Madam Chair,
Let me begin by expressing gratitude to the outgoing chairs Ambassador Osama Abdelkhalek and Ambassador Mohamed Idris of Egypt for their remarkable efforts, leading the work of the PBC last year and promoting UN peacebuilding efforts. Their contribution and commitment have enabled the PBC to continue its path towards becoming more visible and instrumental body than ever before.
Now I would like to congratulate Ambassador Rabab Fatima of Bangladesh on your election as the Chair of the Organizational committee of the Peacebuilding commission. We believe it is a historic achievement that the PBC is chaired by a woman for the first time. Latvia is committed to working closely with Bangladesh to advance the peacebuilding goals you have outlined. I would also like to congratulate the elected vice-chairs – Egypt and Dominican Republic, as well as the chairs of country configurations – Brazil, Morocco, Sweden and Switzerland.
Madam Chair, dear colleagues,
Latvia is honored to join PBC this year. It is the first time Latvia is represented in this important UN body. The membership of the PBC demonstrates Latvia’s aspiration to play an active role in the UN efforts to ensure stability and peace in the conflict-affected regions. For years, Latvia has participated in UN-led and UN-mandated peacekeeping activities. We realize that peacekeeping and peacebuilding are essentially two sides of the same coin, therefore we are increasing our effort in both directions.
During our tenure in the PBC, Latvia will focus on strengthening resilience of institutions in post-conflict situations, including by promoting good governance, media literacy, digital skills and inclusive participation of youth and women, in line with the WPS agenda. We will not hesitate sharing our best practice in all of these areas.
In our view, the UN peacebuilding efforts must be rooted in key values and principles such as international rules-based order, democratic governance and human rights. There are no shortcuts to building sustainable peace. It requires persistent efforts and inclusive approach by the communities affected and also by the international partners.
Peacebuilding also needs appropriate financing. For this reason, Latvia has become a donor to the Peacebuilding fund and supports the calls, including in the Secretary General’s report “Our Common Agenda”, for adequate, predictable and sustained financing for peacebuilding. It is important to continue advancing this priority, therefore we are looking forward to the high-level meeting dedicated to financing this spring.
Finally, we consider that key strength of the PBC lies in its bridging role. We strongly believe the PBC needs to continue developing links with other institutions and should not shy away from any engagement which corresponds to its mandate, including within the human rights pillar. Connecting various actors and institutions, be it the Security Council, an NGO or a local community representative, helps to overcome fragmented approach to peacebuilding and enables teamwork on local, regional and global scale. We should also strive to extend this approach more effectively when it comes to potential synergies between the missions carried out by the UN and other international actors such as the EU.
I thank you.