Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ

– As delivered –

Statement by H.E. Tijjani Muhammad Bande, President of the 74th Session of the United Nations General Assembly

17 February 2020

Distinguished Co-facilitators,

Excellencies,

Distinguished Delegates,

I thank the co-facilitators, Her Excellency Mrs. Milica Pejanovi? ?uri?i?, Permanent Representative of Montenegro and His Excellency Mr. Collen Vixen Kelapile, Permanent Representative of Botswana for convening this inaugural consultative meeting of the alignment of the agendas of the General Assembly, ECOSOC, and its subsidiary bodies, as related to Sustainable Development. I am confident that their leadership and your consecutive engagement will guide us to consensus.

I also thank the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Secretariat for their invaluable support to co-facilitators throughout so far.. their timely advice and their engagement with high-quality technical inputs.

I commend Her Excellency Ambassador Chatardov¨¢, the Permanent Representative of the Czech Republic to the United Nations and His Excellency Ambassador Lopes De Jesus Pires, Permanent Representative of Timor Leste to the United Nations, for their leadership on this process throughout the 73rd session.

Last session was marked by a successful mapping of the Sustainable Development Goals; determining linkages to the agenda items of different bodies.

We need to build upon this work and discuss the development of possible criteria for assessing overlap and duplication.? We are planning to achieve the SDGs by 2030, and in order to get on track we must ensure coherence and complementarity throughout our workstreams.

The President of ECOSOC and I have sought to do this by developing synergies and ensuring coherence in our work through our monthly meetings. ?

Excellencies,

Distinguished Delegates,

As mandated in General Assembly Resolution 73/341, I have engaged Member States, the President of the Economic and Social Council, and the General Committee in consultations to identify gaps, overlaps and duplication in the agendas of various bodies.

These interactions, as well as the Joint Briefing of the Presidents of ECOSOC and the General Assembly to Member States, have been marked by the support of Member States in moving this process forward. At the beginning of the Decade of Action and Delivery, I urge you to translate this good will into action.

Excellencies,

We must retain substantive content in the intergovernmental agenda. However, we must ensure the highest level of efficacy and efficiency by removing overlap and duplication. This should not undermine the comprehensive nature of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Furthermore, if we think that any new items offer additional value, we must integrate them in a way which bridges existing gaps in development agenda of the relevant bodies.

Indeed, we must also recognise the value of different perspectives. For example, there are different perspectives and mandates in each of the Main Committees ¨C notably the Second and Third Committees, which enable us to examine, understand and advance the SDG¡¯s holistically.

Excellencies,

Seventy-five years ago, the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ was created to build trust between nations, and proffer hope to those suffering. Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ sought to serve the people.

In 2015 we pledged to leave no one behind; to address challenges facing the people we serve including hunger, poverty, climate action, and access to quality education.

As such, our work in this alignment process must be centred around the advancement of society and must meet the needs of the people we serve.

We will only succeed through collective action. To this end I trust that you will give the co-facilitators your full support and utilise the Second and Third Committees as fora for discussion on relevant issues.?

The Office of the President of the General Assembly stands ready to assist you throughout this process.

By successfully aligning our agendas, we will make progress on the path to 2030 and in doing so, create a better world for all.

I thank you.