Mozambique Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Minister, Jose Pacheco praised the United Nations (UN) role in supporting country's development and reiterated the Government's commitment to contribute to the process of UN structural reform currently under implementation.

Speaking at the mid-term review meeting of the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) for the period 2017-2020 held in Maputo on December 14, 2018, Pacheco registered the Government’s  appreciation for the UN praising the organization for the support in the implementation of several activities in vital sectors such as food and nutrition security, economic transformation, education, gender, social protection, health, youth, governance, natural resource management, resilience to climate change and natural disasters; noting that these programmes that have  significant results in improving living conditions of populations.

According to Minister Pacheco, Mozambique would like to see more UNDAF support of the in the areas of agriculture, emergencies, infrastructures and tourism. In ​​agriculture, the aim is to ensure food and nutritional security and increase the income of rural people; in the energy sector, it is envisages to diversify energy sources, including renewables while in infrastructure the aim is to improve social services provision.

The Minister added that these areas, in addition to improving citizens' lives, are in line with the strategic objectives of the Government's Five-Year Program, 2015-2019, the African Union Agenda 2063 and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Regarding UN reforms, Jose Pacheco also defended that the restructuring of the UN system should be done in line with the principle of national ownership, thereby contributing to the consolidation of mechanisms to support government initiatives to promote sustainable economic and social development.

"In the light of these reforms, it is imperative that the spirit of improvement of coordination be maintained between all the main actors, both national and international, to ensure that the goals and targets already defined in our cooperation framework are achieved," said the Minister.

Pacheco reaffirmed that the Government of the Republic of Mozambique reiterates its decision to continue its commitment to contribute to the process of implementing the UN reforms so that the organization is better structured, better coordinated and repositioned to provide support to the Government's initiatives to promote sustainable economic and social development.

Speaking at the same forum, Marcoluigi Corsi, the UN Acting Coordinator, said the UN was honored to partner with implementing partners to deliver programmes that contribute to improving the situation of the people in Mozambique, particularly the most vulnerable.

According to Corsi, the United Nations reiterates its commitment to maintain partnership with the Government in line with the ongoing reforms to continue to support the national development agenda.

On the mobilization of more partnerships and resources to finance development programs, Corsi said: "We are in a period where resources are increasingly limited. Together we need to find effective ways to mobilize partnerships and resources to ensure that established sustainable development goals and the Africa Union agenda 2030 are achieved," said Corsi.

The meeting was attended by representatives of UN Agencies, Cooperation and Development Partners, Representatives of National Implementing Partner Institutions; Civil Society Leaders, among others.