Development

Following is UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ briefing to Member States on the resident coordinator (RC) system review report, today:

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message to the high-level ministerial conference of the Digital Assembly, in Lisbon today:

Reducing the cost of remittances is key to helping the world’s poorest countries marshal the resources needed to graduate from their low-income status and reliably finance sustainable development, experts said today as the first session of the Preparatory Committee for the fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries concluded.

The world’s poorest nations need international support to build their digital infrastructure and reskill their workforce so that they can better integrate into the sprawling global value chain, speakers told the Preparatory Committee for the fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries today.

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the opening of the African Dialogue Series, today:

Digital connectivity and access to modern technologies are essential for least developed countries to reap the benefits of the fourth industrial revolution and build resilient economies after the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic, speakers and panellists told the Preparatory Committee for the fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries today.

Access to finance and technology and building resilience against climate change, natural disasters and other shocks are among the key drivers of sustainable development for the world’s poorest countries, speakers said today as the first session of the Preparatory Committee for the fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries got under way.

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, to the Economic and Social Council operational activities segment for Session 8:  “Unleashing the United Nations development system’s regional assets:  The path forward”, today:

The COVID-19 pandemic served as a stress test for the repositioned United Nations development system, which rose to the challenge and has made the most of the Organization’s assets to help countries worldwide emerge stronger from the crisis, senior officials of the Economic and Social Council said today, as it concluded a three-day annual segment on operational activities for development.

The United Nations development system is better positioned thanks to recent reforms but more can and must be done to improve its effectiveness at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has wiped out a decade of achievements in some countries, delegates told the Economic and Social Council today at the opening of its three-day segment on operational activities for development.