Statement by H.E. Mr. Masud Bin Momen, Permanent Representative of Bangladesh at the at the Joint GA Debate on the Reports of the PBC and PBF

Statement by H.E. Mr. Masud Bin Momen, Permanent Representative of Bangladesh at the Joint GA Debate on the Reports of the PBC and PBF

Date: 20 May 2019

Madam President,

We thank the Secretary-General for the report on the Peacebuilding Fund and the Chair of the 12th session of the Peacebuilding Commission for the PBC report. We congratulate them for significant achievements during the reporting period in different spheres of peacebuilding and sustaining peace globally. I deeply appreciate the pragmatic leadership of distinguished Permanent Representative of Colombia Ambassador Fernández de Soto for taking forward the work of the Commission. I am just returning from his wonderful country after Joint Board of Funds and Programs field visit. In Colombia’s Nariño department, we met stakeholders of a PBF project and learned firsthand the challenging task of building peace as part of the peace and reconciliation process after the signing of the landmark peace deal.

Bangladesh delegation has all along been engaged in all aspects of peacekeeping and peacebuilding in a proactive and constructive manner which is premised on a value-driven approach. We look forward to continuing our sustained contributions with all stakeholders including other members of the PBC to ensure appropriate implementation and follow-up of the forward-leaning agenda of the reports.

For obvious reasons, the two reports have many common threads. Both the reports put stress on building coherence and synergy across various actors, agencies and processes including various organs of the peacebuilding architecture. The reports value the centrality of national ownership and leadership in peacebuilding which indeed is of paramount importance.

Essentially, the PBC report reflects the commendable works of the country-specific configurations. While their works are in many ways different from one another, there are also some important similarities. We can enrich from each one by cross-referencing, sharing experiences and creating platforms for lateral dialogues among country configurations. We feel encouraged to see efforts towards breaking down the silos in implementing peacebuilding and sustaining peace agenda. It must remain a constant pre-occupation for PBC, through its convening and advisory roles, to further consolidate these efforts particularly towards bringing the actors of the three UN Pillars closer to each other. The Secretary-General’s management reforms even at its very early stage has created good impetus towards that important goal.

We appreciate the focus of the PBC report on establishing linkages between recommendations and implementation through national ownership and partnership building. As the Commission’s primary role is about serving as a bridge among the principal organs and relevant entities of the United Nations, we see merit in the Commission’s renewed emphasis on implementation through strengthening partnerships, including with the World Bank, regional and sub-regional organizations. We believe that this approach can contribute a lot in achieving various peacebuilding and sustaining peace objectives across the board including in the areas of protection of civilians, institution-building, and women and youth empowerment.

We are happy to see the success of the PBF in attracting funds from multiple donors, even by surpassing the targets of its current strategic plan. Indeed, PBF has evolved as a success story of pooled-fund and withstood the test of time as a flexible and catalytic endowment for complementing global peace efforts. On a cautionary note, however, we would like to suggest not to take too much of an expansionary approach in terms of its priority and focus areas. Over the years, the fund has created its own operational niche and comparative advantages. It is only likely that investments in those areas will yield the best results. Its value-added works in the areas of promoting social cohesion, public service delivery, institution-building, gender, and youth promotion are praiseworthy. We are heartened by the fact that this year the fund’s 40 percent was dedicated to promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment. As part of enhancing the transparency and accountability of the Fund’s management, the efforts for strengthening the linkage between the Peacebuilding Commission and the Fund through an improved flow of information is, indeed, encouraging.

But to continue these efforts, perhaps what is most important, is to ensure increased, predictable and sustainable financing and mobilization of further political support towards the works of the Peacebuilding Fund. In this regard, we echo the Secretary General’s call for a “Quantum Leap”.

Before I conclude, let me share my delegation’s initial thoughts about the 2020 review of the Peacebuilding Architecture. As we look forward, we must also take stock of the implementation of the current review cycle particularly our shared commitments in the landmark twin resolutions and the recommendations of the SG’s report on Peacebuilding and Sustaining Peace. Let us put together our collective wisdom for a successful 2020 PBA review to continue our works towards building durable peace across the globe.

I thank you.