Development

Following are UN Secretary‑General António Guterres’ remarks to the General Assembly at the adoption of the resolution on repositioning the United Nations development system, in New York today:

To a burst of applause, the General Assembly adopted today a landmark consensus resolution on repositioning the United Nations development system, hailed by Secretary‑General António Guterres as ushering in the most ambitious and comprehensive transformation of those activities in decades.

OSLO, 23 May (Office of Counter-Terrorism) — The United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) Oslo Governance Centre started a two-day meeting today on preventing violent extremism titled “Assessing Progress Made, and the Future of Development Approaches to Preventing Violent Extremism”, in partnership with Norway’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Oslo.  The sessions will include discussions on lessons learned on the role of the media, women and youth in preventing violent extremism, as well as effective reintegration of disengaged terrorist fighters.

All countries must uphold a spirit of international cooperation, support multilateral institutions and work together to tackle development challenges, participants stressed today, as the Economic and Social Council’s annual Development Cooperation Forum concluded.

Hard‑won development gains were being threatened by numerous challenges, including inequality, migration, climate change, the rise of violent extremism, populism and the shrinking of civic space, speakers warned today, as the Economic and Social Council’s annual high-level meeting of the Development Cooperation Forum got under way.

Following is UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s message, as prepared for delivery, to the high-level symposium:  “Strengthening Multilateralism and Multilateral Trading System in the Age of Globalization”, in New York today:

The Economic and Social Council conducted a series of interactive discussions on a range of issues spanning from development cooperation to debt to foreign investment as it wrapped up its four-day forum on financing for development.

Continuing volatility and a lack of trust were just some of the issues hindering private sector investment in developing countries, speakers said today, as the Economic and Social Council held three round-table discussions as part of its annual forum on financing for development.

Ministers and high‑level representatives today adopted a series of conclusions and recommendations on financing for development and the means of implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, as the Economic and Social Council’s forum on financing for development entered its second day.

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ video message to the third Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) forum on financing for development follow-up, being held in New York from 23 to 26 April: