I am taking the floor on behalf of the EU and its 27 Member States.

At the outset, let me thank the Secretariat for this very important report.

Civil society plays a crucial role in the implementation of UNESCO’s programmes and strategic objectives. As our partners, they contribute with their invaluable expertise, advocacy and engagement across UNESCO’s entire mandate. They reach deep into our societies and communities and are a unique asset to achieve our common goals.

For this reason, we strongly encourage UNESCO to continue to closely and meaningfully engage with civil society under a multi-stakeholder approach and make use of its rich network of NGO partners to amplify the organization’s impact through their actions.

We welcome the Secretariat’s ongoing efforts to further increase awareness of the NGP network and to strengthen the network’s engagement to support programme delivery as well as to advance UNESCO’s priorities.

Let me take this opportunity to also particularly thank the NGO-UNESCO Liaison Committee for its extremely valuable work and cooperation in the various fields of UNESCO’s competence.

We encourage UNESCO to continue its important work with civil society and advocate for a strong inclusion of non-governmental partners in UNESCO’s actions, which should also be adequately reflected in the new C/5 Programme and Budget.

To grant associate status to UNESCO’s historic partner, the Associate Country Women of the World, is in line with global priority gender equality, and we therefore fully support it. We also thank the Director-General for her decisions on the admission of new NGOs to consultative status.

Let me conclude by reiterating our full support for the Secretariat’s engagement with Non-Governmental Partners in order to leverage their collective strength towards the successful fulfilment of UNESCO’s mandate.