Excellency, Madam Colonne Appuhamillage Chaminda Inoka Colonne, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to ESCAP,
Excellencies, distinguished participants and colleagues,
It is indeed my pleasure to speak at the launch of the Technical Cooperation Highlights 2022-2023.
Capacity development is indeed at the core of ESCAP’s technical cooperation programme.
Our main objective is to develop the technical, managerial and institutional capacities of members and associate members of the Commission to plan and deliver in a more effective policies and programmes in support of inclusive and sustainable development.
As we approach 2030, we will continue to support countries for a sustainable, inclusive and resilient future.
On this road to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we must recognize the pivotal role of partnerships, as underscored by Goal 17.
Partnerships serve as the cornerstone for mobilizing and sharing knowledge, expertise, technology and financial resources. They bring together diverse stakeholders, including national governments, the international community, civil society, the private sector, academia and others.
In recognition of the pivotal role partnerships play in the delivery of our work, this third edition of the Technical Cooperation Highlights tells the story of inspiring and enduring collaboration that brings together the comparative advantages of both ESCAP and our partners, and that scale up good practices to leave no one behind; to make economic growth inclusive; to advance climate action.
Today we heard directly from some of our partners how our collaboration has made an impact and contributed to the pursuit of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Recent years have seen significant shifts in thinking on development cooperation. While official development assistance remains an important component, the focus has progressively moved to South-South cooperation as well as South-South Triangular Cooperation as a critical and rapidly growing modality to achieve the SDGs, with recipients of technical assistance increasingly becoming providers, leveraging homegrown solutions.
For ESCAP, South-South and triangular cooperation has been everyday business for more than seventy-five years. ESCAP has leveraged South-South Cooperation to produce relevant and timely research and analysis, bring emerging issues to the attention of our members, and foster the exchange of knowledge and expertise among our countries.
The Government of Sri Lanka has been one of our key partners in promoting South-South and triangular cooperation in Asia and the Pacific, and its commitment to this cause is also emphasized through Sri Lanka’s current presidency of the High-level Committee on South-South Cooperation and its strong support to the annual Asia-Pacific Directors General Forum for South-South and Triangular Cooperation organized by ESCAP.
As we gather today to mark the launch of the Technical Cooperation Highlights 2022-2023, we reaffirm our unwavering commitment to tackling common and transboundary development challenges through partnerships.
I take this opportunity to thank all our partners, and in particular the panelists present here today for sharing their experiences in working with ESCAP on capacity development projects, as well as the Embassy of Sri Lanka for our close collaboration on organizing today’s launch event.
Thank you.
