UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework Signing Ceremony

Your Excellency, Minister Faisal Al-Ibrahim,

Vice Minister Nagadi

Deputy Minister Afghani,

Assistant Deputy Minister Kattan and

Assistant Deputy Minister … MOFA

Ministry of Economy and Planning colleagues,

UN colleagues,

And media guests

Good afternoon,

It is my pleasure to be here today, to sign the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework 2022 – 2026 with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The partnership between the Kingdom and the United Nations began at the very inception of the UN in 1945 when the Kingdom signed as a founding member.

The partnership has evolved over the years and today, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a G20 member, is a major humanitarian and development donor and an active member of the United Nations.

The Kingdom also has a long tradition, dating back to the 1950s, of utilizing the technical expertise and experience of the UN agencies for its development.

We are now taking this to a new stage with the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework, or UNSDCF, which will guide the overall work of the UN in the Kingdom from 2022 to 2026.

I would like to thank the government of Saudi Arabia for its support to the UN reform and for the spirit of partnership which has been guiding our work. I would like to commend the Minister of Economy and Planning for his leadership and persistence during this in-depth consultation process to develop our new Cooperation Framework over the past year.

I would also like to thank the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for their continued active and crucial engagement with the UN, without which, we would not have been able to move forward on so many of the issues that are of mutual importance.

Our discussions and exchange of ideas has leveraged our combined expertise and ensured that the UN's value to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is maximized through the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework.

The UNSDCF is primarily shaped by three things:

• the sustainable development priorities of the Kingdom, articulated in Vision 2030,
• its efforts to achieve the UN’s 2030 Agenda and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals,
•  and the UN Secretary General’s reform of the UN Development System.

Quoting the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres on the reform, “The goal of reform is a 21st century United Nations, focused more on people and less on process, more on delivery and less on bureaucracy. The true test of reform will be measured in tangible results in the lives of the people we serve – and the trust of those who support our work.”

In KSA, we identified 23 opportunities and challenges for accelerating the achievement of the SDGs from which we developed 4 Strategic Priority Areas to promote the coherent effort of achieving the SDGs;

1. People – which focuses on the most vulnerable in society,
2. Planet – which focuses on the environment, climate change and sustainable production and consumption
3. Prosperity – which focuses on the opportunity for prosperous and fulfilling lives
4. Peace, Partnership, and other Cross Cutting issues which focuses on inclusion and on the mobilization of means to achieve the 17 SDGs

I would like to thank my UN colleagues for their active and thoughtful engagement in this process. The UNSDCF also represents new partnership within the UN system and a renewed focus on supporting the Kingdom in achieving sustainable development and the 17 SDGs.

I look forward to the next phase of our partnership with two key priorities;

• jointly developing as soon of possible, a results framework, from which we can monitor and report on our progress,
•  and establishing the joint UN and Government CF Committee, which will

guide reporting on progress and results and ensure that the UNSDCF is on track and aligned with the Government’s sustainable development priorities as articulated through the Sustainable Development Steering Committee.  

We look forward to this next phase of our long-standing partnership, sharing our experience and expertise in your pursuit of the UN’s 2030 Agenda and the 17 SDGs. We also look forward to learning from our partnership and sharing that with other countries in their efforts to achieve sustainable development.

Thank you.