Economic and Social Council: 19th plenary meeting - 2025 Operational Activities for Development Segment, Day 2

So the 19th meeting of the Economic and Social Council is called to order. I now invite the Council to continue with the consideration of the sub-item of the Agenda Item 7, Operational Activities of the United Nations for International Development and Cooperation, to hold a dialogue with the UN Development System Executive Heads. On teams supporting countries to achieve sustainable development in the current context. The Dialogue will look at the concrete actions of the UN Development System entities working together to accelerate progress towards achieving the 2030 Agenda in its three dimensions—economic, social and environmental—with special attention to the needs of the countries in special situations. We look forward to hearing from some of the executive heads of UN Development System entities on the measures they are taking to adjust their business models and scale up joint work to advance key transitions to deliver better country support while increasing efficiencies, including through enhanced coordination. The discussion will focus on how development system entities are adapting their development operations in the current context. I'm pleased to welcome our distinguished panelists. Mr. Achim Steiner, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, well known to everybody. And also well known to us all, Madame Sima Lauchus, Executive Director of the United Nations Entity for the Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women, known as UN Women. And online virtually, we have Madame Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Secretary General of the International Telecommunications Union. Welcome, Madam. We are also joined by the two panel discussions, His Excellency Andrés Efraín Montalvo Sosa, the Permanent Representative of Ecuador, and Her Excellency Tara Sombro, Ambassador to the Economic and Social Council of the United Kingdom, of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. So I first give the floor to Mr. Achim Steiner, the Administrator of the UNDP. Achim, the floor is yours.

Thank you so much, Your Excellency Ambassador and Chair for our session this afternoon. Good afternoon, Excellencies, dear colleagues, dear Sima. Good to share a podium with you in the midst of what you have described as the current context in which we are not only looking at the QCPR, we're also looking in the work of UNDP through the lens of one strategic plan coming to an end at the end of this year, a new one beginning in 2026, and therefore a moment on which to reflect also, first of all, on something that I think all of you who are involved also in the discussions with various executive boards and our agencies that we are at the moment ensuring the alignment between what it is that we are setting out to do, first of all in alignment with the QCPR and the QCPR mandates, which ask of us to weave together the integrated approaches across sustainable development, peace, human rights, humanitarian assistance, foresight and anticipatory planning. And I can very comfortably say that that alignment is not only a given for us, it has actually helped helped us to sharpen also the focus around which we are trying to construct a strategic plan that is cognizant of a period of deep disruption—deep disruption in the geopolitical context, a deep disruption in the economic context for development, and an even deeper set of shocks in the financing for development arena, particularly when it comes to least developed countries. Heavily indebted economies. You heard the Secretary-General yesterday also address this particular issue in his speech to you. As UNDP, as the development programme of the United Nations, clearly it is in the DNA of UNDP to look at economies in their totality, but also to particularly incorporate in the way that a government can address the economic, the social, the environmental challenges in ways that are mutually reinforcing. To all of you, since you represent governments here, you have worked in government, there is not a Monday that looks at health, a Tuesday that looks at women and gender equity, a Wednesday that looks at digital and technology infrastructure. It is a constant struggle to try and reconcile the decisions that need to be made. In the context of the United Nations, in 2015, you adopted the 2030 Agenda, the Sustainable Development Goals, which remain for us the compass in UNDP with which to look at both the challenge of development in this era and particularly of a challenge where 7 to 8 billion people do need to cooperate on the pathway forward in terms of their individual livelihoods, their collective national interests, but also ultimately retaining the capacity as an international community to address the pathway towards a future of development. And it is in this context that particularly our SDG push analysis, which have been made available to almost 100 countries, are today one tool within which we both work as a UN country team, but also as UNDP with government, to explore where are the greatest opportunities for actually addressing progress on individual SDGs. We spend a great deal of time here talking in the aggregate and in the abstract about the lack of progress with SDGs. I often try to remind us that adding things up and dividing by 193 hides a great deal of extraordinarily successful initiatives, national policies, and also great policy setbacks and failures. I think One of the privileges that I feel we have as entities who work at country level is to see that choices matter, well-informed policymaking actually is consequential, and therefore the role that you are addressing this afternoon here also of how we can work together supporting countries in the current development context has a great deal to do with that inability to simply plan ahead without taking account of fiscal constraints, many of the shocks that are accompanying us. Let me give you a couple of very practical examples just of how this is manifesting itself in our work. As UNDP, we are deeply committed to the SDGs as a whole, but we are also looking at, for instance, the linkage between SDG 7, access to energy, and SDG 13, addressing climate change. The ability to work together with the mandate that the Secretary-General articulated in supporting countries in preparing their next nationally determined contributions, while linking this explicitly also to the strategies and national priorities in addressing both access to affordable and clean energy, but also energy transition pathways. UNDP is now supporting, as part of an international consortium, close to 100 countries in preparing their nationally determined contributions. Working through UN country teams with sister agencies, national authorities, in enabling a world to ultimately meet in Belém later this year and have the confidence that each one is raising their levels of ambition. A second example is rooted more in the context of finance. We are today, as UNDP, centrally involved with DESA, with other assistance, particularly with national authorities, in supporting integrated national financing frameworks. I understand that our Deputy Secretary-General mentioned this yesterday. In fact, today 86 countries are taking advantage of the UN's ability to not engage with them in terms of their interest to perhaps borrow money or to raise capital on capital markets, but in fact to have the support across public-private, domestic-international, concessional and commercial capital to look at how to finance a national development strategy. It is, in my mind, a perfect example of the UN extending its offering hand of support to ultimately a deeply sovereign set of decisions that countries need to take under far from optimal conditions. And finally, perhaps one more example which speaks to the reality that we so often discuss in these halls, in these corridors—countries in crisis. UNDP today is invested and active in over 50 countries deemed in—facing one form of crisis or another. In fact, over 50% of our total volume of financing that we deliver, mobilize, and support—close to $5 billion a year—is is actually invested in crisis contexts. And it is here that our ability, first of all, to deploy as a UN system across the humanitarian, development, and political and peace nexus actually is far more active than sometimes is seen to be the case when we look at it from a bird's-eye view. I can speak to the situation in Ukraine, I can speak to you about the situation in Iraq, in Libya, in Yemen, or indeed in Syria now,, where the instruments that UNDP can bring to a UN response and offer are integral to a country's ability to begin to not only be seen as a humanitarian crisis, but actually as an early recovery opportunity and ultimately as a development pathway back to where a country wishes to be. I end with those examples, Ambassador, because I believe that they both combine that understanding of a UN working as a system but also across different contexts being able to integrate the reality within which governments have to make decisions every day. Thank you.

I thank the UNDP Administrator, Mr. Steiner, and colleagues, before we go to our second speaker, which is the Secretary-General of the ITU, I just want to mention that we'll open up now the registration to participate in interactive discussion. So if your delegation, if you would like to take part in this discussion, please— everyone is invited and please press the microphone button to indicate a request to intervene in the debate that will follow the first interventions from our panelists. So we can build up the list of the speakers. Thank you so much for indicating that. And with saying so, now I invite— give the floor to Miss Lorraine Bogdan-Martin, Secretary General of the International Telecommunications Union. Madam, the floor is yours.

Thank you. Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Ambassador, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen. Good evening from Geneva. Good afternoon in New York. Specialized agencies bring deep expertise to the UN development system. 160 years of it is in ITU's case, and we bring it to the UN80 task force where ITU co-leads the specialized agencies cluster with ILO. Digital connectivity is a critical enabler of development, something that my friend Achim often says. It's also one of 6 transformative pathways to maximize country-level impact across the SDGs. The SDG Digital Acceleration Agenda by ITU and UNDP found that 70% of SDG targets have a digital component. As the Secretary-General Guterres highlighted yesterday, connectivity can to spur progress across all the goals at a time when 2.6 billion people are offline. Despite being a smaller agency with physical presence in 13 countries, ITU supported 146 countries with digital transformation policy frameworks and technical assistance in 2024 alone. We continued to transform potential into development gains in 3 key ways. First, by supporting approximately 60 UN country teams and RCs, we contribute to the common country assessments and analyses, and we are co-developing digital dashboards to better equip the RCs, the UNCTs, and governments with actionable data for targeted interventions and results-based monitoring. UNCTs also leverage ITU's expertise through capacity building, support, and training initiatives that we carry out together with my other friend up there, Sima. Initiatives like the EQUALS Global Partnership that ITU co-leads with UN Women, where we're working to upskill 100 million women for the digital economy in this decade. And the AI Skills Coalition, which is working to strengthen technical skills at the country level, equipping member states for the AI age, which is an area that the QCPR notes that we need to improve as a system. Second, ITU contributes technical expertise at the regional level through issue-based coalitions on digital. For example, we co-chair the IBC on digital transformation in Asia-Pacific. We co-lead the UN Digital Transformation Group for Europe and Central Asia, and we're actively involved in the IBC for Africa. These coalitions enable synergies on cross-cutting issues and are important entry points for specialized agencies to support member states with digital transformation on the ground. And third, we co-lead the Digital Transformation Window of the Joint SDG Fund together with UNDP. The first $40 million round is supporting 13 country programs with 10 more in development. And we've seen firsthand how innovative finance to connect the unconnected makes business sense and transforms lives. For example, the Smart Islands Initiative is improving resilience, supporting access to education, healthcare, and finance in the North Pacific. An example of effective support for improving digital inclusion and closing the digital divide, as noted by the QCPR, is the Partner2Connect Digital Coalition. We have $73 billion US dollars in pledges and we're now moving to implementation. That coalition brings together some 29 UN agencies. Another example is Giga that we co-lead with UNICEF, also highlighted in the QCPR and the Global Digital Compact, working to advance school connectivity in some 41 countries. The QCPR also calls us to pay attention and ensure AI does not open new divides or exacerbate current ones. And that's why, together with some 50 UN partners, we're convening the AI for Good Global Summit in June, together with the World Summit on the Information Society event, the +20 event. The World Summit on the Information Society is where countries first came together around a shared vision that technology could be a force for development and opportunity for all. And Mr. Chair, ITU remains fully committed to that vision and to supporting our UN family in responding to member states' needs for digital development solutions that leave no one behind. Thank you very much.

Back to you. Thank you. I thank the Secretary-General of the ITU. And now I give the floor to Ms. Sima Bahus, the Executive Director of the UN Women. The floor is yours.

