Statement by Deputy Permanent Representative Dmitry Chumakov at the First Regular session of the Executive Board of UNDP/UNFPA/UNOPS
M-me President,
Mr. Administrator,
First, I would like to congratulate the Bureau and new Board members on their election this year. We hope our joint work will be productive and serve for the benefit of the people on the ground.
I would like to commend UNDP’s work on mitigating the impact of COVID-19 and it’s leadership in the UN socio-economic response to the pandemic. From conducting 128 socio-economic impact assessments to improving social protection systems and bridging digital divide, UNDP’s work has been crucial in helping countries to overcome the effects of COVID.
What is more, we would like to thank UNDP’s management for the very high level of organizational culture and for the sound financial management; for the forth-year in a row UNDP has been achieving balanced budget without deficits as well as remained the most transparent of UN agencies. Russia remains a strong supporter of UNDP and it’s action-oriented work, including through the Russia-UNDP Trust fund for development.
M-me President,
In light of the adoption of the Strategic Plan later this year, we would like to point out that we expect this document to be balanced and based on intergovernmentally agreed language and on the comprehensive and indivisible nature of SDGs, bearing in mind the three dimensions of sustainable development.
We understand that conflict prevention will be one of the aspects of UNDP’s work to be discussed during the Strategic Plan preparation process. In this regard, it is important to mention that we all have to continue to consider this work in line with the Board decision 2017/30 and believe that it should lie within UNDP’s development work to strengthen capacities of partner countries in line with their national policies and priorities.
Thank you!
