Checked Against Delivery
Mr. Secretary-General, Excellencies, Co-Facilitators, Colleagues
Denmark aligns itself with the statement made by the European Union and we would like to make the following remarks in our national capacity.
Denmark remains firmly committed to supporting the UN80 reform process and we expect UN80 to deliver meaningful and lasting change. UN80 is indeed key to ensure that the UN remains relevant, effective and fit for purpose.
We wish to thank the Secretary-General for his detailed briefing, and we commend the Secretary-General for the clarity, the persistence and the ambition with which he consistently pursues reform.
Denmark supports the Secretary General’s clear aim for a United Nations that works coherently across its pillars; a UN that uses its resources effectively; and a UN that organizes itself around the mandates entrusted to it by Member States.
It is a fact, that the challenges faced by Member States and the UN system increasingly cut across institutional boundaries. Therefore, we consider that one of the most important contributions of UN80 is the system-wide and the structural nature of the reform. And the Secretary-General has shown that greater impact can be achieved when institutional boundaries do not stand in the way of joint endeavours, when entities combine their expertise and when operational capacities are in support of common objectives. With the aim to ensure a unified voice of the UN system and platform to deliver results with greater scale greater impact, particularly at country level and for us that includes for sustainable development and gender equality and women’s rights.
Looking ahead, the coming months will be decisive. The success of UN80 will increasingly be measured though implementation: by whether duplication is reduced; how shared services operate at scale; how needed expertise reaches counties more rapidly; how regional and country arrangements become more coherent, and how resources are redirected towards effective mandate delivery. In short: To show how the UN works as ONE.
To conclude. We encourage the Secretary-General, the UN System and Member States to build upon the present momentum and to sustain a high level of ambition going forward, including on structural changes such as mergers. To ensure that the UN80 reform gains become long-term, durable institutional practice. It is crucial to ensure a United Nations that is stronger, more efficient and better equipped for the future – and this will be important in order to restore trust in multilateralism and to deliver for the peoples we serve.
I thank you.
