Delivered by His Excellency Mohamed Abushahab, Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative

Thank you, Mr. President, and I thank Ambassador Mauricio Lyrio and Brazil for ensuring that the General Assembly is kept informed on the latest developments in the G20. I also thank you, Mr. President, as well as Under-Secretary-General Junhua for your remarks.

I’d like to take this opportunity to express our sincere condolences to Brazil on the recent passing of Daniel Machado da Fonseca, Head of the Climate Action Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Brazil. Mr. da Fonseca was a fierce promoter of climate action and an impassioned negotiator, and we join the entire climate community in mourning his loss.

Mr. President,

We welcome Brazil at the helm of the G20 and the priorities that it has set for its presidency.

Sustainable development, poverty eradication, and global governance reforms are the preeminent challenges that the international community is grappling with today in various multilateral fora and through various initiatives.

I will make three brief points today.

First, on global governance reform, and specifically the reform of the international financial architecture. Last year, the G20 launched an Independent Expert Group on the Multilateral Development Bank system, tasked with developing a detailed roadmap for reforming MDBs.

International climate finance must be an important pillar of MDB reform. Specifically, we must make it more available, accessible, and affordable. During COP28, 13 world leaders launched the Global Climate Finance Framework, which defines a set of proposals in this regard. In addition, the Independent High Level Expert Group on a new finance framework launched its report during COP28 with specific steps on the delivery of a new framework for international climate finance. We trust that the recommendations of this Framework and its principles can be taken into consideration by the work of the G20 finance track, as well as the G20 Presidency’s climate taskforce, ensuring much-needed synergies between multilateral climate finance discussions and the G20’s work in this area.

We applaud the Task Force on Climate that was launched by Brazil, which brings together the G20’s Sherpa and Finance tracks around the climate agenda for the first time. This Task Force provides a unique opportunity to mainstream climate into the global economic agenda and inform our actions with regard to limiting the increase in global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius.  Brazil’s role as the host of COP30 will also allow for continuity and synergies. In fact, the UAE, Azerbaijan, and Brazil, as current and upcoming COP Presidencies, have launched the first troika of UNFCCC presidencies specifically to implement the outcomes agreed at COP28 and subsequently those to be agreed at COP29 and COP30.

Second, on sustainable development, and specifically on nature. At COP28, member states came to an agreement on the importance of conserving, protecting, and restoring nature and ecosystems, including through halting and reversing deforestation and forest degradation by 2030. We commend Brazil’s leadership of the Tropical Forests Forever Fund, which demonstrates how we can align policy and finance around ending deforestation.

Finally, I want to close with a note on inclusion. We welcome Brazil’s emphasis on an inclusive and participatory G20 process and its G20 Social initiative. The inclusion of subnational actors, women, indigenous peoples, and youth will enhance transparency, contribute to enriching the discussions with important perspectives, and lend further legitimacy to any G20 outcomes.

Once again, many thanks to Brazil for this initiative, and the UAE looks forward to staying engaged in the G20’s work as the year progresses.

Thank you, Mr. President.