Remarks at UNCT Retreat High-Level Segment

Your Excellency, the Right Honourable Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Eswatini, Mr. Russell Mmiso Dlamini,

Honourable Ministers,

Excellencies Members of the Diplomatic Corps,

Ms. Cristina Duarte, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser for Africa,

Mr. Yacoub El Hillo, Africa Director of the UN Development Coordination Office,

Distinguished Partners - Representatives from private sector, civil society, young entrepreneurs, academia, persons with disabilities, PLHIV, minority groups

UN Colleagues and Speakers joining us virtually,

Media 

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Sanibonani Bekunene!

First, a warm welcome to everyone to UN House! On behalf of the UN Family, I warmly welcome and thank you for giving us your time today.

We are deeply honoured by your presence, Your Excellency Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini and for accommodating us in your busy schedule.  We also thank you for the opportunities we have had before to meet and share our thoughts with you and with the Cabinet. Thank you! 

Welcome honourable ministers Savannah Maziya, Manqoba Khumalo, Sikhumbuzo Dlamini and all senior government officials. 

A special appreciation to Minister Thambo Gina, Minister of Economic Planning and Development with whom we work closely in the course of our partnership with Eswatini, and for his support in organising this event. 

I recognise and welcome members of the Senate Committee on the SDGs, our development partners, industry leaders, civil society representatives, our young leaders in the commerce and other spaces, leaders in academia and research community, representatives of people living with disabilities and with HIV, among others. 

I reserve a very warm welcome to my two senior colleagues and bosses, Ms. Cristina Duarte, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser on Africa, joining us virtually from Rome, and Mr. Yacoub El Hillo, Africa Director of the UN Development Coordination Office joining us virtually from Addis Ababa. 

Mr. El Hillo will be delivering remarks on behalf of the UN Development System, while USG Duarte is our Guest Speaker. 

Why we are Here Today 

With my bosses in the houses, my job this morning does not entail making a long speech beyond indicating why we are here today. 

Our meeting today is in the context of the Eswatini UNCT’s Annual Retreat which will be held over the next three days. As a Country Team, we want to spend this first day of the retreat interacting with and listening to you as our valued partners. 

Allow me to share briefly three contextual elements that have informed the planning of the 2024 UNCT Retreat including today’s meeting. 

First, globally, we are on the brink of 2030, the date set by Member States 15 years ago to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. We are acutely aware that, as we approach the last 5 years of the SGD, only 17% of SDG targets are on track globally, according to the 2024 SDG Report. 

This stark reality calls for a renewed sense of urgency and innovation in our approaches. We are keen to listen for your thoughts, suggestions about how we can enhance our partnership with Eswatini to accelerate the SDGs in line with your development aspirations.

Second, we have just about 1 year left to the expiry of the current Cooperation Framework (CF) agreed between the Government of the Kingdom of Eswatini and the United Nations. The UN in Eswatini has therefore commenced its planning processes for the next Cooperation Framework which will cover the years 2026-2030, effectively the last 5 years of the SDGs. 

The planning process has begun with an ongoing external evaluation of the current CF, to be followed by the formulation of strategic priorities for the next five years. This planning process offers an invaluable opportunity to consult with the Government and all partners on where we must go next, and this gathering is one such consultation. 

Third, we commend His Majesty King Mswati the III for his vision of transforming Eswatini to a high-income country and applaud the efforts of the government in this regard. 

• We acknowledge that Eswatini has a rigorous National Development Plan and an SDG Recovery and Acceleration Plan. 
• We acknowledge the various ministerial efforts including positioning Eswatini in the digital age; enhancing investments and trade including through the National Strategy and Implementation Plan for AfCFTA; improving education through the National Education Review Committee; building energy security including through an energy masterplan; increasing women representation in parliament and responding to violence against women and girls; upholding climate change mitigation though the Nationally Determined Contributions National Strategy, strengthening democracy, rule of law and human rights, among others. Indeed, Eswatini is ready for a transformation!

At the same time, following the 2023 elections and people’s submissions at the Sibaya, His Majesty declared poverty a national emergency and gave the rallying call of ‘Nkwe!’ At the Sibaya, citizens spoke clearly about poverty, unemployment, gender-based violence, poor service delivery and corruption, among others. 

Part of our conversation today is about how we may juxtapose and work on these two pictures at the same time: maintaining the trajectory of Eswatini’s transformation, while at the same time ensuring inclusivity, shared prosperity, job creation and closing inequality gaps.

Thirdly, today’s conversation and the rest of the UNCT retreat is cognizant of the current global and national context, and I am sure my senior colleagues will speak to this. In summary, we are navigating through multiple crises globally whose net effect has been to limit the pace and space for the SDGs and other development processes. In the current global reality coupled with Eswatini’s LMIC status, the value of the UN’s presence has been shifting away from the amount of monetary resources that we bring. A key question for our retreat is, ‘what does the UN become when it has less and less money?’

In all this, a key premise for the UNCT is that the complex nature of the crises we face makes the holistic framework provided by the SDGs even more essential for our world today. 

In other words, addressing the crises we face requires more meaningful progress on the SDGs and the ability to leverage social and economic change as opportunities for transformation. 

As the Chinese wisdom goes, in every crisis, there is an opportunity. Our task is to collectively locate the opportunities we have and seize them. The current reality points us to the primacy of the astute leveraging of national resources to attract investments to drive our development aspirations. 

Conclusion

As I conclude, I hope that in today’s and subsequent conversations, we can reflect on the following questions:

What would business unusual look like for all development actors including the Government and the UN?

Within the current global reality of multiple crises demanding attention and resources, how could we locate and exploit opportunities to push Eswatini and Africa’s development agenda?

How might we achieve might we achieve Eswatini’s and Africa’s development vision while ensuring inclusivity and closing the inequality gaps?

How can the UN be an ever-better partner in Eswatini’s journey through deploying its comparative advantages in the face of diminished development funding? 

Today’s conversation is not about lamentations; it is about taking stock of where we are and exploring ideas about how we may propel ourselves forward.

It is about recognising the moment, its challenges and opportunities, and picking our paths.

It is about hope building and striding forth in confidence.

I assure that we in the UNCT are thirsty for ideas.

Welcome to the conversation!

Thank you, Siyabonga bekunene.