I deliver this statement on behalf of the Nordic Countries: Norway, Iceland and the EU members Denmark, Finland and Sweden, who align with the EU statement.
We welcome the presentation of the Medium-Term Plan 2026-29 and the Programme of Work and Budget 2026-27 and note the proposal to maintain the budget at the same level as in the present biennium.
New financing realities call for firm action to secure effective and efficient delivery. Ambitions must be aligned with available resources. Like other UN agencies, FAO must review its operations, organization and priorities with the purpose of focusing on core functions and delivery on its mandate.
We note the UN80 initiative of the UN Secretary General, which aims to make the UN more efficient and cost-effective and enhance transparency and accountability. The MTP and PWB include measures to increase transparency around efficiency and savings. Those efforts must continue.
FAO must focus on effective delivery on the ground and build on its comparative advantages, including as a normative, standard setting and knowledge organisation.
The core activities of FAO should be at the forefront of the programme of work and budget. We want FAO to continue to be a global knowledge hub of excellence, providing science-based evidence and statistics in the areas of food and agriculture in accordance with its mandate. It is vital to safeguard the organization’s technical expertise while supporting functions such as oversight, HR, logistics, and finance.
For the Nordic countries it is important that the Climate strategy and the Science and Innovation Strategy are implemented across the organization and that their impact is measured. Core activities such as One Health, forestry, bioeconomy, fisheries and aquaculture must be given due attention.
We welcome the significant increase of voluntary contributions in the last biennium, acknowledging the challenges it poses on the organization. We look forward to learning more about the results from these additional resources.
Given the current situation, we are concerned that the estimation of voluntary contributions as laid out in the PWB is too optimistic. We expect FAO to monitor developments and keep members informed and involved. We see the need for a risk-analysis also for the PWB as well as for the strategic framework.
We encourage FAO to increase its efforts to attract more flexible funding, and to develop modalities to use unearmarked funding more strategically, by strengthening its corporate systems, reporting and efficiency measures.
We encourage FAO to show how it contributes to its strategy, beyond linking FAOs work to the SDGs, by tracking efforts, funding, results and impact across priority themes.
Building trust with resource partners and exploring different funding modalities that meets the reporting needs and visibility of donors are essential. Improved financial flexibility could increase FAO’s effectiveness and should be a priority of the organization.
We also stress the crucial role of FAO’s normative work in genetic resources for food and agriculture conservation (GRFA) being adequately funded from the regular budget as well as from the extra-budgetary resources.
With these comments we endorse the conclusions in the reports of the recent Joint Meeting, the Programme Committee and the Finance Committee.
Finally, Mr. Chairperson, the Nordic countries are ready to work constructively with others to reach an agreement on the budget for the coming biennium.
Thank you!