Statement by Ms. Sofya Simonyan, Third Secretary, Permanent Mission of Armenia to the UN, UNDP/UNFPA/UNOPS Executive Board First Regular Session

22 January, 2018

Mr. President,

I would like to begin by congratulating you and the Bureau on a successful start of the session and to wish you all the best in advancing the agenda of the Board in 2018.

Our delegation thanks the Administrator for his statement and we welcome his vision and the business model. The adoption of the UNDP Strategic Plan has been, indeed, a critical milestone in the overall context of the UNDS repositioning process. We recognize the efforts of the UNDP to adjust to the broader UNDS reform efforts of the SG. The Strategic Plan is a good foundation for adjusting the UNDP to new realities and expanding the pool of partnerships, including and especially the private sector. We welcome the contribution of 1 mln USD from private sector, and we would appreciate hearing more from the Administrator about the source of that contribution. Also, it would be much appreciated if the Administrator could further elaborate on his intentions for the 26 January review of the UNDP work with the private sector.

The Administrator refers to UNDP as the bedrock of the UNCT and RC system. What additional comments would the Administrator share about the evolving UNDS system, especially in relation to the RC system, its overall management, the role of DOCO and dispute settlement mechanisms in RC/UNCT management?

Mr. President,

Given its extensive reach and cross-sectoral expertise, the UNDP is well positioned to facilitate and accelerate opportunities and help countries leap forward, beyond the traditional mainstream development cooperation. Leveraging partnerships is and should be an important driver of impact for UNDP and we welcome the integration of this recognition in the regional program document for Europe and the CIS for 2018-2021. We noted certain observations in the document concerning the diversities of the regional context identified in the document’s program rationale, including the references made to European integration and accession to the Eurasian Economic Union. We reaffirm Armenia’s persistent strong commitment to continue on its path of reform while generating further synergies across different integration frameworks. We invite the drafters of the program document to review the observations on the regional context and we stand ready to discuss it further.

Together with the UNDP, our long-standing partner, we have been setting up a national platform to support the acceleration of the SDGs, with a focus on the strong impact of reform and innovation in advancing “smart development”. Our track record has been acknowledged as an illustrative example for a country support platform approach offered in the new Strategic Plan, and we hope, our partnership with UNDP will further serve as a scalable pilot to accelerate the implementation of the SDGs. We appreciate the continuous support to the process of nationalization of the SDGs in Armenia, as demonstrated by the recent visit of the SDGs Mainstreaming, Acceleration and Policies Support Mission of the UNDP to Yerevan. We look forward to the finalization of the visit’s outcome document - the Roadmap for SDG Implementation in Armenia, which, we hope, will adequately reflect the inputs provided by the Government of Armenia.

Finally, Mr., President, I would like to reaffirm our support to a strong focus of the UNDP on innovation agenda, which is a particular priority for Armenia, and we would appreciate hearing more on the 1 February “kick off” event to review the UNDP’s innovation work mentioned by the Administrator.

I thank you, Mr. President, and, once again, I extend my warmest congratulations to you and to the Bureau.

MFA RA
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