H.E. Dr. Nawaf Salam, Prime Minister of Lebanon
H.E. Dubravka Šuica, European Commissioner for the Mediterranean
Alexander De Croo, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme

New York, 23 September 2026

The nature of crisis is changing. Emergencies are increasing and becoming more protracted, while the resources to respond are under increasing pressure.

This leaves more than 160 million people beyond immediate humanitarian lifesaving response, while they remain highly vulnerable to renewed shocks.

There is also a more fundamental challenge.

Humanitarian assistance is essential. But it is in itself not designed to create the conditions for lasting recovery: functioning services, viable livelihoods, strong local economies and institutions that can deliver.

Those foundations cannot be sequenced after the emergency response. They need to be built alongside it, from the outset.

That is why we call for development partnerships from day one.

Lebanon's experience demonstrates why this matters. 

Years of overlapping crises have placed enormous pressure on people, institutions, public services and the economy. 

Lasting recovery means strengthening institutions, restoring services, creating jobs and opportunities, and supporting nationally led reforms led by Lebanon that help rebuild trust and resilience.

For Lebanon and the European Union, this is also a shared regional priority. 

Recovery and resilience in Lebanon and across the Mediterranean can help support stability and prosperity for the wider region. This is the essence of the European Union’s Pact for the Mediterranean.

Long-term partnerships can help countries move beyond repeated cycles of crisis by strengthening institutions, expanding economic opportunities, mobilizing the investment needed for recovery, and allowing people to build lives with a long-term perspective.

The same principle applies globally. 

We need to invest earlier in national and local institutions so countries and communities can lead their own recovery. We need solutions that reduce future humanitarian needs, help people and systems withstand shocks, and support long-term development.

This approach also requires a different approach to financing. Grants and low-cost funding should be used in ways that reduce risk and attract more public and private investment in national priorities.

No government or institution can do this alone. 

Together, we commit to three priorities:

• Act more decisively, investing in partnerships that pursue development alongside crisis response from the outset.
• Back national and local leadership, strengthening the institutions, economies and systems that drive recovery.
• Diversify financing, bringing together public, private, concessional and grant financing to support recovery and resilience at scale.

UNDP's Moving Beyond Crisis Action Agenda provides a framework for translating these principles into action.

Preventing and preparing for crisis.

Responding and recovering from day one.

Supporting countries to transition and transform towards more resilient and sustainable development pathways.

Lebanon, the European Union and UNDP commit to work with partners to turn these principles into action.

Our ambition is greater than managing crises. Our ambition is to help people and countries build a way out of them.