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I would like to thank you for joining the briefing of the Informal Ad Hoc Working Group on the Mandate Implementation Review. It¡¯s not the first this time but this time in the General Assembly Hall, underlining how important this briefing is for all of us.

Allow me to begin by thanking the co-chairs, Ambassador Brian Wallace, Permanent Representative of Jamaica, and Ambassador Carolyn Schwalger, Permanent Representative of New Zealand, for their hard and very team-leading work. Feedback from the Membership has been encouraging, and we are grateful for the time and effort that has gone into this process.

I also wish to commend you, the Membership of this Assembly.

Because to be very frank and open, I felt some reluctance at the beginning of this session with regard to the reform process. With each passing day, however, of the 80^th session and of the discovery phase of the Mandate Implementation Review, and indeed throughout the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ80 Initiative process, I have felt a stronger commitment, and especially personal participation and engagement by the Membership, including from many of you, dear excellencies, and also including with a number of leaders at capital level.

And this is exactly what we need at this stage, and also what we need in these times, which are not the most easy ones.

It reflects clear interest and momentum in our shared effort to deliver a United Nations that is more effective, more efficient, and more cost-effective. There is a willingness and even eagerness, to meet this moment. To deliver on the three core principles of our institution, which are deeply interconnected, peace and security, sustainable development, and human rights, and make them stronger even in the most technical process we are discussing here today.

I thank each of you for stepping forward, even when the discussions are complex and the decisions difficult.

As we look ahead, it is essential that we maintain this momentum and this engagement.

With the discovery phase now complete ¨C and with the work towards a blueprint for our collective effort advancing ¨C we are entering the stage where the real work begins: the work of reform and renovation and the work of compromise.

For the mandate implementation review, this next phase will require actions that are both clear and decisive.

So, I would like to ask you not to shy away when we start to become more concrete. Because, we should not be na?ve, the political and financial pressure remains high. If we are not reforming ourselves, we will be reformed by others, probably not always with the intention of making this institution stronger or more effective.

That means changing things that have worked in the past or served us well over decades but maybe not the most efficient ones anymore in the 21^st century.

Take, for example, the ever-expanding number of agenda items. While this was the norm and may have worked in good times, today it may be counterproductive and if implemented, inhibit the meaningful engagement of all states.

The same can be said for how we record meetings; while taking written ¡®verbatim records¡¯ especially on disarmament during the Cold War, was heavily important, today we are living in a digitized world. So we can just use the technologies which are available and we don¡¯t need pens and paper for that anymore.

In this regard, I thank those of you who have contributed with very concrete proposals, some might say technical, but they are really efficient, on how to improve the working methods in the different committees as well as in the General Assembly.

I invite you to keep up this spirit throughout the remainder of the process, with ambition, with flexibility, and with the spirit of compromise that meaningful reform requires.

To help facilitate these deliberations, I have tasked the co-chairs with ensuring that the zero draft of the resolution contains ambitious, concrete proposals.

And I would like to encourage you to bring aboard everybody on your teams. Yourself, your capitals, but also invite your experts. Because we have had the situation where some parts are understood at a higher level, but when it comes down to the committees maybe not everybody was aware.

So dear colleagues, you see that this is a very important topic also for the PGA.

The Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ80 Initiative can no longer exist as a menu of possibilities. We cannot afford indecision, nor can we allow our ambitions to be diluted in the face of mounting political and financial pressure. This is about this institution; this is about the last 80-years and the next decades to come.

So let us move ahead creatively, constructively, cooperatively ¡ª and clear-eyed about the task before us and the responsibilities entrusted to us. To achieve something which we can be proud of, and this is probably more than just more paper and more words in resolutions.

In this spirit, I thank you for the work of the last months and indeed believe we are better together.

Thank you.

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