Opening remarks by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, H.E. Yldiz Pollack-Beighle, on the occasion of the Government of Suriname – UN Country Team Consultation Meeting

Mr. Subhas Mungra, Chair of the Plan Coordination Committee, Mr. Reynold Simons, Director of Planning Office of Suriname,

Mr. Winston Lackin, Ambassador in charge of Environment/Presidential Adviser, Mr. Armstrong Alexis, UNDP Resident Representative a.i.,

Representatives of the United Nations Country Team, Members of the Plan Coordination Committee, Supporting staff of the Government and the UN, Members of the media,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is my pleasure to welcome you to this two-day consultation meeting with the United Nations system in Suriname. This is the second meeting with representation of the Plan Coordination Committee (PCC), which is a key institution for the Government of Suriname to ensure that there is a coherent and an integrated approach to policy planning, implementation and monitoring.

This consultation is aimed at taking stock of what has been achieved in the past year as well as reaching consensus by both parties on the two-year planning of the Country Implementation Plan (CIP) 2019-2020.

This plan falls under the umbrella of the regional level planning with the United Nations System, referred to as the United Nations Multi-Country Sustainable Development Framework (UN MSDF) 2017-2021.

In this regard, I recall the Secretary General’s report on “Repositioning the UN development system to deliver on the 2030 Agenda: our promise for dignity, prosperity and peace on a healthy planet” (December 2017).

In this report the Secretary General emphasized that and I quote: “the United Nations Development Assistance Frameworks should become a clear, action-oriented United Nations response to national development priorities in each country, integrating the Sustainable Development Goals”. End of quote.

Additionally, the Secretary General’s report on “Implementation of General Assembly resolution 71/243 on the quadrennial comprehensive policy review of operational activities for development of the United Nations system” (2019), refers to a re-designed Framework – that is renamed by the Secretary General as the “United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework” – in which the Secretary General reiterates as key objective, ensuring that the Cooperation Framework is fully responsive to national priorities.

Participants, ladies and gentlemen,

To ensure effectiveness of the delivery on the ground, bearing in mind coordination of activities of various UN agencies, I wish to highlight the following.

For the reconfiguration of its development system structure, Suriname specifically proposes the following:

i. Regrouping of the countries with which it would share UN resources, specifically excluding overseas territories of developed countries. In light of the extensive but shared challenges, and taking into account political sensitivities, Suriname proposes to explore several models, including the development of an entirely new structure covering only Suriname and its neighbour Guyana, where agencies are distributed between the two at a more or less equal level, and in which the RR and RC would be enabled to dedicate maximum attention to their mandates.

ii. The addition of more UN agencies servicing Suriname.

iii. The addition of an FAO Representative on the ground.

iv. Appointment of a UNDP Resident Representative solely assigned to and residing in Suriname, which will not be combined with another country office.

The Government of Suriname strives to continue its efforts in developing the national economy in a sustainable manner, in which the three dimensions of sustainable development – economic, social and environment – are intertwined and addressed.

After an evaluation of the implementation of the CIP 2018 and in preparation of the CIP 2019-2020, the Government felt the need to propose the following clustering to ensure a clear, coherent, comprehensive and effective programme planning aligned to the national policy areas as outlined in the Multi-annual Development Plan, namely:

1. Reform/institutional strengthening of the national planning system including capacity strengthening within the Government institutions;

2. Agricultural production and food security;

3. Environment including climate adaptation and mitigation, water and waste management, disaster risk management and forestry management;

4. Education;

5. Health;

6. Integrated social policy including gender and youth.

Based on the Multi-Annual Development Plan the Government introduced four (4) Ministerial clusters, namely:

1. Governance;

2. Enabling ministries;

3. Production and;

4. Social ministries.

On the second day of this consultation meeting, working sessions with the UN system will be held to deliberate on these clusters as proposed by the Government as well on the projects proposed for the CIP 2019-2020. The intention is to work towards adoption of the CIP 2019-2020 at the end of that session.

Participants, ladies and gentlemen,

This consultation also provides an opportunity to have deliberations on development strategy issues. The Government of Suriname will present the national development indicators for monitoring development policies and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as well as the planning for Suriname’s voluntary SDG reporting. We look forward to the adoption of these indicators.

In closing, I wish to extend my gratitude to the UN system for providing their continued support to the Government of Suriname and I look forward to the continuation and deepening of this support to help achieve the national development goals and priorities of Suriname.

I also would like to extend my appreciation to the Planning Office and the Plan Coordination Committee for continuing the process to a more structural, coherent approach of development planning, implementation and monitoring.

And with these words I declare this consultation meeting open. I thank you.