Ministry Statements & Speeches:
I thank the President of the General Assembly for hosting this informal meeting.
New Zealand thanks the Secretary-General and his team for their leadership of the UN80 Initiative.
We meet at a time of unprecedented danger and uncertainty for the UN system. A tightly constrained fiscal environment, set against a backdrop of growing geo-political tensions, are threatening the continued viability of our core multilateral institutions.
Bold reforms are urgently needed to preserve the credibility and legitimacy of the UN system – a system we built together, a system grounded in international law and the UN Charter, a system that has underpinned our collective security and prosperity for generations.
To succeed, our UN leadership and Member States must work together to adapt to these challenges. We all have a role to play.
New Zealand supports action that will enable the UN system to deliver on its core mandates in this constrained fiscal environment. The UN80 Initiative must reinforce the UN’s ability to deliver on its central purpose of maintaining international peace and security, as well as its mandates for promoting sustainable development and respect for human rights.
Achieving efficiencies and cost reductions, while improving the transparency and flexibility of UN budget processes, must be a top priority in the UN80 process. But efficiencies alone are not sufficient to address the scale of the crisis before us.
Member States, supported by the UN Secretariat, must commit to producing a smaller number of more focused and effective mandates that prioritise the UN’s core normative roles and support its ability to effectively deliver core services on the ground.
New Zealand also supports bold structural reform and programme realignment to address duplication and maintain the UN’s focus on areas of comparative advantage. An improved ‘One UN’ approach, based on a single budget and set of outcomes, is needed to ensure we achieve maximum impact with the resources available.
Of course, proposals to relocate and merge functions must not be at the expense of the needs of the most vulnerable, or of small states with limited diplomatic footprints around the world. In seeking efficiencies, we must nevertheless ensure we continue to serve those most in need, regardless of their relative size or location.
Our Pacific Island neighbours face particular challenges by virtue of their size, vulnerability and isolation. Like Australia, we stand ready to work with Pacific colleagues and the UN on a more cost-efficient and effective UN model that continues to meet the critical needs of our region.
This exercise must also consider how we find ourselves in such a crisis and take practical action to reduce the vulnerability of the UN system to future funding crises. The funding of our core institutions must be placed on a more sustainable footing, and we need to incentivise all member states to pay their assessed dues on time and in full.
Secretary-General, Mr President, you both have crucial roles to play in the weeks and months ahead. We call on you to show bold and resolute leadership, and to drive a connected reform agenda, one that is action-oriented and inclusive, with clear timelines and benchmarks.
As already noted by Singapore, this is not a moment for pessimism or passivity, but a moment for leadership and collaboration.
At this moment of grave risk for the multilateral system, it is incumbent on all Member States to engage constructively in the exercise in front of us, and to move beyond entrenched national and group positions in the interests of achieving a more focused, effective and responsive United Nations capable of delivering for all its members well into the future.