Many thanks Mr. Achim Steiner – for your remarks on the results achieved in 2018 – an eventful year, where you turned a corner institutionally with the separation of the Resident Coordinator function. Norway would like to commend the role UNDP assumed in this process – the workload you took on, while no operational activities of UNDP were interrupted.
You have taken this opportunity to strengthen the core of UNDP – in the shape of the Next Generation UNDP with increased efficiency positioning the organization to be better equipped to tackle the multidimensional development challenges of the 21st century.
We are pleased to see a balanced budget, and you deserve praise for having achieved gender-balanced leadership throughout the organization.
Norway remains a consistent partner for UNDPs strategic direction, with a focus on the core principle of leaving no one behind.
Norway’s development priorities have a strengthened focus on climate adaptation, disaster risk reduction and the fight against hunger. A deep dive into climate action today is therefore welcome – it is the defining issue of our times. It is happening as we speak – whether you are living in arctic Svalbard, on Fiji – or in Zimbabwe where people were affected by the recent cyclone Idai.
Climate change threatens decades of development progress and threatens all our plans for inclusive and sustainable development.
So what can we do? We need action and ambition. UNDP’s work is key – how you do business matters.
Let us look at what works – a number of countries are doing remarkable things in decarbonizing their economies, and we have high ambitions for UNDP to assist member states in pushing the envelope further. Climate action needs to be integrated into all development planning, and UNDP has to continue to work to advance development and climate objectives simultaneously.
Let me conclude by asking you how you see the Climate work in a peace-humanitarian-development nexus and how the new ways of working and your integrator role can further underpin UNDPs efforts in this area?
I thank you.