• Secretary-General, Excellencies,

• I have the honour to speak on behalf of the EU and its Member States.

• Thank you Secretary-General for your report, and for being with us today.

• On behalf of the EU and its Member States, let me thank you and DSG Amina Mohammed, as well as the whole UN Development System for the results achieved since your last report.

• Our thanks also go to the Tunisian ECOSOC Vice-Presidency for chairing OAS and to the Secretariat for the good documentation provided.

• We welcome the progress so far, including a well-functioning RC-system despite the documented resource constraints, and impressive efficiency gains of over half a billion US Dollars last year.

• We note the record overall financial volume of the UN Development System operational activities amounting to 54.5 billion US Dollars in 2022 – an increase of 17 percent in comparison to the previous year’s volume. We appreciate all contributions made, be they big or small.
  We need all hands on deck to mobilize resources and accelerate SDG achievement. This also means more effective strategies for private sector engagement, domestic resource mobilization, for the cooperation with IFIs and for innovative financing.

• The Secretary-General’s report on the implementation of General Assembly resolution 75/233 on the QCPR includes a wealth of information on how the UN development system has improved. Overall, the UNDS and especially the UN Country Teams performed well in supporting partner governments on the so-called four “engine room capacities” of (1) policy and regulatory frameworks, (2) pipelines of market-ready national projects; (3) partnerships for financing these initiatives; and (4) building institutions and capacity at scale to steer and sustain the transitions.

• We support the shift from isolated projects to integrated policy support, which is underway throughout the entire UNDS and much-required in order to make the desired impact at scale. In this context, we encourage more coordination and better collaboration amongst UN entities, including system-wide approaches, aiming at more efficient and effective delivery on the ground.

• We take special note on the support Resident Coordinators and UN Country Teams have provided to countries to uphold the commitments of universality and leaving no one behind. These efforts have spanned from the fulfilment of human rights obligations, the prevention of all forms of violence and discrimination against women and girls, follow up on the UN youth strategy and focus on indigenous peoples, migrants, refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced persons.

• All UN entities must rally behind the objectives of the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Frameworks. Those need to include ambitious goals like implementing social protection schemes and tackling the food crisis while embracing cross-cutting issues such as gender equality and climate issues.

• We are glad to see progress, but as the SG’s report makes clear, further efforts are needed. And not only to increase the effectiveness of the UN system, but also to ensure a coherent push by all stakeholders for SDG implementation.

• Overall, progress towards the SDGs is far too slow and has to be re-energized, as we have agreed in the Political Declaration of the SDG Summit last year. The UNDS needs to deliver on the ambitions and commitments that flow from that Summit. This year’s Summit of the Future must add impetus.

• The UN Development System is a key asset in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. It is important that its reform is fully implemented. In this context, we welcome the new Funding Compact between Member States and the UNDS and will strive to adhere to its targets. In particular, we recognise the need for more core funding and pool-funding for the UNDS and UN agencies, and the need for those agencies to play their key normative roles, and to act in a coherent and coordinated way at all levels.

• The adequate and sustainable funding of the Resident Coordinator System remains a key concern and is crucial to a well-functioning UNDS. We thank for the useful briefings on this matter over the last number of months. We will remain a constructive partner and will be fully engaged on considering the SG’s proposal for a new financing model in the current 5^th Committee negotiations.

• On a final note, given the extensive amount of data contained both in the SG’s QCPR report, as well as the UNSDG Chair’s report, we would appreciate receiving eventual further background documentation as early as possible, to allow all member states to prepare effectively and put us on a constructive path for the upcoming QCPR process.

Excellencies, colleagues,

• We have six years to reach the SDGs. Let me once again assure you of the EU and its Member States’ continued support to the UN Development System, to make the SDGs a reality.

• I thank you.