Ministry Statements & Speeches:
New Zealand welcomes the draft UNDP Strategic Plan for 2026–29 and looks forward to its adoption at this Executive Board meeting. We commend UNDP for its thoughtful and forward-looking approach in shaping a plan that is both ambitious and grounded in the challenging realities of today’s development landscape.
We are pleased to see the Plan’s clear articulation of four strategic objectives underpinned by three accelerators. This integrated and flexible framework reflects the complexity of the challenges we face and the need for systemic, context-specific solutions.
New Zealand particularly welcomes the Plan’s emphasis on national ownership, human rights, and leaving no one behind. These principles are essential to ensuring that development is inclusive, equitable, and sustainable. We also appreciate the Plan’s consistency with the Quadrennial Comprehensive Policy Review (QCPR) and its alignment with the 2030 Agenda.
This Strategic Plan is pragmatic and responsive. It recognises the volatile and uncertain global environment—marked by climate change, conflict and economic shocks —and offers a platform for resilience and renewal. We support UNDP’s commitment to staying and delivering in crisis contexts, and its efforts to integrate humanitarian, development, and peacebuilding approaches.
We also acknowledge the Plan’s realism about resourcing constraints. In this context, New Zealand was pleased to recently confirm our multi-year core funding to UNDP for the next three years, and we reiterate our call for predictable and flexible core funding to enable UNDP to remain agile and impactful. This is even more important in a context of shrinking resources. The Plan’s focus on efficiency, transparency, and innovation, including through digital transformation and behavioural science, is also timely and necessary.
As a Pacific country, New Zealand is committed to ensuring that the voices and perspectives of Pacific Island Countries are reflected in global development efforts. We welcome the alignment of UNDP’s programming with the Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS and encourage continued engagement with Pacific governments to support implementation.
Our consideration of this Strategic Plan obviously comes at a time of considerable uncertainty, and we recognise that the multilateral development system may undergo significant change during the period it covers. New Zealand stands ready to work with UNDP, Member States, and the wider UN family to realise the full promise of this Strategic Plan. We remain committed to a multilateral development system that is inclusive and fit for purpose, that is an informed and effective partner for our Pacific neighbours, and that delivers for those most in need, now and into the future.