STATEMENT BY VIVEK GANESH, FIRST SECRETARY, PERMANENT MISSION OF SINGAPORE TO THE UNITED NATIONS AT THE FIRST REGULAR SESSION OF THE UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME EXECUTIVE BOARD, 3 FEBRUARY 2026, UNHQ, NEW YORK

Mr. President,

Administrator De Croo,

Distinguished Members of the Executive Board

        Singapore extends our congratulations to the Administrator on his appointment and welcomes the vision outlined in the UNDP Strategic Plan (2026-2029). You have Singapore’s full support. 

2      This is indeed a moment of “extraordinary turbulence”, not just regarding the certainty and predictability of funding, but on what “development” itself has come to mean in the multilateral context. We welcome the assurance that even as reforms are undertaken, delivery will not be interrupted. In this context, we look forward to more details on the UNDP/UNOPS merger assessment and encourage exploring a suite of options to improve mandate delivery. I would like to make three points. 

3      First, we commend UNDP’s vision to re-center development in global decision-making. We heard at the joint GA-ECOSOC briefing last week about the importance of featuring the peace-development nexus in our discussions. We are therefore glad that the UNDP’s work will look at prevention and resilience as twin lenses to ensure that development is seen as a life-cycle and not a snapshot. 

4      Second, we commend the UNDP’s efforts to leverage public, private and innovative sources of financing both for organisational sustainability and service delivery. We must improve the conditions for investment, including through improving governance and risk mitigating mechanisms to crowd in more private capital. In particular, we welcome championing systems-level engagement driven by national priorities. 

5      Third, we must double down on leveraging accelerators such as “digital and AI transformation” to deliver truly integrated and scalable solutions at the country-level. On this, Singapore is proud to collaborate with the UNDP’s Global Centre for Technology, Innovation and Sustainable Development (GC-TISD) to explore such solutions to ensure implementation of recently adopted high-level outcomes and strengthen partnerships with fellow developing countries. 

Mr. Administrator,   

6      I recall your recent remarks in Davos on who brokers trust; that most of us still believe in collective action on the big endeavours. But that trust must be grounded in delivery that is “on point”. Singapore remains committed to this collective action with UNDP and our partners, to advance the development agenda.  

7      I thank you.

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