Assistant Secretary Esther Brimmer
Esther Brimmer, Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs, speaking at the UNDP/UNFPA Executive Board Meeting at the United Nations Office in Geneva, Switzerland on June 24.
"As the international community faces difficult global challenges, we are counting on UNDP to respond to 21st century problems, including poverty, hunger, disease, conflicts, environmental degradation, and gender inequality. With Helen Clark at the helm of UNDP and as the chair of the UN Development Group, UNDP is in a unique position to make positive changes. Towards that end, the United States strongly supports UNDP taking on a more strategic and focused role in the international arena.
The United States applauds UNDP for several critical achievements. We would like to highlight UNDP’s “Beyond the Midpoint” report and recently released UNDP-led International Assessment of the MDGs — they captured a wide range of successes and lessons learned, and serves as a good roadmap for the path forward to achieve the 2015 MDG goals. The United States has advocated that UNDP focus on the needs of the Least Developed Countries, and UNDP management has taken encouraging steps, for example, to address and enhance its Africa Bureau’s capacities. We are also pleased that UNDP’s management has made transparency and accountability one of its top priorities. We appreciate the efforts of the Directors and staff of the audit, evaluation, and ethics offices to strengthen the oversight functions."
Full text here: geneva.usmission.gov/2010/06/24/brimmer-undp-unfpa-geneva/
US Mission Photo: Eric Bridiers