UNCTAD Trade and Development Board Seventy first session

PRINT

UNCTAD - Trade and Development Board Seventy-first session

16.09.2024 Press and information team of the Delegation to the UN in Geneva

UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ON TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT

Trade and Development Board
Seventy-first session

(16 - 27 September 2024)

EU statement (check against delivery)

Agenda Item 3: General Debate

Dear President, Secretary General, Excellencies, distinguished Delegates,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union and its Member States.

At the outset, we would like to thank the outgoing President, Ambassador Ruddyard, for his work and guidance since assuming this position. It was a challenging, yet productive year for UNCTAD.

At the same time, we would like to welcome and congratulate you, Ambassador Bekkers, for your election as the President of this 71^st session of the Trade and Development Board. As well as to all other members of the Bureau. We look forward to work with you and with the rest of the membership in this highly important year that should culminate with the 16^th Ministerial Conference in 2025.

There is a lot of ground to cover with this opening intervention. In particular in view of the very comprehensive introductory words given by the SG, which we took good note of. With due consideration of the time, we will only briefly refer to some of the issues we wish to highlight, namely on three aspects: first on the observed global development context, second on UNCTAD's achievements, and third on expectations for this Board session and the drive towards the Conference.

Mr. President,

It is no news that progress on the 2030 Agenda is being held back by the international context of profound uncertainty and geopolitical tensions. Peaceful, just and inclusive societies, as well as the multilateral rule-based order, are being undermined by aggression, coercion and conflict worldwide. Such actions must be unequivocally condemned. Without peace and security, no goal can be achieved.

In parallel, the triple planetary crisis, economic and health shocks, and debt stress are felt by all, especially the poorest and the most vulnerable. These interconnected and interdependent challenges are making the attainment of SDGs even harder.

The full implementation of the 2030 Agenda is our shared responsibility that requires strong leadership and a whole-of-society approach. It also requires all stakeholders, developed and developing, private and public, to act responsibly, with due transparency and accountability, paying particular attention to the most vulnerable, namely LDCs and SIDS. This also requires particular attention to key cross-cutting issues, notably gender equality and human rights, to ensure that no one is left behind.

Mr. President, dear Secretary General,

UNCTAD, through its three pillars of work, has an important role to play in this context. We have listened attentively to SG Grynspan's presentation of the annual report. And would like to highlight three key achievements that we believe are a good demonstration of how UNCTAD is enhancing its role in a constructive and impactful manner.

First, we note considerable efforts made on result based management. We see the established framework as a serious and high quality tool that should enable the management to better assess actions implemented across the three pillars and define the necessary follow-ups. To be effective, the framework will need to be used pragmatically yet also critically. We look forward to receiving regular updates in this sense. And encourage UNCTAD to share its experience with other partners, such as WTO, as relevant.

Second, the setup of several formal and informal channels for bringing together cross-functional teams across the five UNCTAD Divisions seems to be contributing to cross-fertilisation and coherence. While cross-divisional synergies and peer review was formally foreseen at UNCTAD in the past, practical application was reportedly rather weak. We trust that the emphasis given to these important aspects by the senior management will translate into a genuinely collaborative working climate across the secretariat.

Third, we take good note of higher presence of UNCTAD at various international and multilateral fora. This is valuable for enriching the relevant debates without duplicating efforts. But this engagement needs to be a two-way process. Namely, it is important that the engagement also contributes to the knowledge base of UNCTAD, further augmenting the relevance of its output for the entire multilateral community.

Before concluding, Mr. President, just a few forward looking thoughts.

Since the last Conference, we have registered important improvements in the work modalities and outputs of the secretariat. This should be creating a positive momentum for the busy year that awaits us towards the 16^th Ministerial Conference next year.

We, the EU and its Member States, wish to reaffirm our commitment to UNCTAD. We are determined to contribute making the 16^th Conference pivotal in revitalising UNCTAD and fit for the challenges that lay ahead of us.

Over the past years we have reached many agreements on our intent to critically assess our work and identify improvements. Most notably, on the setup and implementation of the intergovernmental pillar. Thus far, we, the membership, have unfortunately not delivered on this agreed ambition. We hope that the Ministerial Conference in 2025 can finally serve for these overdue changes. Ideally defining a focused strategic orientation for the next quadrennial and a suitable framework to implement it.

Dear Mr. President,

We will reserve our comments on the different agenda items for when these are discussed over the course of this weeks.

Thank you.