Thank you. Thank you, dear Ambassador Zyriski, Permanent Representative of Poland Thank you, my dear friends, Akin and Joreen. Excellencies, dear friends, dear colleagues. 15 years ago this July, UN Women was created by the General Assembly out of a reform process to accelerate progress on meeting the needs of women and girls worldwide and to strengthen the UN development system. Today, UN Women remains deeply committed to the full implementation of the United Nations Development System and its reform, and to advancing all Sustainable Development Goals, including of course SDG 5, because only a coordinated, coherent UN can deliver lasting and real change for all women and girls everywhere. Gender equality is the thread we believe, that runs through the entire 2030 Agenda. It is both a prerequisite and a multiplier for peace, for security, and for sustainable development. Investing in gender equality is investing in a future that is more secure, more prosperous, and more just. UN Women's critical integrated triple mandate advancing UN coordination, Driving normative and policy work and delivering results on the ground for women and girls remains as critical today as it was when the General Assembly established us. To this end, we work with UN partners, the Resident Coordinator System, and DCO. We work with them with intentionality to help deliver results for all women and girls. This year alone, 116 UN country teams reviewed how well they integrate gender equality and women's empowerment in their planning. This is 20% increase from last year. 75 UN entities reported on their own internal process— progress, with most now ensuring women's organizations have a seat at the table, and with senior leadership visibly championing gender equality. This shows real progress, but we know the challenges remain. Excellencies, much of our funding is earmarked and unpredictable, limiting joint work. To truly incentivize coordination, we need more pooled, flexible funding at country level and practical support for collaboration. Not competition. This is why UN Women is fully engaged in the UNAT process and in advancing a reformed, more effective, and more efficient United Nations system that maintains gender equality as a core priority. We are also committed to joint programming to reach more women and girls and to draw on the strengths of different agencies. We are proud that more than 30% of our programs are jointly with other agencies. One example is our partnership with FAO, IFAD, and WFP to support rural women's economic empowerment in countries like Nepal, Niger, Rwanda. This has helped nearly 80,000 women and over 400,000 family members build their own resilience to climate shocks. And to crises. The Spotlight Initiative, supported by the EU and other partners, is also an example that shows what is possible when we act together. Over 11 agencies and the Resident Coordinators have joined forces to end violence against women and girls. Examples of the Spotlight Initiative impact include: in Zimbabwe and Timor-Leste, we work with civil society, to ground programming in real needs of women and girls, and to adapt quickly in emergencies and in crises. In El Salvador and Ecuador, by streamlining systems, we delivered services faster and more effectively. Excellencies, as part of UN Women's critical coordination mandate, we have enhanced our approach to coordination from global policy to local programs. To ensure bigger, joined-up impact. Whether supporting resident coordinators, leading or supporting the UN interagency work in over 100 countries, our focus is clear: coordinated action that makes a difference in the daily lives of women and girls is our objective. We have started our pivot to the countries to be closer to those we serve, and we are also preparing our new strategic plan along these lines, which we hope our Executive Board will approve this coming September. We are strengthening accountability tools through tools such as the UN SWAP and the Secretary-General's Gender Equality Acceleration Plan, which we are very proud to be the Secretariat of as well. Deepening our work on key priorities like care, like ending violence against women and women's role in peace and security and women's leadership. As we mark 30 years since the Beijing Platform for Action, we are also reminded of how we have come and how far we still have to go. This is the year to accelerate action, to recommit, and to be clear that women's rights are a pillar of the multilateral system. The Secretary-General's clarion call says it best: Progress for women is progress for all. Let us keep moving forward together and let us leave no one behind. Thank you.

I thank the Executive Director of the UN Women and now we— I give the floor to our first panel discussant, and invite His Excellency Andrés Efraín Montalvo Sosa, the Permanent Representative of Ecuador, to make his statement. Andrés, the floor is yours.

Buenas tardes de nuevo.

Good afternoon once again, distinguished panelists, colleagues. Yesterday, the Secretary-General Guterres laid out and substantiated the undeniable improvements that we have in the UN Development System, but at the same time he acknowledged that these efforts were sorely lacking. He was also right in pointing out in a figurative way the seriousness of the systemic and multidimensional crisis that we are facing. He said, "When the waves crash against the rocks, it's the body that suffers." That's what he told us, and he called upon us to act collectively. Now, he was also right in his appeal— or rather, also correct was the Deputy Secretary-General, who said that only one joint and robust action on the part of those who believe in multilateralism, only that can help us tackle this crisis that erodes progress towards development and weakens trust in the multilateral system. The truth is that millions of people continue to sink into poverty, they face hunger and exclusion, and the development gaps are widening. Now, the UN cannot manage this crisis alone because it responds to a financial, economic, and geopolitical reality which is global in nature. That's the case. And it's also true that we have a shared responsibility to not hide behind the "I and my circumstances," as Ortega y Gasset said, and let us be overtaken by inertia. That hides inaction or that disguises the lack of efficiency and effectiveness. A simple example: how can we talk about transformation and shared responsibility when there is competition which, to a certain degree, is unleashed by the somber reality of financing? In any case, the response is not to be found in being inward-looking or in working in silos. What we need is greater ambition and a systemic response capability with concrete results on the ground, more national ownership, and less impositions by donors who are called upon to invest in development. And it also means avoiding irrelevant mandates or contradictory mandates from states. As a chair of the Executive Board of the UNDP, UNFPA, and UNOPS, I was able to observe and value the efforts made by the agencies in implementing their mandates and their alignment with the QCPR. However, in this respect, uh, the current moment means that we have to go beyond technocratic approaches or cosmetic changes. We must support the structural reform of the development system launched in 2018. I could speak about different points related to the QCPR, with the need to overcome institutional competition, with the financial fragmentation and the need to comply with financial commitments, with the essential work of resident coordinators, and also the link between all of this and the UN Haiti Reform Initiative. Now, for the sake of time, I won't go into all of this, but I simply like to recall that Charles Darwin, after having studied the incomparable archipelago of the Galápagos, concluded that it's not the strongest species that survives, rather the one that adapts the best. And in this institutional reform process and in this time of the global political fragmentation, The development system must prevail as a whole, not one agency in particular, because only in this way can the system, this common development system, it should be able to act with unity, with agility, and with a sense of purpose, and with the results that are people-centered, mainly for the future heirs of this present and we must implement the Pact for the Future. Development is a fundamental pillar of the multilateral system. Strengthening it is defending the promise of multilateralism for our peoples. Thank you very much.

I thank the Permanent Representative of Ecuador, and now I invite our second panelist, Her Excellency Tarasurmo Ambassador of the— to the Economic and Social Council of the United Kingdom, Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Thank you, Chair. The 2024 QCPR provides a clear roadmap for an impactful, coordinated, and efficient UN development system. The focus must now shift to delivery. This requires strong leadership from heads of agencies. Without clear direction and commitment from the top, We risk falling short of the transformation the QCPR envisions, and in that regard, I welcome the statements made by the speakers today. In the broad context of UNHCR and a rapidly evolving global landscape, now is the time for entities and agencies to ask themselves the tough questions. Are you structurally and culturally set up to enable collaboration at the country level? What changes need to be made to business models, policies, and guidance? To ensure the right incentives are in place for system-wide responses? And as you develop strategic plans, how can outcomes be realigned to, to promote joint action? The QCPR reaffirmed the central role of the Resident Coordinator in ensuring coherence and supporting national development goals. The RC system is a shared investment, and the cost-sharing arrangement is a critical pillar of the funding model. Now is the time for agencies to fully back and continue to back the RC system on the ground. I offer 3 points for consideration. Firstly, agencies should align behind the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework at the country level. The cooperation framework should act as a single guiding plan to unite UN country teams, to foster collaboration and avoid duplication in activity. In this regard, we question the need for separate country programme documents. Second, entity presence should reflect country needs in accordance with agreed outcomes and priorities in the cooperation framework. Country configuration should be determined by the resident coordinator in agreement with host governments and complemented by a stronger regional system, enabling agencies to provide targeted technical and policy support as needed. Third, the Secretary-General's report highlights continued gaps in adherence to the management and accountability framework. As a cornerstone of UNDS reform, outlining expectations within UN country teams, what guidance are you providing to your country teams and how are you monitoring compliance? Excellencies, through the QCPR and UNAT, we are committed to working together through executive boards and beyond. To build a stronger, more unified system which provides the greatest and most urgent support to accelerating delivery of the SDGs. Thank you.

I thank the Ambassador to the COSOC of the United Kingdom. And now we open up the discussion. I would like really to be as interactive as possible, so can you really think of any questions you would like to pose, because that could be really like a lively discussion. We have so far 7 requests, so please think of your own if you like, because if it's 7, then I will— oh, OK, it's growing. OK, so I was thinking of having the 2 or 3 rounds maybe have one longer round because we've got 45 minutes for our discussion. That's pretty much— we are pretty much safe with time. But please indicate if you would like to take the floor. Okay, we start with Sweden, followed by Brazil and Germany.

Thank you, Mr. Vice President, for giving me the floor. Sweden is committed to remaining a steady and engaged UN member state, not only as a donor, but also as a partner and responsible board member for the funds and programmes, and actively participating in most UN fora. We engaged early in the development of the new strategic plans, encouraging the funds and programmes to focus on their respective added value and their core mandates in response to current funding trends. We also highlighted that there is no alternative to full implementation of UN reform with focus on enhanced joint impact and development results at country level through the Sustainable Development Cooperation Frameworks. And this includes active coordination and cooperation in program planning, management, implementation, and follow-up, as well as dedicated engagement in joint efficiency measures in operations. Lastly, we urge the organizations to review their functions in different contexts to guide appropriate presence. As mentioned in the dialogue with the Secretary-General yesterday, Sweden sees great potential in a slimmer, context-based, and more adaptive UN presence focused on technical expertise rather than senior representation, with all UN entities reporting to the resident coordinator. Funding is decreasing and changing, and funding modalities need to be considered when rethinking operational activities.— in the focus on programme delivery. It is disheartening to read the Secretary-General's and the Deputy Secretary-General's reports indicating the lack of follow-through by UN Sustainable Development Group entities on already agreed reforms, including derivation of individual programmes from the UN cooperation frameworks, the lack of information sharing on resource mobilization efforts, deficiencies in incentive structures,, and the lagging behind of efficiency measures such as common back offices and the non-compliance with the management cooperation framework. Mr. Steiner, thank you for being here today at the very end of your term, and you know well already how much we've appreciated your years at the helm of the UNDP. However, today I have to raise with you a letter that we just received from UNDP indicating that you will potentially not live up to the cost-sharing commitments to the RC system. We understand UNDP is facing budget constraints, but so is the system at large, and the coordination function is key to addressing these constraints by way of efficiencies. For our part, we strongly encourage UNDP as co-chair of the UN Sustainable Development Group not to deviate from the cost-sharing agreements. I also want to ask you, with your long experience from the UN SDG, about business models. How can we encourage entities to change their respective business models, and that requires headquarters decisions, to fully integrate and truly deliver as one? Executive Director, thank you to you two for being here today. The UN system's role to uphold and promote UN normative mandate is a core interest for us, and you've set out UN Women's role. What do you think is needed to ensure that the rest of the system also works together to ensure that the UN's mandate on gender equality is upheld and to scale these important efforts. Mr. Vice President, let me again assure you of Sweden's full commitment to the UN Development System reforms, and we will continue to advocate for it in all fora. Thanks so much.

I thank the Swedish Representative of Sweden. Now I give the floor to Brazil, followed by Germany, Indonesia, and then we make the first responses from our panelists and then we have a second round of the next four. So it's Brazil, Germany, Indonesia, and we have the first responses.

Thank you, Mr. Vice President. Just a very brief intervention, a very short question on South-South cooperation, but before that, Brazil would like to extend It's thanks to Mr. Achim Steiner, who will be stepping down from his post in a few weeks. We'd like to recognize Mr. Steiner's leadership at UNDP. He was able to navigate different perspectives between donors and recipient countries in a very skillful manner. Difficult times in terms of finance, and as a member of the board, Brazil has witnessed how UNDP has optimized the use of every dollar invested. So I'd like to just put this on record. So my question is, how the agencies are working to increase South-South cooperation in an environment of shrinking ODA flows from traditional donors? Mechanism of cooperation between the countries of the Global South seem increasingly important. So it would be good to know whether the distinguished speakers share this assessment and what they have been doing to these ends. Thank you very much.

