management, essentially at two levels, shaping global AI policy. So we're actively engaged in contributing to the development of ethical AI frameworks and standards at the global level, but also managing internal AI risks. So we ensure that our AI systems are ring fenced, with firm policies around using internal data to train publicly available models. And AI solutions are built on the principle of transparency, explainability and source referencing, ensuring AI generated insights remain accountable and verifiable. And perhaps just in closing, I should always say that AI works in conjunction with the human at the end of the day, it doesn't replace it. So we maintain full accountability. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Andrew. Uh, Maxima, Maxima mea culpa para Dominican Republic, EU, and EU, uh, thank you for your support. There is no other way. Thank you for your support and the work we do together on the ground. Thank you for sitting by in your representation in some of the most difficult place around the world with our office and working hand in hand. But thank you as well in this UN reform time when we talk about supply, we just mentioned supply here for inviting us, keeping UNFPA involved in supply commodities discussion. Because we have medical commodities, they need to get to the last mile in certain condition in a certain way. They cannot not be simply mixed with the rest of it. So we are very, very grateful and very grateful as well for everything that we do together that nobody wants to talk about it. And yet we have to do it. Comprehensive sexuality education, whatever you want to call it. safe UNFP does not do any abortion anyway but country who are allowing it to to help them put in the right condition to do the things that's what unfp Monday we work with countries we work government and European Union thank you really for stepping up as a as a donor to help us uh try to fulfill our mandate and our difficult work everywhere we are still in negotiation for us for joint mission around the globe to see what we can produce together. Dominican Republic, thank for your courage, thank for the policy against child pregnancy, thank you for all the work you do, just like the other country in the region, congratulation for the Montevideo Consensus. I'm always very impressed despite the fragmented world and the difficulty today that a region like the Latin America and the Caribbean, you stand tall for what matter most for you, your people, whether they are young or aging. So well done for that. Muchisima gracias and And France, just as said for Norway, for Germany, merci aussi pour les personnes que vous nous mettez a disposition.

And the people that you put at our disposition in this moment of resource strain.

I'm just a human.

Try to see if I forgot someone. Everybody matters.

Thank you, Ed. Mr. President, I won't dare say that my boss forgot something. I will augment what you've already said, Dina, maybe two things. In response to the delegate from Norway and how we are prioritizing our work amidst the climate of, you know, concerning a decline in core resources, and of course we are taking this extremely serious, it's also happening in the context of our new strategic plan, which comes with a huge amount of ambition, but also a huge amount of, you know, political dynamics that are happening across the multilateral system. And it's calling on us as a system and as an agency to actually respond in a very agile new way to be able to insulate the program from these shocks, which is why we're actually revamping the whole approach in terms of how we are looking at our results under what will be a new program effectiveness review that we will institute within the organization under the leadership of our ED. And really that's about ensuring that our resources, that's not just humans, but also very much our political capital, our financial resources, that they're very much focused on the places and the populations that are most high risk and the highest burden. And that will become an annual opportunity for the organization to examine the evidence, to challenge the assumptions, also to make real time decisions based on the emerging risks that we see and ensure that the work that we do, both on SRHR, but also the broader work around demographic resilience, demographic, responding to demographic changes, they're two sides of the one coin. We want to ensure that our responses in country respond to that. Um, maybe also on the, uh, you know, the, the points that were made, uh, to augment on what, uh, Andrew said around the, the AI from the, the program perspective, you know, our ED in her, in her opening remarks spoke about the innovations work that we are doing around the women X collective, the equity alliance, the, uh, the Equalizer Accelerator Fund, and that allows us to actually try out, to trial work around supporting programs through AI. And of course, it has to be transparent and verifiable and accountable. And we're seeing some of those real-time improvements in our programmatic work. In our work in India, for example, a woman living with HIV can now access advanced cervical cancer screening in a setting where such services were previously non-existent. Now it's powered by AI powered speculum and she can receive same day life saving care. So there is actually a very much a strong programmatic link to that work we do around AI both internally and the programmatic piece. And then, Diana, maybe a final word on the Dominican Republic who spoke, you know, obviously about the work we do around And just to say that we are strengthening the primary healthcare support and the systems that we're doing at the border provinces, um, particularly in Pedernales, Elías Piña and Dajabón. and working alongside local authorities to try and reinforce those institutions and ensure that the essential services are reaching those who need it in terms of the prevention of GBV and ensuring that the most vulnerable populations along those geographies are having full access to services. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Mr. President, I'm going to give you back the floor right now. Just to mention for all countries here, when I talk about gender diverse population, the disability person living with disability absolutely critical. They're critical in Asia, they're critical in Eastern and Eastern Europe and Central Asia and Latin America.

