Honorable Secretary, Mr. Thomas Kostka,

Esteemed senior representatives from Government,

Distinguished guests,

Colleagues,

Bula vinaka, kasahlelie and good morning.

Welcome to the second Annual Programme Review (APR) between UNDP and FSM.  This strategic interface, designed as a platform for productive high-level discussions, is a significant milestone in our partnership. One of which is the establishment of the FSM gender machinery intervention with the aspiration to address gender equality and women’s empowerment in our development interventions.

We are also grateful for the establishment of the Northern Pacific Office in FSM, which signifies our commitment and strength in both our relation and partnership in supporting the Governments of FSM, RMI and Palau accelerate its achievement of the 2030 Agenda.

I am grateful for the high-level representation from the Government and I’m confident and optimistic that with the key decision makers present here today, we will have a strategic dialogue.

I trust that you will find this dialogue to be an opportunity to take stock of our joint programme, to look ahead in partnership, and to share information on FSM’s emerging priorities and challenges to best inform our next five years strategic programme intervention.

Purpose of the APR 

The reason we here is clear – we would like to present the areas of collaboration and 2021 key results highlights and 2022 priorities.

We would like to use this opportunity to also introduce the strategic development interventions in the coming five years under the new Multi Country Programme Document (MCPD). This is in alignment with the UN Common Framework draft on - Planet, Peace and Prosperity.

Support for Regional and International Commitments

I would like to assure you of UNDP’s support towards all of FSM ’s regional and international commitments, including the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The Addis Ababa Action Agenda, adopted in 2015, aligns financing flows and policies with economic, social, and environmental priorities and provides us with a strong foundation for progress.

UNDP also intends to support FSM to address the SAMOA Pathway priorities, including sustainable energy, disaster risk reduction, and climate change. While those action areas feature in UNDP’s country and regional programmes, we are interested in your level of satisfaction with the assistance provided.

Willingness to adapt and upscale cooperation

I look forward to the discussions this morning, which I hope will reveal how we can improve our joint programme. The dialogue may result in a sharpening of our focus on certain vulnerabilities, or it may affirm that our programme is well-suited to FSM’s current and next 5 years development context.

We are open to your feedback and assure you it will be used to provide you with better development assistance. We warmly welcome all your insights and suggestions.

However, we can access global and regional offers, including the UNDP Climate Promise and the Pacific SIDS Offer, to ramp up assistance in the areas of climate action, gender, digitalization, and the green/blue economy. UNDP is also able to coordinate with other donors if you identify needs in areas outside of our remit.

In conclusion, I assure you that FSM has UNDP’s strong support. We hope that our partnership will be strengthened by this dialogue and confirm our commitment to delivering sustainable results for the benefit of all the people of FSM, particularly vulnerable groups. 

Thank you for your time today, your cooperation with all UNDP staff working to support FSM, and for your commitment to strengthening our partnership.