I thank the distinguished representative of Brazil and now I give the floor to Germany.

Thank you, Chair.

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to begin by thanking Poland for convening this very important dialogue on the implementation of UNDS reform by UN entities. We commend the efforts undertaken both at system and entity level to adapt business models and ways of working in response to the UNDS reforms. These have not been easy adjustments, but they're essential to create a UNDS able to accelerate progress towards the SDGs. Allow me a couple of observations. First, we take note of the disconnect between the intended strategic use of the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Frameworks and their application in practice. According to the UN SDG Chair's report to the OAS, 21% of UNCT entities do not derive their programming instruments from the UN SDCF. We commend UNDP and UN Women for sharing their respective UNDS reform checklists ahead of the annual Executive Board session, stating all country program documents are fully aligned with the cooperation framework. My question: What are your lessons learned from this alignment process? And are these being shared among UN SDG entities to improve joint planning across the system? Second, what broader adjustments are needed to prioritize collective results? One area stressed for improvement in the SG's report on implementation of the QCPR is collective resource mobilization. UN Women is mentioned as a positive example with a policy requiring country offices to ensure that 30% of their program portfolios are joint initiatives. We would greatly value UN Women's insights on this approach. What challenges have you encountered? How were they overcome? And can this model be replicated and scaled across the system? And what role can member states play in supporting all of these efforts. And finally, we acknowledge that this journey is not yours alone. Systemic change is a shared responsibility of member states, UN entities, and partners, namely to elevate the collective interest above institutional habits. Ultimately, we are united by a common goal: to deliver for people and planet. And often, it is precisely in the face of constraint or, as was said, deep destruction, that the most creative and courageous solutions take root. In that sense, we welcome the potential and renewed momentum that the UN80 Initiative process brings for further driving real structural transformation. Information. Thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of Germany, and now I give the floor to Indonesia.

Thank you, Mr. Vice President. In the current development context where efforts are facing various and more complex challenges, indeed the expectation to the UN development system is higher than ever to support countries, especially developing countries. We thank the head of agencies that have shown multiple ways in which works can be done through integration and collaboration to strengthen efforts and multiply impacts to pursue sustainable development. In this regard, allow us two questions to all speakers in relation to the Pact of the Future that we agreed last year as an accelerator of development. One, how far has the Pact of the Future supported and inspired actions by your agencies at global national and local levels? And two, if you can share best experience where the Pact of the Future is evidently serving as a key catalysator of development efforts? Thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of Indonesia, and now we will have the first round of the responses from our panelists, and we will start with the Secretary-General of the ITU, from online. So, Madame, the floor is yours.

Thank you. Thank you so much, Chair. I hope you can see me. I think my video went off at the end of my intervention before.

Appreciate the many comments. We can see you now.

Okay, good. Thank you. I mean, perhaps I'll pick up on one of the last points, which was the united by a common goal. And I think as a As a specialized agency that's quite technical, I think it's, it's fair to say that, that we too are united by this common goal. We do have, of course, our own strategic plan, but I think we're quite fortunate that our strategic plan that focuses on universal connectivity and sustainable digital transformation is a perfect complement to most of the whole system's mandates. I think everything that we look at today has a digital component. And so our role of delivering that technical competence and delivering that connectivity is critical. To some of the questions, are we culturally, structurally set up? I think that we have many excellent examples that we just need to scale to do better. I think the issue-based coalitions that I referred to are a good way of bringing different entities together. I think the joint SDG Fund specific to us is the digital window. I think that's also a great way to bring entities together. I think also the point about resource mobilization, which was made by a number of countries before, when we do combine our efforts for resource mobilization, we do have results. I would cite by way of example the Early Warning for All initiative where you have WMO, ITU, UNDRR, UNDRR, and IFRC, and we are working together to mobilize resources. Another example with UNHCR is our joint program on refugee connectivity. I think donors, member states are much happier when they see us come together each with our own areas of expertise. I think the point about the Pact of the Future, it is helping us to further catalyze. For us, we're focused specifically on the Global Digital Compact piece and bringing that connectivity to all. So it gives us— while we have much of that in our mandate, I think it also gives us an extra, an extra push to get there. But I do think there are good examples. As I mentioned, there are some good business models out there, and I think we just have to point to the good examples and try to scale them to make it work better, more efficiently, and more in a more agile fashion.

Thank you.

I thank the Secretary General of ITU, and maybe on the reverse order, so I first give the floor to Madame Sima Bahus.

Thank you. Thank you very much. I want to thank all member states and all briefers who also took part in this discussion, and I believe that it's what we are doing together, all of us, is joint efforts to move forward the development goals and from our perspective to move forward the gender equality agenda that we, we have all shared, and we look forward to all of us working on it together, especially at this particular time when we see a lot of pushback against gender equality and women's empowerment, when we see a lot of crises in the world that are affecting mostly women and girls, and they bear the brunt of that, and also when we are seeing less funding for the UN system and and for countries who can and should and would be working together to ensure that gender equality and women's empowerment continues to be a priority. I think our UN Women's country-specific strategic plans, in my opinion, are fully aligned to the UN coordination framework. To your point, I also highlighted, I think, and I continue to highlight proudly, that More than 30% of our work and our programs are jointly being implemented with other agencies, and for us that is important, and that is part and parcel of the integrated work on gender equality and women's empowerment that really needs to be taking place. And also, through our coordination mandate, which we are now working on strengthening, this is part and parcel of what we would like to continue to be doing with others, but also in support of the RCs to ensure that gender equality continues to be at the table and is not forgotten, and to ensure that it is mainstreamed throughout the work that is being done in the countries. So thank you. Okay. I also would like to thank Sweden, our head of the board, our president of the board, for all the support that we have been receiving from Sweden, not only this year as heads of our board, but throughout the work that gender equality and women's empowerment means for countries and for UN Women. And I would like to assure you that gender equality, as Sweden sees it, continues to be present across all UN coordination frameworks, and for us it remains to be a priority. In some areas it is still weak, in others it is stronger, and we just need to continue to push forward together to make sure that it continues to stay as a critical priority for everyone. And if our— if this year, 2025, is the year for gender equality and women's empowerment, it is this year that we really need all of us to continue to advocate for that and to continue to work relentlessly for that and seriously for that and not to continue to, in some times, to put gender equality and women's empowerment on the side because there is no money or because there is no will or because something is going on that is more prior. There is nothing more prior at this point for all of us when we look at the world except to ensure that among the many things that we work on as a UN system is that women and girls are within each and every workstream that we have. And we also— I believe that until today, the data is telling us that no country in the Global North or the Global South has achieved gender equality objectives that we have, nor the 2030 Agenda. So this is another challenge for all of us to continue to work on that. We saw this, that no one, no country is— we saw that no country has achieved gender equality and women's empowerment in the more than 150 reports, national reports and regional reports that we received this year during CSW and as we were evaluating Beijing+30. We saw that the Beijing Declaration still needs a lot more work by all countries. Countries and by the UN system to be able to be achieved, and so also the 2030 Agenda. I want to highlight also that we work with the RCs closely, and we work through the UNCTs closely, including through the SWAP and now through the Gender Equality Acceleration Plan of the Secretary-General, which at country level now has guidance on gender analysis to be developed. So we continue to work with all sister agencies and national governments on this, and I believe that this Gender Equality Acceleration Plan is part and parcel also of ensuring that the system continues to see gender equality and women's empowerment as a priority that needs to be mainstream, that needs to be on the top of the agenda, and that will push forward the achievement of Agenda 2030, the Sustainable Development Goals, and SDG 5. Germany, I thank you again also for all your leadership on gender equality and women's empowerment, and also for the support that UN Women has been receiving from Germany throughout. You are one of our top donors, if not the top at this point, and thank you Thank you for that. Indeed, we have as a goal, which we have reached again, is this 30% programming at country level, which for us is really important. And I think going forward we will be looking to raise this percentage higher and to see with you and with the countries that we are working in and with the RC system and the UNCTs how best we can even improve— on that. As I said, mainstreaming needs different agencies to work together. And opportunities for this are immense, as you have heard me say earlier. The reach and the scale and the impact is significant when we do it. In addition, it provides an opportunity for more holistic responses, in particular on gender equality, which often presents interconnected challenges. Challenges on joint programming, challenges on finding commonalities, especially how we report, how we coordinate, how we find data, how we collect data, how we use data. That is really very important. But these challenges are all— we can overcome them and for which we have and are looking at increasing our attention to how we can overcome them and also increasing our work on finding guidance for the UNCTs and for the countries to be able to overcome them. Our ask from our development partners and from the member states is to continue to streamline reporting requests and also to continue to speak— from my end now, I say to continue to advocate for gender equality and women's empowerment to be a main pillar a main pillar in the work that the United Nations does in every single country, and also to be a main pillar in how we want to move forward, Agenda 2030, Sustainable Development Goals, SDG 5, and even the Pact for the Future. My final point, I think I took a note also from Indonesia, how has the Pact inspired action. And from the gender equality point of view, we were very happy to see in the Pact for the Future many mentions of gender equality and women's empowerment. And this for us gives us a boost, a boost that continues to keep us moving forward and to keep us with member states moving forward on gender equality and women's empowerment. And it is also a boost for countries to look at the Pact for the Future, which they have signed on, and to see how best they can continue to move this agenda forward. Myself and my team are, of course, always ready and happy to collaborate in the countries to ensure that we push on that. Our pivot to the field, which we have started even before this UNAT initiative came about, is about also making sure that we are closer to the countries we serve, we are closer to the people we serve, but we are— at that, we are also closer to the UNCTs and more integrated within the UNCT system and the RC system that we want to work on. And our strategic plan now, which as I mentioned will be hopefully approved by the Executive Board in September, includes and looks at and takes into consideration all what I have mentioned, including, you know, how the efficiencies will be better, how better we can be in serving, but at the same time how better we can be in serving— I'm not going to say less with less, but more with less, given the financial situation that the UN system is in and the world is in. But I must say that in general, I want to tell you that gender equality and women's empowerment, thanks to all of you, is being supported well in terms of finances. So far, we have not had yet to let go of any of our staff, and we hope that we will not continue— we will continue on that, on that path, and we hope that you will continue to support us with your voices, with your agency, with your finances, and with everything that you can do to support women and girls everywhere. So thank you so much again for being here, and for— and Excellency, thank you for giving me the time. Thanks.

Thank you so much, and now I give the floor to UNDP Administrator.

