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Dear co-facilitators, dear civil society and other colleagues and friends,

I have the honor to address you on behalf of the European Union and its Member States.

Co-facilitators, we thank you for organizing this important meeting to hear and exchange views with Major Groups and other Stakeholders and Civil Society. Let me reiterate here that we are committed to their full engagement and their inclusive participation.

Let me start by saying that our general approach to these negotiations is based on full respect of the UN Charter and international law, including international humanitarian law.  We also believe that if we want to build a sustainable future for all, it is important that this process rebuilds trust and solidarity and strengthens multilateralism, with the UN at its core. This means we need to be ambitious and forward-looking.

We are of the view that peace and security, sustainable development, and human rights – the UN’s three pillars -- are interlinked and mutually reinforcing. We need to work across all three to ensure inclusion and equality, leaving no one behind on a healthy planet.

And for this to happen, we need partnerships that go across regions and levels and engage with all stakeholders. The Summit of the Future is envisioned as an inclusive process. Let me reiterate the importance of preserving a role for a wide range of stakeholders in the Summit process and to allow for a transparent process, one that also fosters genuine ownership by our own societies. We need to engage with civil society, the private sector, MDBs and academia, and all other stakeholders engaged with SotF. In order to harness the wealth of innovative ideas, and to ensure the success of whatever we decide here on the ground, in every corner of every country, we must also actively and meaningfully include the voice of youth and civil society in our processes.

We are grateful for input received from many diverse organizations on priorities that are important and help inform the negotiations of the Pact.

Let me underlining some of the EU priorities we have been advocating for each chapter:

In Chapter 1, we are committed with united efforts, political will and firm actions to advance concrete, integrated and targeted policies and actions to fulfill the vision of the 2030 Agenda, to eradicate poverty and hunger, to build a green, sustainable, and equitable future for all, to achieve all SDGs, and to revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development. We believe through full realization of human rights for all, gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls, that we can make sure that we reach the furthest behind first.

In Chapter 2, we want to emphasize the need to build peaceful, just and inclusive societies, which requires a people-centered approach, the involvement of civil society, including local peacebuilding organizations, human rights defenders as well as women and youth peacebuilders.  In this regard, we recognize the importance of fostering a culture of peace, upholding the rule of law and ensuring adherence to international humanitarian law. Wars of aggression cannot continue to break out with impunity for their perpetrators, might cannot become right, the UN Charter must be fully reaffirmed and recommitted to, our humanitarian work must be strengthened and protected for the benefit of all those in dire suffering, and the UN must become much better equipped to prevent wars and atrocities before they ever occur.

In chapter 3 - bearing in mind that we also have separate discussions on the Global Digital Compact that will be an integral part of the Pact - we need to ensure implementation of our shared commitments for an open, free, secure, inclusive, responsible, participatory, and human-centric digital future, with full respect for human rights. This means, in a nutshell, that technology must serve the interests of our citizens, not the other way around. It also means that we must devote our full energy in bridging the treacherous digital divides within and between countries and regions. And never forget: For scientific and technological research and innovation to thrive, we need freedom of thought, freedom of expression, protection of civic space and the respect for the autonomy and academic freedom.

In chapter 4, we welcome the contribution of young persons and children as critical agents of positive change in promoting peace and security, sustainable development and human rights.

We underline the importance of access to quality education and health services and prioritization of the rights, needs and aspirations of all children and young persons, including those in vulnerable situations and those facing multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination.

Chapter 5 for us means “how” we should accomplish all the “what’s” that we commit to in the previous chapters. This is so far the most concrete and action-oriented chapter. We need to be strategic, specific but also realistic in order to strengthen and change what we can to accelerate our existing commitments and to implement our new forward-looking commitments. This Pact should be a stepping stone, not the end of the journey.

Let me conclude by saying that EU and its Member States are fully committed to an ambitious and action-oriented Pact for the Future and to engage meaningfully with all stakeholders, including at the forthcoming UN Civil Society Conference in May in Nairobi. ./.