Thank you Mr President.

I have the honour to deliver this statement on behalf of list E.

Let me start by expressing our appreciation to the Management of WFP for the preparation of this Information Note. It’s very helpful for our today’s discussion.

We understand that we are in the phase of implementation of the UN resolution 72/279 and that WFP Management and staff are actively engaged in this process. We welcome the Executive Director’s active personal involvement in it as a Co-chair of the business innovations group. We are looking forward to further updates on efficiency gains, proposed by the Programme and Member States in the course of this reform.

We are pleased to note that WFP is working with the Rome-based in cooperation with New York -based sister agencies, including UNDP/UNFPA/UNOPS, UNICEF and UN-Women on how they can better work together towards common approaches to UNDS reform. We underline however, that the primary guidance on system-wide aspects of the implementation of this reform is the prerogative of the ECOSOC operational activities segment.

Concerning the Resident Coordinator system, we note with concern that some proposals on country-level accountabilities have gone beyond what resolution 72/279 calls for. In this regard, we grant our full support to WFP’s Management in its efforts to find constructive solutions and make sure that the reforms will not undermine the responsibility and accountability of the WFP’s leadership in delivering as mandated by the Executive Board, as well as its financial and human resources stability.

We encourage the Management of WFP to continue to actively engage in negotiations in the second half of 2019 on the revision of the UNSDA cost-sharing formula for 2020 and we are looking forward to be regularly consulted about any budgetary implications and other amendments.

List E countries fully agree with the conclusions of this Information Note, saying that “WFP will continue to closely follow and actively engage in the process. And that the reforms should be more about people and better results on the ground in order to achieve zero hunger over the next 11 years.”

Finally, Mr President, we would like also to express our appreciation to the Deputy Executive Director Mr Amir Abdullah for his dedicated representation of WFP in this process. In particular we are grateful for keeping the Member-states and the Bureau members well informed and providing updates regularly about the recent developments. We are looking forward to continuing this tradition.

Thank you, Mr President.