51吃瓜

Mr. Chair,
Ambassador Amrit Rai,
Excellencies, Distinguished Colleagues,  

Thank you, Mr. Chair, for convening today’s meeting and for giving me the floor.  

Let me start by congratulating you once again for taking over the Chairmanship of the LDC group, and commend you for the outstanding manner you have been steering the Group since assuming the chairmanship. 

I thank you for so diligently presenting the LDC position in various platforms.  

This meeting is very timely. 

We are just two weeks away from the HLPF. And the negotiations on the political declaration of the SDG Summit is going on in full swing.

I also commend the Bureau for rolling out of its  plan for the year ahead and its deep commitment to advance the LDC agenda, especially the Doha Programme of Action.

Excellencies,

Allow me now to share some highlights for the next few weeks and months:

The HLPF is always one of the most important events in the UN calendar. 

We look forward to a strong engagement of the group in the thematic session for LDCs, LLDCs and African Countries. I also wish the LDCs,  who have volunteered to present their VNRs for this year,  all success.

My office is also collaborating with some of your Missions for organising side events. These are as follows:
?    Multi-tier Tracking Framework for Energy Access: Lessons learned and insights from new global surveys in     LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS”, organised with the World Bank on the 11th of July 
?    Briefing to all Member States on the work of the UN Technology Bank for the LDCs on the 12th of July
?    LDCs’ Access to Finance – Missing Links and Ways Forward, co-organised with Canada, Nepal and Lesotho on 19th of July

We are also convening the meeting of the LDC NFPs on 11th and 12th of July. This will be the first NFP meeting after the LDC5 conference. The meeting aims to foster the mainstreaming of the DPOA at the national level and discuss monitoring mechanisms and UN support.

A new policy brief on SDG7 prepared for the HLPF points out that the LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS need urgent international attention to address the inequalities in access to sustainable energy. 

Unless efforts are scaled up significantly in these countries, they will fall short of fulfilling the target of universal access to affordable, reliable, and modern energy services by 2030.

The ECOSOC will convene the second part of the management segment on 25th and 26th of July, where the Secretary-General’s annual  report on the implementation of the DPOA will be presented. This is going to be the second SG report after the adoption of the DPOA and the first after the LDC5 Conference.

An advance unedited of the report has already been released earlier this week.

The high-level week of the 78th UNGAi n September this year will have many important events, such as the SDG Summit, the dialogue on Financing for Development, the preparatory meeting for the Summit of the Future, and the annual Ministerial meeting of the LDC Group.

This will be followed by the main session of the 78th UNGA in October and November.

 My Office stands ready to support your delegations during the high-level week and during the negotiations of relevant resolutions at the main session of the General Assembly.

The COP28 on climate change will be held in December this year in the UAE. My Office will remain deeply engaged with the Member States and all other relevant stakeholders to contribute substantively to the discussions and outcome of the Conference.

As you know, my office is also working on a roadmap for the implementation of the DPOA. The roadmap will delineate clear responsibilities and milestones for all stakeholders until the mid-term review of the DPOA, which is likely to be held in 2026. 

Excellencies, 

Before I conclude, I would like to inform you that we have already made some progress on the priorities that I outlined during handover ceremony in March.

We have drafted detailed proposals on all the DPOA deliverables.  We are now exploring the possibility of getting on Board some important donors and partners to implement them.

We aim to fully operationalize iGRAD - the sustainable graduation support facility soon.

We are also working on the report of the Secretary General to explore the feasibility of an online university or other equivalent platforms; as well as an international investment support centre; and comprehensive multi-hazard crisis mitigation; and resilience-building measures for LDCs.

As requested by last year’s  UNGA resolution on the follow-up of the 5th UN Conference of the LDCs, we are preparing the second feasibility report of a system of stockholding or alternative means. This will also be submitted to the 78th UNGA.  A scoping exercise to tailor such a system to the specific needs of LDCs will be performed soon.

I would rest it here.

I once again thank the Chair for convening today’s meeting and giving me the opportunity to brief you all on our work and priorities.

I thank you for your kind attention.