외교부

Remarks at the Briefing on the Sustaining Peace Report

5 March 2018

Mr. President,  

Let me first thank you for convening this meeting in a very timely manner. I also appreciate the Secretary-General’s leadership in bringing the different parts of the UN system together to present this report on the implementation of the twin resolutions that enshrine the vision of sustaining peace that we collectively adopted two years ago.

We welcome the report’s focus on strengthening coherence to build and sustain peace by overcoming the deep-rooted fragmentation across the UN system. This is the first report ever to articulate the interlinkages of the three ongoing reform processes at the country level, especially in conflict-affected and transition settings.

The Secretary-General once mentioned that the mandate of the Peacebuilding Commission was the source of inspiration for these reform efforts. Based on our experience of having served as the PBC Chair last year, we attach particular importance to further strengthening the Peacebuilding Commission, and to this end, we look forward to strengthening the capacity of PBSO so that it could function as a “hinge” in a more effective manner. The scaling up of PBF is critical in this regard.

We also welcome the report’s focus on strengthening partnerships. Today, many actors with financial resources, technology and expertise are increasingly showing interest in working with the UN to address global challenges. According to the Rockefeller Foundation, impact investment alone has grown to become a global industry of over $100 billion. Moreover, 76% of millennials make investment decisions as a way to express their social, political and environmental values. Social entrepreneurs with state-of-the-art technology are collaborating with different partners to achieve sustainable development and peace across the globe. We must harness this paradigm shift in the private sector to further strengthen partnerships for peacebuilding.

Mr. President,

As we enter into the midpoint of the 5-year review of the peacebuilding architecture, it is high time for us to take stock of the progress made and provide a way forward for the remaining couple of years until 2020. It is also critical to sustain the hard-won momentum and implement many of the proposals set out in the report with the blessing of the entire UN membership.

We, therefore, strongly support a follow-up to this report, including an outcome document of the High-Level Meeting on sustaining peace in April in the form of a simple, procedural resolution.

I would like to conclude my brief intervention by reiterating our strong support for the Secretary-General’s efforts to pursue meaningful reforms across the UN system to achieve sustainable peace and development. 

Thank you very much.