I'm conscious that you have many speakers and my dear colleagues, Doreen and Sima, have already responded to a number of points, so let me offer perhaps a couple of reflections across the points that have been made. First of all, I think this is a moment where, as both leaders inside the United Nations family but also as member states, we have to connect the discussion about the reform of the UN Development System to a broader UN80 narrative and reality check. And I would urge us to try and understand that as we look at the United Nations value proposition, but also the willingness to support the United Nations is waning in a number of countries, it is an imperative that we not only try to address issues of efficiency and funding shortfalls, but that we actually recognize that some of the most fundamental constraints to operating in the way that many of you and we would describe the ideal state have something to do with the structure of the United Nations system, whether it's the development system, whether it is all the different aspects and parts of our mandates. And here I have to say, this is a moment where the Secretary-General has stepped moving forward now with the UN Haiti Initiative, and where I would urge you from the bottom of my heart not to sit back and watch us in the Secretariat try to come up with a magic formula. This is the moment where you as member states are in fact asked to step into the driver's seat. It is you who over 80 years have created all the entities and the mandates that we every day strive and work very hard to fulfill. It is you who have adopted over 3,600— is the latest number that is circulating— mandates that we are asked to implement. These are mandates essentially in the General Assembly context, not even in our boards. And I think if you genuinely want to see a UN development offer of the UN and in the peace and security domain, in the humanitarian domain, then now is a moment in which I think you as member states are, in a sense, back in the driver's seat and in an architectural moment. You have the commitment from the Secretary-General, from all of us, to work very hard over the next few weeks to look, first of all, at efficiency gains and also at some of the more, let's say, longer-term options for evolving the UN infrastructure. I say this because some of the criticisms that I have heard time and again, for example, about the functioning of the UN Development System, I do not accept. This is something that you don't have to in any way respect or acknowledge, but I base my observations, first of all, on the facts. The facts is that I lead an institution called the United Nations Development Programme. It's the largest contributor financially to the UN Development System outside the Secretariat. We have from the beginning been at the centre of enabling the delinking to actually happen, and when I hear comments such as the CPDs are not aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Corporation frameworks, I just got the numbers again. UNDP has committed to every CPD being aligned with, first of all, the UNSCDF, and secondly, to be signed off by the Resident Coordinator. And we have achieved this in 113 CPDs. I do not recognize this observation. You may direct it to the Development Coordination Office or to individual entities where you see that there is a non-alignment, but please do not generalize a narrative about the system not working day in, day out to actually align itself with the intent and the practical implications of a UN reform of the development system. We are also, in fact, the entity that has remained the largest participating UN entity in pooled funds because of the effort we make every day, and whether I can point now to the work we do with Doreen and ITU on the whole issue of digital and AI futures, whether it is the work with UN Women, which, by the way, also judges UNDP's efforts with the SWAP. Whether it is on UN 2.0, I do not recognize some of these generic observations that are being made, so please let us be more precise, because then we can either hone in on where individual entities are not acting, or back to you also and the evaluation that is coming, where is perhaps in the design of the reform process also something that needs to be evolved. Let me also say that, you know, yes, we have to adjust our business models, we have to realign our ability to serve countries with essentially the funding that is available, but I also want to point out to you that as we sometimes fall short in implementing all the provisions, in this room sit some of the most influential countries that have gone the furthest away from something that was integral to the UN reform. It was called the Funding Compact. So let me also offer to you a reflection that you cannot simply continue defunding a system, then blame it for not performing at the level at which you seek it to perform, when it is actually, in a sense, struggling in very significant ways across different entities differently. Let's be very clear. You heard Tina just now, with actually being able to live up to this. So I think it is critical that we look at essentially the moment in time in which we find ourselves. The UN Development System reform has been far-reaching and, as far as I'm concerned, it is a continuing effort to elevate the level of efficiency, effectiveness and joint delivery. But you cannot project into it something that it is simply not able to deliver., and that is 8 decades of mandates, institutions, entities that you have created. Let me also deal with another issue that arose. I think it was the UK that said, 'Should we do away with country programme documents?' As a manager, frankly, it would make life easier, but from the point of view of our programme countries, I would find it surprising if they found themselves comfortable with that proposal. The Country Programme Document is precisely the articulation of what you, Mr. President, earlier referred to, a country's sovereign articulation of its expectations of entities. And a country that will sit with UN Women and sit with UNDP is not going to sign a generic document. There are very different expectations, very different activities,. But then also to you as member states, I would ask, you have an Executive Board, your whole governance and accountability functions rest on the adoption of country programme documents that you as a Board authorize rather than I and a representative of a developing country agree. What would happen to that whole accountability and governance function if we simply did away with the CPDs? As I said, As a manager, it would make life easier. As a public civil servant and as somebody who believes that in multilateralism it is fundamental that a UN entity is not simply the function of a bilateral instruction but authorized by the body that you represent is actually very critical. Let me also say that when it comes to this question of the letter— I think Sweden mentioned question then. First of all, just for completeness' sake, that letter was actually addressed to the Deputy Secretary-General. It was initiated by a number of my colleagues and I decided to also join it. There are 5 entities: WHO, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, who have agreed to essentially alert the Deputy Secretary-General to a very factual reality. We have seen ODA budgets decline by 7%, probably this year by 14% or more. We have seen budget cuts on individual entities that have been in the top headlines of news all over the world; you are familiar with them. I do not quite understand how you would envisage, not as we are all cutting back— I mean, we are cutting back not only our expenditure already this year that we invest in programmes, in actually the mandate and the operations of UNDP, we are cutting back because of the shortage of funding our ability to deliver. Why would a funding of a coordination system be exempt when everything else has to be cut? And I think we have to face the fact that just by sheer reduction in volume, the 1% levy, the amount that will be contributed to that joint funding is going to decline as a result of member states' decisions, not of anything that we decide in UNDP. But I will approach the board to ask them, how do you wish to deal with this issue? Do we close offices in order to continue to fund, for example, a Resident Coordinator System at the level that was pegged when the financial reality was here. Today and next year's financial reality are here, and I'm not deciding that. I will take it to the board, because this is a decision that you take when you approve budgets. So I hope that in the way that I've tried to address this, I'm trying to put my finger on some things that are very complicated right now. They are real dilemmas, and just like your capitals tell us every day that there are fiscal realities and you have to live with the fact that budgets are going down, I am coming back to my management, to my sister agencies, to you as Member States and the Board and saying likely we will lose roughly half a billion in financing over the next year of operations. This has consequences for every aspect of the organization. We are scrambling to try and not eliminate capacity to serve countries, but it means everything is on the table. Thank you.

Thank you so much. So we will have now the next round of the questions. I got 5 requests: United States, Australia, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Russian Federation, and our civil society partners. So please, in that order, ask the question and we will come back to our speakers for the last brief comments. So now I give the floor to the distinguished representative of the United States.

Thank you very much, Mr. Vice President, and Thank you, Administrator Steiner, Executive Director Bahus, and Secretary General Bogdan Martin. We appreciate you joining us here today at OAS. OAS helps us as member states execute our oversight responsibilities. Part of this responsibility includes improving the linkages between ECOSOC and the governing bodies. To that end, we continue to take seriously our oversight role in approving UN entities' country program documents. To enhance this role, we encourage robust and meaningful consultation of member states in the process to develop cooperation frameworks from which the CPDs should be derived. And at a minimum, cooperation frameworks must be available to member states in advance of CPD comment periods and approval processes. Ensuring close linkages of CPDs to cooperation frameworks will improve coherence of UN country teams, reduce duplication, and lead to a more impactful UN on the ground. Thank you.

I thank the representative of the United States, and now I give the floor to Australia.

Thank you, Chair, and thank you to our esteemed panelists. Australia would also like to extend our appreciation to Mr. Steiner for his distinguished leadership of UNDP. Australia is a strong supporter of the UN development system and appreciates this coordinated briefing. In a time of fiscal contraction, effective coordination on the ground is crucial. In this regard, we appreciate your insights and detailed overview of the activities being undertaken. I would be grateful for insights from all panellists on how you are measuring collective impact and where you are seeing the biggest results. And will you be able to use these impact measurements to target future planning and interventions effectively? Thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of Australia for her question, and now I give the I give the floor to the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Thank you very much for your presence here today and for your reflections. Building on the meetings that we've had yesterday and today with the Secretary General, Deputy Secretary General, and a number of resident coordinators, a number of challenges were discussed, so I would appreciate your perspectives on some of these challenges, and I've heard already some during your previous response to previous questions. Efficiency gains came up several times, and the need to consolidate back offices, shared services globally, but also in-country. And the Deputy Secretary General mentioned that over the course of 5 years, only 4 shared back offices were created. So I'd be interested to hear your reflections on what is impeding the creation of more shared back offices and what can be done to take away some of these challenges. And then second of all, I had wanted to ask a question about the alignment with the cooperation framework. So I congratulate UNDP on these great results, and I think it's for other agencies to take an example. And perhaps we should ask DCO next time to name and shame organizations so we can be more specific in our request for better alignment. Next question on the nexus, and you've already reflected on that in your intervention, Mr. Steiner, but the recent study by the Evaluation Office concluded that there's still a challenge in bringing together the three different parts of the nexus, and specifically peacebuilding. So I'd be interested to hear some of your reflections on how this can be improved. And lastly, on UN80, it has also come up several times during the past two days. While we're yet to see proposals from the UN there was a certain leaked paper with some, I think, far-reaching ideas. One of them is to perhaps consolidate UN Women and UNFPA, or to create an organization that brings together all different organizations working on development. So I'd be interested to hear your reflections on how this could impact the delivery on the SDGs. Thank you very much.

I thank the representative of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and now I give the floor to the Russian Federation, followed by Children and Youth International.

Distinguished Mr. Chairman, we would once again like to underscore the need of the appropriate recognition of the work of the agencies of the UN development system that directly provide program results on the ground. Their expert potential and technical competence remains a basis for sustainably achieving the SDGs, in particular in this context of limited resources. The narrative that agencies are an obstacle to achieving results in the area of development on the ground is, in our opinion, unacceptable. However, we underscore that it is not acceptable to duplicate functions not only between various agencies in the UN system, but also between agencies and the Resident Coordinator system. We'd also like to express a degree of concern regarding the growing calls for joint mobilization of resources under the leadership of the Resident Coordinators. This is our question: has ever such a model really been justified? Does it not create an additional level of complication in an already fragmented financing system? How will the focus on this model have an impact on agencies who've already demonstrated that they're effective in implementing their own strategies to mobilize resources by adapting to specific contexts? Isn't there a risk of them undermining the results of the process? We would like to hear from the agencies in this regard. In the context of implementing the management and accountability framework, we'd like to underscore that exchanging information and accountability should be mutually acceptable and equal in nature. As we've seen from the OIOA, In a number of cases, Resident Coordinators cut out agencies from cooperation with the relevant authorities and don't always inform them about how negotiations are going. So our question is, how do the agencies see progress in ensuring real fair partnership as part of the country teams? We would like to express our support for UNDP as the foundation for the UN Development System. It's important not only to maintain it, but to tap into its strong points in the area of financing development and developing partnerships. Any attempts to undermine these functions by transferring them to the Resident Coordinators is not going to strengthen it, but rather weaken the system. We must strive— we must not strive, rather, to change the structure of the Resident Coordinators in the UNDP into a kind of 1960s model. We need timely, flexible, and productive development systems, and not one that creates parallel structures where there are resident coordinators and they are appointed people. Thank you very much.

And now I give the floor for 2 minutes for our friend from the Children and Youth International, please.

