AS DELIVERED

Mr. President, thank you for your work facilitating the Strategic plan decision and for your leadership of the Board this year. I would also like to thank the distinguished delegate from Mauritius for his able facilitation of the integrated budget decision. Congratulations to Administrator Steiner and his team for completing the strategic plan and integrated resources plan and integrated budget estimates.

Implementation of this plan, and UNDP’s focus and agility, will be closely tied to the Secretary-General’s reform initiative, creating new ways for the UN and UNDP to do their work better to meet Member States’ needs. Expectations are high, and I would like to take this opportunity to reassure the Administrator of our pledge to work closely with him and the Board to help UNDP meet new challenges and achieve greater successes. We call on UNDP to focus on its comparative advantages in this process.

We see peace, security, and prosperity as the overarching and mutually re-enforcing objectives of UNDP’s work. Similarly, UNDP plays a key role in addressing issues that are fundamental to development – such as social, economic, and political exclusions, the lack of rule of law, and respect for human rights. The United States will work closely with the Executive Board to ensure UNDP meets accountability and follow-up standards, and we welcome UNDP’s introduction of separate budget lines for the Independent Evaluation Office, the Office of Audit and Investigations and the Ethics Office.

Thank you.