I deliver this statement on behalf of the EU as a donor. 

First of all, let me join others in congratulating you, Ambassador Brandt, for your appointment as President of the Board.

We thank the Executive Director for her presentation. The European Union values the long-standing partnership with UNOPS at local level in our endeavour to support partner countries in achieving the SDGs.

Despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, UNOPS has - once again - significantly contributed to the UN response to the COVID-19 pandemic, to making procurement in difficult market conditions more efficient and to delivering quality infrastructure.

UNOPS’ experience in supporting smart investments in complicated contexts, particularly in climate and energy, transport, and health, while respecting the highest social and environmental standards, is a great asset.

Let me highlight the strong cooperation between the EU and UNOPS in providing COVID-19 assistance and strengthening health system, especially in the Western Balkans.

I also want to mention the partnership we achieved between the so-called Team Europe, which gathers EU institutions and EU ME, and the UN Team, gathering UNOPS and other UN agencies in the Horn of Africa in the context of the EU-IGAD COVID-19 response project.

But our partnership is much broader than fighting the current pandemic and includes peace and security issues, as demonstrated by our strengthened cooperation in Somalia, where we signed new projects to provide non-lethal support to the Somali security forces.

We are looking forward to the implementation of the UNOPS Strategic Plan 2022-2025 which can contribute to accelerating the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. We also welcome UNOPS linking its work closely to the implementation of “Our Common Agenda.

To better connect the world and at the same time protect our planet, the EU, just like UNOPS, is stepping up its own offer to help our partners around the world meet their development infrastructure needs. The Global Gateway, the EU’s new Connectivity strategy, launched on 1 December 2021, will be our flagship instrument to achieve that and will frame and fund Team Europe Initiatives from the EU and its Member States.

It is essential to combine forces for the financing and delivery of quality infrastructure and to ensure that both “quantity and quality” go together in order to trigger transformative change, change that works for all people and for the planet and that help us tackle the most pressing global challenges, from climate change and protecting the environment, to improving health security and boosting competitiveness and global supply chains. 

This combination of forces requires a strong dialogue at country level, between the UN Resident Coordinators and the EU Heads of Delegation, in order to share analysis, information on investment opportunities, and solutions.

Finally, the EU welcomes the establishment of a separate Sustainable Investments in Infrastructure and Innovation (S3i) reserve. It is a logical, financially sound, step, now that UNOPS is making direct investments from its own balance sheet, being the first UN organisation to do so.

Let me close by emphasizing that the COVID-19 pandemic is jeopardizing global progress made towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The EU will continue to be firm in its commitment to the 2030 Agenda as the roadmap of our action, to ensure that no one is left behind and that the world will in future be better equipped to weather systemic shocks.

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See also:

EU-UNOPS cooperation: factsheet about EU-UNOPS global partnership and key areas of collaboration EU-UNOPS factsheet