Madam Chair,

1. I have the honor to deliver this statement on behalf of the Group of 77 and China. Our Group would like to thank all briefers for introducing their respective reports.

Madam Chair,

2. The Group attaches great importance to the work of the Board of Auditors in discharging external oversight of the Organization and, on this note, we express appreciation for the high quality of the Board's reports and its recommendations. We also welcome the submission of the audited financial statements for 2024.

3. The Group commends that the Board of Auditors conducted a survey among 17 entities and submitted a concise summary report with a special section, which enables the General Assembly to consider in detail the budget management across various entities. We believe that efficient financial and budget management is crucial for the United Nations to effectively deliver mandate in addressing global challenges and achieving the 2030 Agenda of Sustainable Development and is equally critical to advancing the UN80 initiative to make the Organization more agile, resilient and capable of providing high-quality and efficient services, while eliminating redundancy and overlap in mandate implementation.

4. The Group notes that, of 17 audited entities, 11 had concluded the financial year with a surplus, and 6 had recorded a deficit, when those numbers were 12 and 5 respectively in 2023. We further note with concern that IRMCT had a deficit for the sixth consecutive year and reiterate that more efforts must be made to improve their financial situation.

5. The Board has assessed that, in general, the financial position of all entities remained at least sufficient at the end of 2024. The liquidity ratios were comfortably high for most entities. But if there are no further improvements, those entities with ratios near or below 1 may face potential solvency issues in the future.

6. The Group is pleased to note that all entities under review have unqualified audit opinions from the Board of Auditors. We call upon all these entities to address the identified weaknesses while preserving the current accomplishments.

Madam Chair,

7. The Group is concerned over a number of issues raised by the Board in its report, including: cost recovery services, development reforms, supply chain management, among others.

8. The Group notes that, by category, financial and budget management, programme and project management, governance and accountability, as well as assets management, together constituted 77 per cent of the total key findings in 2024. We emphasize that these management and oversight areas are of crucial importance to effective mandate delivery and the responsible stewardship of the UN resources, and we request the Secretariat to intensify its efforts to achieve further improvements in this regard.

9. The Group also notes that insufficient consolidation of information and communications technology procurement requirements, as well as the lack of system-wide contracts, has resulted in price disparities and higher costs. We look forward to strengthened consolidation of enterprise ICT demand requirements across all Secretariat entities.

10. In this regard, the Group underscores the need for enhanced investment in oversight and monitoring capacities in decentralized operations, including the availability of reliable data and the strengthening of empowered supervisory functions, as pointed out in the reports of UNICEF, UNFPA, and UN-Women. Recognizing that both external and internal auditors have a crucial role, the Group further stresses that senior management likewise requires robust, systematic and data-informed mechanisms to support timely and well-founded strategic decision-making.

11. The Group remains deeply concerned that substantial financial detriment continuously occurred in the UNOPS during the past few years. We are looking forward to seeing accountability measures to be taken and internal control to be strengthened in a timely manner to avoid recurrence of such cases.

12. The Group reiterates its concern over the imbalance of geographical representation of staff in a number of entities and in the resident coordinator system and stress the need to intensify the efforts to achieve equitable geographic representation among staff, with a special focus on unrepresented or underrepresented Member States.

Madam Chair,

13. Turning to the status of the implementation of the recommendations of the Board, the Group notes that of the overall implementation rate was 51.60 per cent in 2024, which remains stable compared with 2023. The Group stresses the need for all entities to undertake prompt actions to ensure that the accepted recommendations of the Board are implemented as a matter of priority, and to hold programme managers accountable for the non-implementation. Furthermore, we reiterate our request to the secretariat to provide a full explanation for the delays in the implementation of all outstanding recommendations.

14. Finally, the Group assures you, Madam Chair, that we will constructively engage in the consultations ahead to conclude this agenda item in a successful manner.

I thank you.