And everywhere where we have fertility issues.

At whatever level, care economy, social protection are absolutely critical for those populations as well. So I really want to recognize all the countries in their policy, demographic policy that are taking care of those questions. And last point, just a blink of an eye to a colleague's retiree during the Venezuela earthquake, colleagues of us who retired there. their home country to come and help the work we do every single day on the ground. That's what UNHCR does as well. We never let go our retirees. They remain, whether they are from Finland or from Venezuela, they are always a door nearby to come and help. Thank you, Mr. President.

Thank you. We still have Member States requesting for the floor. I have China on my list. If anyone else wants to react after these inputs from the executive director and colleagues, please, uh, let us know. Without further ado, I give the floor to China, please, Ambassador.

I thank executive director Keita for her briefing. China supports the UNFPA firmly implementing its mandate, the ICPD Programme of Action and the Strategic Plan for 2026-2029 under a complex external environment. Let me make the following three points. First, focusing on the core mandate and strengthening country-level implementation. As developing countries today continue to face challenges, in areas like sexual and reproductive health, gender equality and the protection of women and girls, there is urgent need for UNFPA to scale up its development and humanitarian support. China counts on UNFPA focusing on its core mandate, upholding national leadership and ownership, and implementing country programs in light of national realities and priorities, so as to better support developing countries implementing the 2030 agenda. Second, leveraging professional strengths to boost innovation. China firmly supports UNFPA taking the ICPD program of action as a guide to empower youth, enhance the application and forward-looking analysis of population data and help program countries address demographic trends and their impact. At the same time, China supports UNFPA further leveraging new technologies such as AI to improve the effectiveness of program implementation and ensure that the benefits of innovation reach more developing countries to ensure no one is left behind. Third, we need to guarantee better resource is to lay the solid foundation for development. China commends UNFPA's active efforts to expand partnerships and boost resource mobilization. China calls on all parties, especially traditional donors, to fulfill their ODA commitments and ensure UNFPA's adequate and predictable core resources. Also, China supports UNFPA seizing the opportunity of ongoing reform to further optimize management and efficiency and effectiveness. China has maintained long-term cooperation with UNFPA. with the 10th cycle country program being implemented smoothly. Also, we have carried out a number of fruitful trilateral cooperation programs under the GDI, actually promoting the health and development rights of women and children. China will continue deepening its partnership with the fund and advance our practical cooperation to achieve better results. Thank you, President.

I thank China for the statement. Any other delegation wishing to take the floor to react, to ask additional comments? It doesn't seem to be the case. Madam Executive Director, any reaction to this latest comment? Please.

Ambassador, thank you so much for your express support to what we do in China. Our work is important, and as much as the member state that you are, but with your young people as well. And thank you so much as well for the South-South cooperation and the resources you provide us with to allow us to work and to do triangular cooperation. We look forward to reinforcing our work, and we are very appreciative as well as being the VP currently of the population development partner with other countries around the world to increase that work because this is really, I think, a network that allows country to showcase what they have to offer first and their own national expertise so that country and member state can share intelligence expertise as well in every level. And all the countries that are working, we're very grateful to all of you and grateful to China and looking forward to reinforce our cooperation. Thank you, Tete.

Thank you, Executive Director. I think this concludes this agenda item statement by the UNFPA Executive Director. We're also getting close to the end of this morning session. The board will reconvene at three o'clock with the UNDP structured funding dialogue. This meeting is adjourned and I think you'll be informed about the ongoing consultations during the lunch break for decisions of the board. This meeting is adjourned. Thank you.

Distinguished delegates, the negotiations will start in 10 minutes in conference room C. Thank you.