EU Explanation of Position: UN General Assembly: Adoption of the Multidimensional Vulnerability Index (MVI) resolution

President, colleagues,

• I have the honour to speak on behalf of the EU and its Member States.
  
• The Candidate Countries Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Georgia, as well as Monaco and San Marino align themselves with this statement.*

• First of all congratulations to Antigua & Barbuda and Portugal for their successful work as co-facilitators of this resolution.

• We thank all the members of the High-Level Panel on the MVI, under the leadership of Prime-Minsters Browne and Solberg, for their important report.

• The EU welcomes the Multidimensional Vulnerability Index (MVI) endorsed today.

• SIDS and other vulnerable countries face development challenges and vulnerabilities that are insufficiently reflected in the common national income indexes such as GDP and GNI per capita.

• By collecting more and disaggregated reliable data, the MVI can give greater understanding to inform decisions.

• The EU encourages all development institutions to build on this new tool, to better integrate factors for vulnerability into their analysis and action.

• We hope to work with all partners to ensure that the specific needs of developing countries are recognised and met.

President, colleagues,

• SIDS have waited decades for this day to arrive, for the General Assembly to take note of the final report of the High-Level MVI Panel and to decide "to advance the MVI".

• We note that, as today's resolution says, "Initially proposed by SIDS, the index aims to capture exogenous vulnerabilities and lack of resilience to exogenous shocks of all developing countries".

• We need the MVI as an analytical instrument to stimulate action.

• On the all-important climate change issue, the EU will continue to work closely with partners worldwide, in particular with the most vulnerable including LDCs and SIDS. We can take the MVI into account as one analytical tool to further upscale these partnerships.

• To summarize, the MVI is an important step in recognizing structural vulnerability and the lack of structural resilience across the different dimensions of sustainable development - economic, social and environmental. Using the MVI allows for a more nuanced understanding of a country's development needs and can stimulate pivotal action.

• The EU and its Member States look forward to continue supporting the MVI and its implementation.