Statement to be delivered by H.E. Mr. Masud Bin Momen, Permanent Representative of Bangladesh on behalf of the Group of Least Developed Countries at the Informal Meeting of the General Assembly with the Secretary-General-designate Mr. Antonio Guterres, UNHQs,19 October 2016
Mr. President,
I have the honour to deliver this statement on behalf of LDCs.
Let me begin by commending you Mr. President for organizing this informal meeting.
We would like to extend warm congratulations to His Excellency Mr. Antonio Guterres for his well-deserved election as the 9th Secretary-General of the United Nations. We are confident that his leadership, vast knowledge, and wealth of experiences on working on the frontlines will make invaluable contributions to the United Nations.
We would also like to put on record our special commendation for the Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for his outstanding contributions to the Organization and to the global community at large. Under his leadership at the United Nations, the international community has adopted several milestone documents.
Mr. Secretary General-designate,
In recent years, significant progress has been achieved in socio-economic fronts at the global level. However, the global average masks the wide-spread disparities between countries. High prevalence of extreme poverty, infant and maternal mortality, gender inequality, lack of structural transformation and the acute shortage of resources and energy and disproportionate impacts of climate change made them historically disadvantaged in the global economic landscape. Many LDCs are also in conflict or post-conflict situations and are disproportionately affected by disasters, pandemics and various crises and shocks.
Poverty, climate change and conflicts are intertwined and the combined impact of their interactions is heightened in LDCs. One major symptom of this is large scale refuge outflows from LDCs as well as internally displaced persons. An acid test of the leadership of the Secretary-General designate will be to mobilize global attention and resources to effectively and sustainably addressing the complex problems arising from the interactions among poverty, climate change and conflict in LDCs.
The international community has set an ambitious objective of enabling half of LDCs reaching the stage of graduation by 2020. Graduation represents a hallmark of success of the United Nations. We, therefore, want the UN system support to LDCs be doubled in the coming years in order to fostering the graduation of LDCs. We underline that a stronger and well-resourced United Nations is needed more than ever before to better position itself to implement the 2030 Agenda.
The voice of LDCs, which represent the poorest and the most vulnerable countries, needs to be heard. We expect the Secretary-General designate to protect our voice and be a Champion to LDCs in his endeavor at all levels.
In conclusion, we all are looking forward to working closely with you and rest assured of our fullest support in your endeavours. We also look forward to receiving you in our group. Thank you