Thank you, distinguished Chair, Executive Head, and Member State Representatives. I'm Aaron Ng from Hong Kong, China, speaking on behalf of the Major Group Children and Youth. As we enter the final 5 years of Agenda 2030, we are not just at a pivotal moment, we are at a defining one. Achieving the SDGs demands more than good intentions; it requires bold shifts in who is empowered, how decisions are made, and where investment is directed. Youth engagement is not a supplement element; As a cornerstone of sustainable development, young people represent not just the future but the present, active agenda of change in all three dimensions of sustainable development. Yet we observe concerning trends in how the UN development system engages with young people. First, while we appreciate the QCLP recognition of youth participation, we see a disconnect between policy commitment and implementation. Strategic plans cite youth engagement, but meaningful participation remains limited, particularly for marginalized youth. Secondly, continue to hinder integrated solution. Young organizations often navigate complex bureaucracy across multiple UN entities to address interconnected challenges like climate, digital inclusion, and economic decent work. Third, funding for youth leadership remains severe constraint. Less than 0.5% of ODA specifically targets young programming, uh, which supposed to be like much larger budget. The measure of successful UN reform is not just organizational efficiency alone. But whether it enables those furthest behind to participate and benefit. We stand ready as partners in this critical work. We urge all executive heads to leverage their leadership and ensure business models are not just improving efficiency, but enhancing inclusivity across the board. The Major Group for Children and Youth stands ready to partner with UNDP, ITU, UN Women, and all UNDS entities to deliver concrete, cross-cutting action and advance sustainable development in today's challenging context. Thank you. Thank you, Chair, and all delegates.

I thank the representative of the Children Youth International, and that was the last person to inscribe for the question, so dear Sima, dear Achim, you got full 10 minutes to share between you two to answer this question, so please, it's up to you how you divide these 10 minutes.

I'll take two and leave eight to Sina. No, let me first of all begin by saying thank you. This turned out to be, I think, a more interesting and I think also more frank exchange than I expected, for which I am deeply grateful, because I think, as all of you sense— and I want to take up particularly our comments from our youth representative— these are not normal times. This idea embodied in this building here and all that comes with it is actually in many ways at some of its weakest moments in a long time. So the questions we are discussing here are not just about behaviour in a system, it's not just about an efficiency gain. I mean, you just made the point and I want to echo it, even UNDS reform or UN reform is not just about efficiency and again you've heard the I've heard the Secretary-General say this time and again, but at the end of the day it is about trying to understand what is the kind of United Nations architecture, infrastructure and platforms that the world needs in the years to come. I think there are few of us in these halls today who would describe the UN as being what countries need and want, and I think to me the most important message, including in the context of the QCPR and the operational activities segment and all the discussions that are ongoing, is that we need to understand this moment as profoundly different from just tweaking some teeth wheels. And that is why you will see me, first of all, yes, pushing back a little bit on what are sometimes not wrong observations, but if they become the entire story around— a reform challenge and struggle, they can also distract us from where the real center of attention needs to be, and I think it is no accident that here we are in the year 2025, and the Secretary-General has called for a UN 80 reflection and reform effort, and the echo that he has received from all over the world is remarkably strong. So embracing this moment I think is extremely important and I do recognize that there will be many views about the future of the system and some of you asked the question, first of all, 'Are we able to articulate—' I think it was Australia— 'What is our collective impact?' Well, clearly we are not doing a great job because otherwise the world would be queuing up. Because it is to me one of the most extraordinarily frustrating phenomena that for a relatively small price, by coming together, we multiply the vast majority of countries' capability to influence what happens in the world 1,000 times by pooling our resources. How else do you explain that this evening there is 100 million people— 100 million people— who will have something to eat even though they live live in the middle of a civil war, or are refugees, are internally displaced, or victims of a natural disaster. It is an extraordinary number, but we have lost our ability to even begin to understand how do we communicate this to the public. There are people dying on the front lines as we speak today to deliver those meals. That's just one part of the story of our humanitarian work as the UN. So yes, I fully embrace the challenge of how do we measure and, more importantly, convey and communicate the collective impact of what we do. Has anybody ever tried to add up what it means to have a world that was actually heading for a 4.5 to 5-degree world somewhere around the 2010 period, and through almost 30 years of incessant recent, I think some would use the term, efforts to bring the science of climate change, the opportunity of economic transitions into a national development context, where today the world is actually able to see, one, the fact that it will probably miss 1.5 if it's not careful, but it's actually on a trajectory that is far below 3 degrees of global warming. This is not a miracle, this is the consistent effort over years and years, first of all of many countries and a growing number, but today also I think a reflection of a United Nations that has not allowed the world to turn its back on something that it can only solve together. So yes, I think we have a real challenge at the moment, including in our very polarized domestic political context, to keep that idea not only alive— and I think the idea actually still has a lot of support; it's more the confidence that it can make a difference. How do we communicate this better? We try so hard and we fail every day. I cannot offer you a simple answer on some of the scenarios that have emerged, but let me just say, as a member of the task force on UN Haiti, that memo that arrived on your, I assume, cell phones, arrived 50 seen times that morning on my cell phone. I had never seen it before. So let me be very clear. There are certain individuals in this process who do not respect the integrity, confidentiality, and nature of a process that is just beginning to work. What you received, yes indeed, was produced, as I understand, later on by the team that is leading this work, but it was leaked. All it was was an assembly of what Guy Ryder had asked the entities, first from the task force and then broader in the UN system, to offer anonymously ideas of what could be elements of reform. I have never seen a memo make it to the headlines of the wires and the newspapers so quickly, although it had absolutely no locus standi beyond being an internal document that assembled a brainstorming anonymously. Very seriously. But sometimes leaks can also trigger the imagination, and I think what you saw from that memo was there is an appetite to think further and faster about how to take the system forward. But let me leave it at that, because to speculate— maybe Sima will want to comment on what scenarios there could be for mergers or other such more structural actions— is, as far as I'm concerned, premature, because I have no basis on which to comment on that right now. My only comment was made at the beginning. Please do embrace this window of opportunity, because if you do not make structural changes, you will not change what you are continuously critiquing the UN for— its duplication, its inefficiency, and the costliness of the system. Just on Russia's comment. Again, I think there are many ways in which reform can now evolve. What I think we do need to remember is that if the UN system was one organization, we could easily operate with one fund, but you have a World Health Assembly, you have a Food and Agriculture Organization, and a one-fund model begs the question of how would you run such an model that essentially disconnects a global mandating governing body from the implementation of activities at the country level. Yes, there are all sorts of mechanisms we could invent. Will it lead further? Well, I think it is in the eyes of the beholder, but also in the articulation of the proponent, that these questions then need to be answered. I still go back to the fact that we are too complex a system I cannot stop thinking about girls and women as head of UNDP, although to my right sits the person who is paid to think 24/7. But would it be rational that UNDP said, oh, all women and girls are UN Women's issue? No, it would be a fatal conclusion. The fact that we work alongside each other more often than you might believe, actually, not only in a synchronized, but in a highly complementary fashion may surprise some, but it doesn't solve the underlying problem. Let me just offer one last round— South-South cooperation, because I did not touch on that in my earlier remark. I think increasingly we can all see that international cooperation, development cooperation, will cease to be a 1965 concept when UNDP was founded, a North-South transfer. We live in a global economy, in a world of global ideas, of global capacity. I think one of the great things that the United Nations could offer us, and we saw that in the Pact for the Future, we saw it in the ideas of the Digital Compact, that we can cooperate with one another across different economic and political realities because we can actually achieve more together. I think that is going to be the driving force. South-South cooperation is a platform which we have nurtured, matured, and I think today seen the extraordinary power of having 193 countries contribute to our global capacity to drive sustainable development forward. Thank you so much.

Madame Sima Bahus, you got one last, the most memorable minute.

You know, it's always good to speak last, but it's never good to speak after Akim. Look, I'm going to just say one thing about the creative process that was spurned by the leaked documents, and I believe that there was a question on how do we see UN Women emerging from this, and I would tell you two things. One is that the same thing that Hakim said, that I received that thing on my email, on my telephone, through my staff, through my office a million times during that morning when it came. But one thing I would like to tell you, we are in a place where, as we say in communication, when something is important, when there is not much information around it, and when it is key for the survival of, of an institution, it becomes more and more the subject of rumors. So please, rumors, we don't listen to them. Rumors, we don't take into consideration. But what we do, as Hakim was saying, is we put on the machine, we accelerate our machine machine of creativity. In terms of UN Women and of the mainstreaming of gender equality, I will tell you what I look forward— and my team, what we look forward to see at the end of this UN80— is a stronger UN Women that can serve all women and girls, and also a stronger system that can support women and girls throughout the world. And a system that is able to mainstream the work on gender equality and women's empowerment in a way that is within the spirit of UNAT, of being efficient, of being collaborative, and of working together in different ways and means that will eventually only serve women and girls in a context where financial situation is not the best. Where we need to come together, where we need to look at the mandates, where we need to evaluate the implementation of our mandates, et cetera, et cetera. This is one thing. The other thing I would say, in the end, this is not— this is your responsibility as member states. You established UN Women. You established all the other agencies, and it is your ideas and your reflections and your decision in the very end on how you want to see gender equality and women's empowerment agenda being implemented through the work of this United Nations. And we will work with you. We have always been a technical agency to support. We will work with you day in, day out to ensure that whatever you believe you need to see, whatever we can help you in seeing, for women and girls around the world and for the system, we are happy to continue to support you. But in the end, we look forward to your engagement, to your involvement, to your creative thinking, and also to your looking at the needs of women and girls in each and every country that you represent, my dear Member States. So thank you so much for all the questions that were raised. And I hope that we will continue to discuss this issue. We, as UN Women now, will continue to be fully engaged in the UN AT process through the different clusters that are of interest to us, including, of course, the UN development system, including Women, Peace and Security, including the humanitarian work, and also including human rights. We will contribute but we, in the end, look to you for the final decision to be made.

Thank you so much. Thank you so much. I would like to thank the panelists for the sharing the insights. I think there is something special about the OAS this year. It says from the very beginning, it's very frank, very open, and very candid discussions we have. But this is— maybe this is the moment that we are in that we need this frank and open discussion. And thank you so much for sharing your— and for all the delegation for the active participation. Participation. Of course, this is the moment that we already been mentioned quite a few times. This is the last operation activity segment of Mr. Achim Steiner in his current position of the Administrator of the UNDP, so I think this is the right moment for the round of applause. So now I briefly pause the meeting to allow the podium to be rearranged for the next panel discussion that will be chaired by my dear colleague, the Vice President of the ECOSOC, Maritza Chan, from Costa Rica.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Colleagues, please find your seats. We're about to start. Colleagues, please find your seats. I would like to start the session in 1 minute. I need your support. Please find your seats and carry out your conversation outside the room. Invito ahora al consejo.

