Thank you, Mr. President.
While aligning with the statement of Cuba, delivered on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, on the decision (A/77/L.109) entitled “Scope of the Summit of the Future, I wish to make some comments in my national capacity.
At the outset, we express our sincere appreciation to the co-facilitators, H.E. Ambassador Ms. Antje Leendertse, Permanent Representative of Germany, and H.E. Ambassador Neville Melvin Gertze, Permanent Representative of Namibia, for their commendable efforts in conducting open, transparent, inclusive, and constructive facilitation during the preparatory process of the Summit of the Future.
Throughout the consultation process on the draft decision regarding the scope and elements of the Summit of the Future, Bangladesh delegation was actively and constructively engaged. Despite being a small delegation, we spent countless hours in the negotiations room and engaged with the delegations to bridge the gaps and find common grounds. Our efforts led to agreement in most of the issues including those which we attach high importance to, such as, culture of peace, peacekeeping and peacebuilding, climate change, gender equality, bridging digital divide, to name a few.
Regrettably, with the streamlined draft that was presented before us and adopted, we now face the unfortunate situation of losing the gains that were the product of our efforts over a span of five months.
While we understand the circumstances that led the co-facilitators to present this draft, we regret that there was no broader consultation conducted within the membership subsequent to the breaking of the silence. Given that the rev-3 of the draft decision was placed under silence and the silence was broken, it was reasonable to expect that Member States would be consulted before presenting quite a different version straight for action. This came as a surprise, not entirely a happy one.
Mr. President,
Having said that, we wish to express our appreciations to the co-facilitators for their transparency, and for putting on record the context of the streamlined draft. We hope this letter will serve as a useful reminder of the agreements that were reached on most of the issues and the delegations will give due attention to it during the negotiations for the Pact for the Future.
To conclude, we wish to reiterate our commitment to remain constructively engaged in the upcoming negotiation process for the Pact for the Future.
I thank you.