Secretary-General, at High-level Event on Peacebuilding, State-Building, Pledges

Strong, Coordinated System-Wide Support for ‘New Deal’ Initiative

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message, delivered by Hervé Ladsous, Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, to the high-level side event on peacebuilding and State-building:  “The New Deal:  Perspectives of The g7+” in New York, 26 September:

I am pleased to send greetings to all participants at this important event.  I thank the Governments of Liberia, Timor-Leste and Afghanistan for bringing us together.

I have been a strong supporter of the New Deal since its adoption in Busan last year.  Today offers a welcome opportunity to present the New Deal to a wider audience.

Just a few weeks ago, during a visit to Timor-Leste, I saw for myself the ways in which the country is carrying out the New Deal as a pilot country.  At the fragility assessment workshop in Dili, I was encouraged by how Timor-Leste has involved key national stakeholders and civil society.

Other pilot countries have made important progress, as well.  The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Sierra Leone and South Sudan are at varying stages of their fragility self-assessments.  In South Sudan, the self-assessment was kick-started in late August with a workshop involving close to 100 Government, civil society, academic, non-governmental organization and donor representatives.

The New Deal aims to help us focus on achieving five important peacebuilding and State-building goals.  Success will depend on political and financial commitments from both g7+ countries and their development partners.  But, the New Deal and its goals go far beyond aid flows.  Three of the five goals relate to politics, security and justice.

To reach all of the goals, we need g7+ and partner countries to commit themselves to the New Deal fully and visibly.  The presence of President [Ellen] Johnson Sirleaf and Prime Minister [Ray Kala Xanana] Gusmão at today’s event sends a powerful signal of commitment.

The United Nations will strongly support the New Deal through a coordinated, system-wide effort.  Looking ahead, I have asked the High-level Panel on the post-2015 development agenda to reflect the particular challenges of the g7+ and other conflict-affected countries in the post-2015 framework.

I am confident that together we can help the 1.5 billion people who live in conflict-affected and fragile States to achieve lasting peace and sustainable development that benefits their people, their regions and our world.

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For information media • not an official record