Mr. President,

The UAE aligns itself with the statement delivered by Pakistan on behalf the G77 and China, and Morocco on behalf of the Arab group. I would like to add a few remarks in my national capacity.

As the Secretary-General mentioned in his statement earlier, we must put women and girls, and gender equality at the heart of the UN’s work, including Our Common Agenda. Bearing this in mind, I want to specifically address our strong support to three of the recommendations in the report.

First, the UAE welcomes the proposal of convening a Summit on Transforming Education in 2022 to accelerate progress
towards the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 4. The UAE firmly believes that education and learning must be a core focus of human development since it provides the key to a sustainable future. During Expo 2020 in Dubai, we held the global RewirEd Summit to launch new solutions for the future of education through cross-sectoral collaboration. We look forward to building on these outcomes through the Summit proposed by the Secretary General.

Second, regarding the UN Development System, the UAE firmly supports a nexus approach to bring the development,
humanitarian and peace pillars closer together. They are different sides of the same coin and are mutually reinforcing.

We therefore support the Secretary-General’s efforts to strengthen prevention capacities within UN country teams by
empowering Resident Coordinators and obligating agencies to work toward collective outcomes. This is particularly urgent given the bundled services required by conflict, contagion, and climate. We also agree with the points made in the G77 statement that the QCPR resolution should serve as an overall guidance for the UN Development System, including for the linkage between development and peace and security.

Third, on youth, we align ourselves with the statement delivered by the Dominican Republic on behalf of a number of
countries, including my own, and look forward to discussing youth-related recommendations.

The UAE sees young people as the foundation of the future. At home, we have made significant strides in institutionalizing youth leadership and decision-making in government through Youth Councils and the appointment of a minister tasked with youth mainstreaming. We therefore very much welcome the proposal of the establishment of a dedicated United Nations Youth Office to coordinate system-wide action on youth empowerment and engagement.

In conclusion, we encourage moving forward the expeditiously with the consideration of Our Common Agenda based on the guidance from the President of the General Assembly.

Thank you.