I now invite the council to resume its consideration of sub-item A. Of Agenda Item 7, follow-up to policy recommendations of the General Assembly and the Council to hold a dialogue on SDG financing at the country level. This session will focus on how the United Nations Development System helps countries unlock financing and investments for the Sustainable Development Goals through innovative approaches and stronger coordination at the country level. Speakers will share good practices for identifying opportunities for investments unlocking financing, and aligning public and private finance with the national development priorities. This session will also showcase how UN entities and other actors, including international financial institutions and national development banks, can collaborate to deliver concrete solutions on the ground. Which are tailored to specific country contexts and maximize development. I am pleased to welcome our distinguished panelists, Ms. Rola Dashti, Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, Who is joining us virtually. Ms. Bjorg Sankjer, Officer-in-Charge and Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination at the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, DESA. Mr. Nelson Mufu, United Nations Resident Coordinator in South Africa., who is also joining us virtually, and Mr. Pablo Ruiz Yebra, United Nations Resident Coordinator in Uruguay, who is joining us virtually, as well as our lead discussants, His Excellency Francois Jacquemin, Permanent Representative of Barbados, and His Excellency Chhao Kio, Permanent Representative of Cambodia. I will first give the floor to Ms. Rolle Deshti, Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, who will be joining us virtually.

Can you hear me?

Yes, we do.

Okay, thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair, distinguished delegates. On behalf of ESCWA, I'm pleased to share insights from the Arab region on unlocking SDG financing at the country level. Despite notable efforts, many countries in the region still face persistent financing gaps. Both in capital and in the systems needed to govern it effectively. Meeting these challenges require more than mobilizing funds. It demands strengthening national systems that can translate ambition into inevitable result— into investable results-oriented action. To that end, ESCWA works alongside governments to turn financing ambition into structured national action. In countries such as Egypt and Jordan, and in collaboration and coordination with Resident Coordinators and UN Country Teams, we supported the development of integrated national financing strategies that move beyond fragmented approaches. These strategies consolidate domestic, international, and private resources into forward-looking roadmaps, unified frameworks that are grounded in macroeconomic realities and aligned with national development priorities. Yet integrated financial financing strategies must also evolve into operational mechanisms. ASCWA supports this transition by providing countries with digital platforms and tailored analytical tools that guide policy design, identify, identify financing gaps, assess trade-offs, and improve the alignment of public and private finance with national priorities. In fragile settings, we emphasize de-risking tools including SDG-aligned sovereign guarantees, diaspora instruments, and impact bonds. In middle-income context, Catalytic capital and blended finance remain critical to support these efforts as we leverage AI-powered decision-enabling platforms that translate complex data into actionable fiscal insights. Our Integrated Budget Intelligence Toolkit, IBIT, uses machine learning to reveal inefficiencies and optimize budget allocation. Toward SDG priorities. The Social Expenditure Monitor enables governments to assess the equity, efficiency, and sustainability of their spending. In collaboration with the Resident Coordinators and UN country teams, we also support innovative instruments such as Climate SDG Debt Swaps, now under design with Jordan, Tunisia, and Mauritania. These mechanisms convert external debt service into climate-resilient investments embedded in national frameworks and are integrated into broader fiscal strategies with clear governance structures. ESCWA approach is anchored in systematic collaboration through the Sustainable Debt Coalition. We work with ECA, ECLEC, and UNCTAD to provide technical support on debt sustainability, fiscal resilience, and access to capital. This inter-regional effort ensures scalable, context-aware fiscal innovation. We also engage with the financial sector. In partnership with ESCWA, the Union of Arab Banks has committed to mobilizing $1 trillion in SDG-aligned finance by 2030, a milestone that reflects the region's growing momentum towards sustainable banking practices, ESG alignment, and development-linked finance. In sum, ESCWA partners with resident coordinators and UN country teams to equip member states with the tools, partnership, emerging technologies, and strategies needed to align national ambition with global investment. By embedding credibility, coherence, and data-driven systems at the center of development financing, we help countries unlock the future they envision. Thank you.

Doy las gracias a la secretaria ejecutiva.

I'd like to thank the Executive Secretary of ESCWA. I now give the floor to Ms. Björk Sankjer, Assistant Secretary General for Policy Coordination at the Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

Thank you very much, Chair. Excellencies and distinguished delegates, it is a pleasure to join you today to discuss financing for sustainable development. We've heard yesterday and today how we are meeting in an extraordinarily challenging global environment. The world economy is decelerating with significant downside risks, particularly if trade tensions further escalate. Some donors are retreating from aid commitments,, and the value of multilateralism itself is being questioned. So this is exacerbating a sustainable development crisis with financing challenges at its heart. Without adequate financing, achieving the Sustainable Development Goals will remain out of reach. So discussions at the preparatory sessions for the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development to take place in Spain are focusing on solutions to all these issues. Despite the challenging environment, it's great to see how member states are putting forward ambitious and creative solutions. I'd like to mention a few examples. First, the negotiations have highlighted the importance of country leadership and country ownership in defining financing strategies. Integrated National Financing Frameworks, or INFFs, have emerged as a vital tool for countries to lay out strategies to finance their national sustainable development strategies. The UN family has come together to support more than 80 countries in implementing INFFs, with Resident Coordinators often in the lead. I have been encouraged to see several of you report on concrete progress you have made in helping countries mobilizing additional financing, for example through green bonds in Indonesia and Tajikistan. Another example, through the Financing for Small Island Developing States, the FINS initiative, DESA is providing targeted support to countries such as the Dominican Republic, Seychelles, Fiji, and Vanuatu to develop integrated financing strategies aligned with their national development priorities. Again, this work is undertaken in close collaboration with Resident Coordinators and UN Country Teams and is anchored in the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework. The second set of examples from the Financing for Development IV negotiations, we see a strong focus on strengthening countries' capacities to mobilize resources domestically. DESA supports Member States in this area through technical advice, through expert and through intergovernmental processes. The intergovernmental negotiating The Working Committee on the United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation, serviced by DESA, is drafting the Framework Convention, a landmark opportunity to make the international tax system more inclusive and effective. We are also working to ensure that fiscal policy promotes both growth and equity, linking domestic revenues with social investments and climate goals. DESA also oversaw a Development Account project that brought together the UN regional commissions to strengthen domestic resource mobilization as part of, again, INFF implementation. That project helped countries to enhance tax policy and administration, address illicit financial flows, and align public finance with sustainable development priorities—again, very important topics in the FFD4 discussions. My third example is around private investment that we know is a major driver of sustainable development. Together with our partners, DESA supports countries in identifying investment opportunities. Through the Global Investors for Sustainable Development Alliance, we are working to to scale up private investment aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals. We are also deepening our engagement with the Resident Coordinators and UN Country Teams to support governments in operationalizing their financing strategies, including through SDG Investment Fairs and tailored support for countries in special situations. So dear colleagues, I know many of you are involved in the FFD4 preparations, and I would really like to stress how the upcoming FFD4 in Spain represents that critical opportunity to complement our work on the ground with achieving systemic reform at the global level. FFD4 aims to catalyze that large-scale impact focus investment push for the SDGs that we need, and to reform the international financial architecture to make it more inclusive and effective. Dear friends, let me end by ensuring all of you that DESA remains committed to working collaboratively with all member states to ensure that financing becomes a bridge to sustainable development, not a barrier. Thank you.

I thank the Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination of DESA for her statement.

Dr. Mufufu, UN Resident Coordinator in South Africa, who's joining us virtually, over to you.

Good afternoon, good evening, and I hope you can hear me clearly. Mr. President, Excellencies, distinguished delegates, and fellow colleagues, it is certainly a privilege to be able to address the ECOSOC Operational Activities for Development segment today and to focus on such a critical issue, which is about financing for the SDGs at the country level. 10 years ago, at the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, the global aspiration was to turn billions into trillions for sustainable development. But sadly, only last week The Economist reminded us that this scenario has yet to materialize. We are all acutely aware of the rapidly shifting landscape of financing for development and the prospect of accelerated aid decline, the crushing burden of debt on poorer countries, and increasingly limited physical space for vital SDG investments. My message here today, therefore, is however one of hope and agency. Despite these formidable financing challenges, UN country teams working with resident coordinators around the world are using creative ways to forge ahead. The consistent message I hear from my colleagues across the world— and recently we were in a retreat, the Africa RCs, with the DSG, there was a clear sign that a tremendous amount of work is being done at the country level to engage and accompany governments in efforts to successfully mobilize resources for the SDGs. In the past 5 to 6 years, IRCs and UNCTs globally have worked tenaciously in leveraging the INFF's unlocking private and blended finance and forging catalytic partnerships as we are seeing palpable results. The UN Development System is actively engaging countries to mobilize resources needed to achieve the SDGs, of course always tailored to the unique context and the diverse challenges faced by different typologies of countries, be they middle income, lower income, least developed countries, and SEEDs. Or even countries in or emerging from conflict. Let me therefore delve deeper into how UN country teams are leveraging INFFs to mobilize SG-aligned investments. UNCTs are increasingly utilizing INFFs as strategic tools to align financing with national development priorities and the SDGs. Firstly, we— the INFFs enable countries to comprehensively assess the entire landscape of financing from private to public and from domestic to international sources. Secondly, UNCTs are working to ensure that financing strategies are then meticulously designed and integrated into national development plans, ensuring coherent and coordinated actions across ministries, development partners, private sector, and other relevant sectors. Thirdly, UNCTs are supporting governments in strengthening institutions and systems for robust public financial management and effective domestic resource mobilization, as well as strategic investment planning. And lastly, INFFs are instrumental in identifying and prioritizing SDG-aligned investments often in close collaboration with development banks and private sector actors. In the South African context, as an upper-middle-income country, INFFs may not appear as indispensable at the first glance. With stable tax revenue hovering around 25% of GDP, the country has a significant capacity to invest in its social wage, with expenditures on health, education, and social protection accounting for approximately 60% of non-interest budgetary expenditure. These, of course, give South Africa comparative advantage to raise domestic resources that are able to be channeled into SDGs, and this is something that the country is doing resolutely. However, with the persistent deep challenges around inequalities and high unemployment, the Government of South Africa is showing renewed interest in the INFFs. And we are working with the government to ensure that this integrated framework for development finance can be taken advantage of during this period. And the UN is actively collaborating with partners across all sectors, including the Global Compact, as well as the Business Unity South Africa and the Presidency and other departments, in ensuring that we are making an impact. Furthermore, we have been successful in helping structure blended finance facilities that combine concessional finance from development partners, including funding from the Joint SDG Fund and commercial capital, to be able to accompany the country in its just energy transition aspirations. A case in point is also a Joint SDG Fund-supported access to energy and transition project in Zimbabwe. And a significant focus across the board for UNCTs and Resident Coordinators is helping countries to build a pipeline of investable projects, ensuring that they are ready for investors to step in and that governments can effectively implement and manage these projects. Finally, we are also increasingly focusing on collaborative interventions working across all sectors with small entrepreneurs, local stakeholders, to foster community-based interventions and solutions, including in townships across South Africa. That is why it is really important that we continue to count on the support of member states, including through ECOSOC, and in advance of the upcoming international conference on financing for development so that you can champion policies that foster greater coherence in development finance, incentivizing risk sharing for catalytic private and blended finance, and empowering UNCTs with the flexibility and the resources through the joint SDG Fund to continuously adapt and innovate our financing strategies to diverse national contexts. As we move forward, we can then ensure we are actually delivering the trillions that we envisioned not too long ago. I thank you.

I thank the RC for his statement. Doy ahora la palabra—

I now give the floor to Mr. Pablo Ruiz Yebra, United Nations Resident Coordinator in Uruguay, and he'll also be joining us virtually. Pablo, you have the floor.

Thank you, Maritza. Distinguished Chair, representatives, and panelists, it's really an honor to be at the OAS of ECOSOC. I'm going to address question 2 of this session about how to unlock private and blended finance at the country level, given the fact that in Uruguay we do not have an INFF. We are talking about Uruguay national priorities a country that is fully compromised with Agenda 2030 and who has achieved 100% renewable electricity. So basically is now trying to move to other sectors, to decarbonize sectors like transports. I am now presenting a new tool of blended finance, the REIF, the Renewable Energy Innovation Fund, which includes the UN, the commercial banks, the IFIs, and the government. The RAP is first unlocking resources for the energy transition, of course, but second looks at additionality. So how, you know, keeping in mind supply and demand, we can keep some social, gender, environmental, or innovation additional to a normal operation in the private sector. The fund combines financing and technical assistance and will provide lessons learned in the future. Can you hear me well?

Yes.

So the RAVE is all about doing business differently. Let me give an example. If a bank has to fund two projects, one of two projects, have to choose between one project that is contributing to the SDGs and one that is not, how he makes the right choice? In many cases, for small loans, the bank doesn't know which is the good one. So if we can make this step and take the right decisions, this will have a massive impact on the SDGs. This massive impact can be 1% or can be 2%, but it still is a massive impact in the SDGs. So this is a project where the government is working with the UN very closely, where the RC is working very closely with UNIDO, with UNDP, with UN Women and who has received the fund of the joint SDG fund and is closely linked to all the energy and industrial policy of the country. So far, more than $20 million have been approved and are underway. The rate is 1 to 6, so for each dollar invested by, you know, this project, $6 have been provided by the commercial banks. Approximately $3 million have been invested from our end, but total is more than $20 million, and we have about $30 million to be approved with a new project together with the IFC of the World Bank as well on green hydrogen. So, you know, we are making a lot of progress on that. We are making progress on green bonds from the NDC, and this country team is fully committed to push this agenda forward. Let me conclude with a final reflection, you know, building on previous discussion with former President Mujica, who passed away recently, and government officials, and Rick Inglises and others, what you are discussing, what we are discussing here is about global solidarity and how does it work. I think we have made a lot of progress in the past, and you, the member countries, of course, with our support, we have to do all that we can to preserve and to expand this global progress for humanity.

Thank you. I thank the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Uruguay for his statement. We will now hear from our first lead discussant. I give the floor to His Excellency Francois Jacquemin, Permanent Representative of Barbados. Excellency, you have the floor.

Thank you very much, Madam Vice President, and thank you also to the briefers in this session and in the previous session for really rich and thought-provoking presentations. With your permission, I'll make two broad points and then give two examples of something which I think would be of interest to colleagues in respect of what's going on in my part of the world. The first broad point that I wanted I want to make is that in this very complicated geopolitical and financial environment, from the perspective of my country, and I think more broadly speaking from my region in the Caribbean, it feels to us as though the UN Development System is in fact delivering on the promise that its reform had put forward a few years ago. And I start with this point because the circumstances, the broader circumstances, are proving to be so challenging. And I want to make the point here that while we embark on the UN80 exercise, while we look for efficiencies and for the right-sizing of the UN system, it is essential for countries like mine that as we do this, we do not affect the parts of the system that are proven to work well already. So it goes without saying that Barbados strongly supports the regular budget funding for the RC system, and we urge greater alignment by agency boards to ensure that the Resident Coordinator has both the authority and the resources to lead effectively. The second point of a broad nature is that for SIDS and— certainly for Barbados. The issues we face have to do not so much with the volume of available development financing, but the structure, the fragmentation, and the high barriers to access. And this is why, again, the reformed UN Development System has such an important role to play in this context. And as you know, Madam Vice President, colleagues, Barbados has been making some broader arguments about how the international financial system should be restructured to enable this kind of financing to be made available to countries like ours. So, two examples of what's going on, if I may, in my country and my region. First of all, with the support of a consortium of international partners, including the UN, Barbados has over the last 2 years undertaken some debt for climate swaps. We have created a Blue Green Bank and we have issued blue bonds. So we are great believers in the importance of financial innovation. It's not the response to every problem. It's not the response for every country in every situation, but it's an important part of solving the development finance puzzle, and in this regard the UN Development System, both at the very highest levels in terms of norm-setting and policymaking, and on the ground in the RC's office in our countries, has been an invaluable partner. Secondly, and this is in response to the framing question on partnerships, we've also found that the Multicountry Office and the Resident Coordinator for Eastern Caribbean based in Barbados, has been at the forefront of deepening existing partnerships and forging new ones. And for a country like mine, partnerships are— they're important in any context, but they take on a special significance in very small countries where partnerships effectively mean you have to go beyond the national dimension. So the, the vast majority of the most significant partnerships that are being developed through the UN Resident Coordinator System are of a regional nature. So Barbados right now is the home for 21 UN agencies, all of which have a regional remit and a series of regional partnerships across the Caribbean. And so these are two examples, I think, of how the system is working well in a practical and responsive way for the needs of countries in my region. And to close, Madam Vice President, if I may just ask a short question to some of the— to the panelists who may think of this: how do we enhance this regional dimension so that it can deliver even more in countries and regions like mine? Thank you very much.

I thank the distinguished representative of Barbados for his comments and questions to our panelists. I now give the floor to our second panelist, His Excellency Chea O Keo, Permanent Representative of Cambodia. Excellency, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Madam Vice President. Excellencies, distinguished delegates, at the outset allow me to extend my sincere appreciation to ECOSOC for inviting me to be one of the discussions in these important sessions. I'm here to share some of our experience in coordinating the IMFF for the SDGs achievements. Like other developing countries, Cambodia has greatly benefited from the UN Country Team's steadfast support for advancing the SDGs, particularly in the area of poverty reduction and education. We are on track to leave from the least developed country category 2039. We are grateful for our partnership with the UN country teams, which has meaningfully contributed to Cambodia's development and SDG achievements. In this regard, I wish to highlight 3 brief points on how our partnership with UN country teams has helped advance the achievement of SDGs in Cambodia. First, since 2021, Cambodia and UN Country Team have jointly advanced the Integrated National Financing Frameworks, INFF, to better align financing with national development priorities and catalyze blended finance solutions. The INFF is now embedded into the national financing policy framework, enabling more strategic mobilizing priorities and coordination of public and private resources. Second, we— with the support of the UN Country Team, we are developing blended financing instruments such as the local currency-denominated bonds to attract private investments in the SDG priority sectors and to bridge SDG financings. A notable example of Cambodia's first fixed-coupon bond award of of 41.7 billion riyals, almost $10 million, issued in 2022 to support COVID-19 recovery efforts and advance SDG implementations. We are also advancing major public-private partnerships, including the $1.5 billion Dachu international airport and $200 million Sihanoukville Logistics Complex. Green Special Economic Zone is also planned to promote low-carbon skill-based growth. Third, to scale up impact, we encourage UN Country Team to provide advance support for the strengthening of Cambodia's national capacity in structuring private-public partnerships and blended finance and to explore more innovative financing mechanisms. Before concluding, I would like to reaffirm Cambodia's firm commitment to working with the UN Country Team and all the development partners to bridge financing gaps and to promote inclusive development for all, ensuring no one is left behind. I thank you.

I thank the Permanent Representative of Cambodia for his statement. I now open the floor to delegations to participate in an interactive discussion. Participants are invited to press the microphone button to indicate their request to intervene. I would like to remind speakers that to give all those wishing to speak the opportunity to take the floor, 3 minutes will apply for statements on behalf of groups and 2 minutes will apply to national statements. At the same time, in order to enable the interpreters to do the best job possible, please deliver your statements at a normal speaking speed. I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of the United Kingdom, followed by Spain and Indonesia.

Thank you, panelists, Vice President. The UK views FFD4 as a pivotal moment to secure global consensus on a modernized development finance landscape that addresses the interlinked challenges our world is facing, be that climate change, stagnating growth, stalling poverty reduction, increasing vulnerability, or rising conflict. We also hope the conference sends a strong political signal on the need to tackle fragmentation in the development architecture. In this regard, we welcome the focus in FFD4 on INFFs and country platforms. Country platforms could be a vital way to reduce fragmentation and ensure finance is linked to national planning and priorities. We hope that INFFs and country platforms encourage countries to bring together climate, nature, and development plans, ensuring every dollar we collectively spend maximizes impact for people and planet, and finding synergies that boost our efforts to tackle the climate and nature crisis and boost growth simultaneously. The QCPR underscored the need for greater coherence between the UN development system and IFIs. We want to encourage closer working, particularly in-country, between the UN and the World Bank. This is vital to turbocharging development finance efforts and tackling fragmentation.. It is also particularly important in supporting FCAS with their financing needs, context that INFFs should adapt to. In this regard, we will be interested in hearing the reflections from Mr. Mufer and Mr. Ruiz-Giabra for views on whether the UN Resident Coordinators have the tools and resources to drive this collaboration, and likewise to hear from the World Bank on what efforts the bank is taking to ensure strengthened collaboration with the UN. Thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of United Kingdom for his statement. Doi la palabra.

I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Spain, followed by the representative of Indonesia and Uruguay.

Spain, you have the floor.

Ambassadors, distinguished colleagues, we are at a very decisive moment to redirect financing for development towards a model which is more just and sustainable. As global challenges increase and become more complex, financial solutions must be participatory and adapted to the realities of every country. We need comprehensive approaches which guarantee national ownership, sustainability, and true long-term impact. In this context, the Integrated National Financial Frameworks, INFF, have become an effective tool to align national development strategies with available financial resources, both public and private resources. These are frameworks which are led by the countries, which make it possible to map funding sources, identify gaps, prioritize reforms, and mobilize resources more consistently. Its true value lies in being able to bring together all of the stakeholders—governments, multilateral development banks, bilateral partners, the private sector, and civil society—in a common platform for action. From the United Nations system, the country teams led by the Resident Coordinator play an essential role to drive this vision in promoting cooperation among agencies with the government and other partners to implement the INFF in a way that's effective and to promote conducive environments where investment decisions are in line with national priorities, strengthening accountability and transparency. Spain firmly defends this approach. As a strategic partner of the IDFF mechanism from its inception, we have provided financing, technical knowledge, and political support. The partners' meeting, which took place in Barcelona in January, shows this. More than 120 representatives from 40 countries reflected on how to strengthen the country approach in financing for development. To close the financial gap, we must mobilize private capital as well, and that is why we need to establish regulatory frameworks which are clear, strengthen local markets, develop mixed financial innovative mechanisms, and adapt solutions such as loans in local currency or debt pause clauses in the light of a crisis. Furthermore, we must incorporate sustainability as a central investment criterion and move towards more responsible business standards. As a host of the 4th Conference on Financing for Development, Spain reaffirms that the INFFs are key for a new financial paradigm which are more inclusive, coherent, and aligned with the SDGs, gender equality, and climate action. Thank you very much. I thank the distinguished representative of Spain for her statement. I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Indonesia, followed by the distinguished representative of Uruguay.

