Remarks by António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations on the 1st Session of ECOSOC 2020 Operational Activities for Development Segment.
“The next Quadrennial Comprehensive Policy Review is an opportunity to focus on critical policy issues that require special attention by the UN development system.
The next Quadrennial Comprehensive Policy Review can look deeply into how the UN development system can ensure accelerated efforts as we embark on the Decade of Action for the Sustainable Development Goals — and help governments recover better from the pandemic.
We must continue to step up cooperation in core areas where the interlinkages are strongest and our impact the greatest.
Climate change. Gender equality. Economic transformation and employment. And rooting out poverty and leaving no one behind.
Partnerships — including south-south cooperation — will also be pivotal, as will support to countries in special situations; including those experiencing fragility and crisis.
Excellencies,
In the space of a single Quadrennial Comprehensive Policy Review, we have deeply transformed the UN development system.
And we have done so in time to ensure we can better support countries as the world faces the greatest global human crisis in generations.
You can count on my determination – and the full commitment of all members of the UN Sustainable Development Group – to continue to honour your trust.
We count on you to continue to assume ownership over the new UN development system; provide guidance; and hold us accountable along the way.
Your voice and support in the ECOSOC, in every governing body, and in your relationship with individual agencies, will continue to guide success.
Your contributions to the new Resident Coordinator system and other critical areas of the Funding Compact will determine the long-term sustainability of the system we have built together.
Nearly 40 countries have supported this effort to date. I am grateful to every single one of them and urge your continued support.
I also count on others to step up at a time when the UN development system relies on a strong coordination backbone.
Working together – with our foot on the pedal and our eyes on the 2030 Agenda – we will get through this crisis and reach our destination — protecting hard-won development progress and accelerating our joint efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals in this Decade of Action” – António Guterres, UN Secretary-General [excerpt].
Full Remarks [as delivered]: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/statement/2020-05-19/secretary-generals-remarks-the-ecosoc-operational-activities-segment-delivered