Thank you, Madam Vice President. Indonesia thanks the speaker for their presentation. We know the importance of strengthening the implementation of financing commitments. Understanding the current constraint at the global level, we would like to ask two questions to all speakers. First, we understand the importance of innovative financing mechanisms to strengthen financing for development. In this regard, in the context of public-private financing, can you share what are the key leverage points and incentives, there are potential to be shared to private sectors in stimulating active involvements for financing for development? Second, similar to our question in the previous session, underlining the pertinent role of the Pact of the Future that countries have agreed last year, how far has the Pact of the Future been helpful to secure supports and scale-up financing for development? How far has the pact been utilized? Thank you. Thank you.

I thank the distinguished representative of Indonesia for his statement. I now give the floor to the distinguished representative of Uruguay.

Thank you very much, Ambassador. Vice Chairman, Uruguay welcomes the opportunity to participate in this dialogue on financing, and we celebrate this visibility of the work of the UN country terms in coordination with different actors to strengthen finance strategies aligned with sustainable development and national priorities. For countries such as Uruguay, the support of the UN system has been crucial to identify investment opportunities, strengthen institutional capabilities, and to coordinate strategic partnerships. We welcome in particular the efforts made by the Resident Coordinator of Uruguay, Pablo Ruiz Siebra, who are a clear example of those successful cases which he pointed out in his presentation today. Among the specific experiences towards an economy which innovates with sustainable development, with the creation of ecosystems in Uruguay, we have sustainable finance ecosystems and we have innovative instruments such as thematic bonds that link to environmental goals with the support and technical assistance of the United Nations along the Bliens is what was mentioned by the delegate of Barbados. This type of instrument is very important. And also solutions such as the Joint SDG Fund has managed to bring together millions in impact projects on national priorities such as just energy transition, digital transformation with a human rights approach, as well as the economic empowerment of women. Also through the INFF, It was possible to map funding sources, both public and private funding, as well as national and international funding, and to move towards a strategy which is more consistent in order to mobilize resources for the SDGs. As for private financing, there are still challenges in order to transform the interests of the sector in concrete investments in line with sustainable development. For that, we believe it's essential to have financing mechanisms combined financing mechanisms which reduce risk and facilitate the participation of the private sector in key areas such as renewable energy, resilient infrastructure, and the circular economy. In all of these efforts, the UN Country Team has played a decisive role as a coordinator of partnerships, a technical catalyst, as well as a facilitator for dialogue. Uruguay reaffirms its commitment to the strengthening of sustainable financing as a key pillar to accelerate the 2030 Agenda and urges that we deepen this cooperation with all of these stakeholders in the international system.

A question: Are the strategies being considered to include the legislative branch and the academic sector in the governance and implementation of the SDG funding strategies at the national level? If any, if we can hear some examples of it. Thank you.

Thank you. I give the floor to the distinguished representative of the Netherlands.

Thank you very much, Madam Vice President. Thank you very much to the panelists for all their presentations, and it's good to hear some very valuable examples from from the different resident coordinators on what they have done to catalyze funding, work with international financial institutions and the private sector. The Netherlands looks forward to the 4th Conference on Financing for Development in July in Sevilla in Spain. We believe that we have to be ambitious, but at the same time realistic and balance what we can ask. We cannot, unfortunately, not overcommit, and we have to be realistic in our options. It is a reality that official development assistance is decreasing, and we should see— look more to ODA as a way of catalyzing other financial possibilities. For example, to look more at working, you know, supporting the private sector, supporting private sector funding opportunities by pipeline creation and de-risking, but also look at other innovative financing mechanisms. For example, ILX, which is a way for pension funds to mobilize investing in SDGs. So I I'd be interested to hear from the different panelists how they look at these different options as a way to further support financing for the Sustainable Development Goals. Thank you very much.

I thank the distinguished representative of the Netherlands for her statement. I'd like to give the floor now to our panelists to briefly respond to the comments and questions from delegations. As well as the two ambassadors who have accompanied us this afternoon. I'd like to begin with the panelists who will be joining us virtually.

Nelson, you want to start?

Go ahead. Okay. No, thank you so much. I, I can start and go very briefly as well. And thank you, Excellencies, actually and delegates for the comments and, but most importantly, also the questions that will help us clarify very quickly some of the opportunities that we're seeing in country with regards to financing for development. A question directly that was posed about whether as RSCs we think the UN and RSCs have the requisite assets and authorities to be able to advance this, and I would say It's work in progress. We would definitely benefit from having especially more resources to be able to continue to leverage the convening power that we're trying to utilize at country level to strategically position the UN, but also the ability to be able to tap in a meaningful and intentional way into the expertise across the entire UN system resident and non-resident. So more explicit support in that regard, I think, would be very beneficial. Uh, furthermore, um, like I've indicated, ensuring that there's more resources for this type of work, including through the Joint SDG Fund, will significantly help us to be able to do de-risking but also engage with governments in the manner that they are better prepared to be able to also engage with the commercial With regards to the Pact of the Future and how that relates to the work that we're doing on financing for development especially, certainly in my context, the South African government has embraced the Pact for the Future and is using all its components to be able to look at how that impacts work at the national level, but also how that is integrated into the G20 presidency that it currently is undertaking. Just last week, a digital transformation strategy that envisages a collaboration with the financial sector and funding from there as well has been launched. The same goes for an AI strategy that's in place and looking at how also to ensure beneficiation of critical minerals, green hydrogen, and all things that really go to the heart of what the pact also advances. South Africa certainly is also trying to look at ways of reinforcing the outcomes of the FFD conference and most importantly, also advance the necessity of the reform of the international financial architecture, because that also has a relevance to the work that they're trying to look at. But most importantly, they're looking at the cost of capital. And debt issues as well, which goes also to what the Pact speaks to. Those are some of the things that we're trying to do from our side. The opportunities are tremendous. The resources are not adequate. The authorities can certainly be reinforced so that Pablo and I and colleagues around the world can continue to do the work that we're doing in this regard. Over to you, Pablo.

Thank you, Nelson. I will not answer on the issue of the, you know, the FFD, the important meeting in Sevilla. I think other panelists may be better placed to do so. Neither on the Pact that, you know, I think Nelson covered really well. I have 2 or 3 comments. One on the collaboration with the World Bank, which is very interesting actually because we should always collaborate with the World Bank. I mean, I am a fanatic of the collaboration with the World Bank. But obviously it's very different, the collaboration in a country like, you know, in Haiti where I started my career, where we were working on post-conflict recovery frameworks, than in a country like Uruguay, you know. And here definitely the work with private sector, the work with financing becomes absolutely central. And I was lucky enough to have funds from the ACG Fund to engage on that. Now we are very close to signing a $30 million operation with the IFC. Where we are learning things every day. You know, they see an interest in working with us on certain issues. We are seeing an interest in working with them in others, and we see the complementarity of those things with commercial banks aligned with the work of, you know, the government has set up on terms of the industrial and energy policy. So, you know, it's a very interesting new avenue of collaboration that we should be able to to learn from and to expand in other countries in the future. I mean, it's really, really unique in a sense. So, a lot of work to do, but of course it's not a work only of the RC, it's a work of the full country team, and we have a very good country team here in Uruguay, and I hope it will continue to be the case for a long time. The second one, the question about incentives and what kind of strategies. I mean, it's really interesting because when we started this program, we were not sure that we will get interest from the private sector itself. You know, we were wondering, well, they are going to pay back. So why they are going to engage on this additionality, on environment, on gender, on, you know, on all these issues, the social issues that are not, you know, tied to a normal kind of operation. And what we have discovered is like, you know, there is an interest Of course, you cannot put the bar too high, but you cannot put the bar too low because then, you know, private sector can do this operation by themselves. So you have to find where you have this little push to get SDGs, you know, at a higher level than it could be without your intervention. And in this regard, there are studies of the risking which are important, but we have discovered that a very interesting thing for the commercial banks is the technical assistance that we provide. Because they don't have experts to look at the environment or the social issues, at least not for this size of projects, you know, for example, below $10 million. So they are learning how to do that and they appreciate we can play ball with them on this one, sometimes even more than the money that can be allocated to this operation. So we keep learning, but, you know, we are seeing how these different streams of funding can be, you know, mutually reinforcing.. Then, and again, we are really beginning to get a lot of these lessons and document it to be able to replicate it in other countries in the future. Then there is a very small point I wanted to make. You know, look at this $50 million project. This is, you know, twice the size of the operation of the UN in Uruguay. So we have, you know, an operation and a certain number of interventions which are going well beyond of what our normal operation is, at least in financial terms. Of course, you have all the normative work and all that, but it's a great opportunity to us to be able to engage on those streams of work. And definitely when I have a new government which is so committed to push, you know, some of these sectors from the policy level. And last, I wanted to answer the question on the pension fund. You know, when we started a discussion on that with some of these pension funds, they told us, you are too little, you know, we are interested in much bigger operations like on the $100 million. So, you know, we have to see how this experience can provide lessons learned at this scale. Definitely going to a different scale would require a different design, but I'm sure, you know, we will learn a lot as well from the the triple impact work of other institutions, including the pension funds. Thank you.

I want to thank Pablo and Nelson for their responses, and I would like now to hear from Dessa Björk.

Over to you. Thank you very much, Vice President, and thanks to the speakers. I mean, we heard yesterday about the the survey that's been done that showed that countries were very happy in general with the UN country teams and listening to the RCs we've heard now, I understand why. So thank you for sharing those experiences, sharing those experiences with us, and thank you to the discussants and those member states who have raised important questions. This session is really about collaboration at the country level, and I wanted to add a couple of points to the great responses that we've heard already from the two RCs. There were a couple of speakers that raised the question around unlocking private finance, blended finance, how do we use ODA? In the context of financing for development, The part that is ODA is a small part, but it's an important part, and we need to make sure as a global community that we make guidelines to spend that wisely and in line with country priorities. I think it's quite interesting to see over the last few years how that discussion has evolved into how we can use ODA more to unlock private investments, and that there is— there are some great opportunities to unlock quite large amounts of financing for development through, for example, through very targeted interventions. And they need to be targeted. This is not useful to solve all the problems in financing for development, but it can be used, for example, to correct market failures. And what we've heard very clearly in the context of the regional development banks, for example, is that it's very useful if we can use de-risking as a way to help link investors that would like to invest in certain sectors but in markets or in countries that are— either are or are perceived to be higher risk than these investors would would like to see. So we can devise tools, and there are several instruments to help de-risk and unlock those investments. But I think it's also important that we are very aware that those tools are useful in some sectors and to solve some problems. They don't solve all the problems, but they can help unlock financing for important sectors such as renewable energy. I think we heard some examples on that already. And all of that is being discussed as part of the preparations, again, for the Financing for Development Conference. I think the Pact for the Future gave us a push to move forward on the financing for development. It was helpful and it's very, very important that we use— and I would like to encourage all member states here to use that opportunity that the Financing for Development Conference provides to really get right our joint efforts to make sure that we have the financing of the quantity, but also of the quality that we need to really make progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. So I think with that, I think I'll end there.

Thanks. Thank you, Björk. I would like to thank our panelists for sharing their valued insights, as well as the delegations for their active participation. We have concluded this afternoon's program of work. We will meet again tomorrow at 10:00 AM in this same hall to continue our program of work. This session is adjourned.