We will continue to champion the rights, dignity, and opportunities of every woman and girl

My deep appreciation also to the entire UN Women team, the Executive Board team, our teams across the world and here at headquarters, for their commitment, their work, and drive every day to advance gender equality and women’s rights. You make us proud every day.

I would be remiss not to also give our dear Jean-Luc Bories a big thank you. He has been the steady hand of this Executive Board for the past 14 years and will now move on to well-deserved retirement.

This Board meeting will be Jean-Luc’s very last, and I know you join me in echoing our deep gratitude and in wishing him all the very best going forward.

Rest assured, that we will ensure a smooth transition, and you can continue to count on the same strong support that you have grown accustomed to from UN Women and our Executive Board team.

And to each of you, Member States, partners, colleagues in UN Women and across the UN system, thank you. Thank you for your presence, your persistence, and your partnership, both here in New York and on the ground where our shared mission is being tested every day.

Your commitment, especially in complex and crisis-affected contexts, brings our mandate to life.

You have adopted seven decisions today. I know that getting to the finish line required compromise, late nights and very early mornings.

This demonstrates how deeply you care about UN Women, how deeply you care about our crucial mandate, and how important it is that we continue to succeed, that we improve, push forward and excel across all aspects of our work.

Despite the headwinds we are facing, what we heard yesterday from all of you was a unified voice in support of our triple mandate. Of the criticality of our coordination mandate, to influence others to push forward.

We will continue to support the UN system in protecting hard-won gains. Including through UN cooperation frameworks and UNCT priorities, both where we are present and where we support as a non-resident agency.

We will work to protect and advance the gender architecture of this United Nations, through peacekeeping, humanitarian action, and development priorities.

And, as we heard from you in this room yesterday, UN Women is not an abstract institution; it is a lifeline.

Every day we impact lives, from policies advanced, to services delivered, to global norms set. UN Women was created out of a demand - driven by you in this room, with the women’s movement and the voices of women and girls as the wind in your sails.

We are a product of reform, and we are not new to it; we embrace it and are continuously reforming.

Every opportunity to examine how we can deliver more and better for women and girls, we will take. Our focus remains on impact on the ground.

This is also why we are giving the UN80 [Initiative] our best efforts, across all work packages, because we owe the women and girls we serve to examine if a potential merger could result in better delivery, greater efficiency, and higher impact. If, this could be an even bigger lifeline.

I look forward to updating you on this work both through our formal and informal deliberations.

The Deputy Secretary-General and I have heard you loud and clear yesterday. And the [UN80] decisions adopted here just now have highlighted your asks once again.

I will bring those asks to the Steering Committee, which is chaired, as you know, by the Deputy Secretary-General with myself and my sister UNFPA ED Diene Keita.

As I said yesterday, we will be sharing documents as a matter of priority, and I remain available for any dialogue you may wish to have on the assessment going forward.

The months ahead provide us with opportunities to reaffirm our shared commitment to gender equality.

The momentum has already begun with the ongoing CSW70 negotiations on agreed conclusions on the priority theme: access to justice.

I am grateful to many of you here, and your Delegates, who are engaging proactively and constructively in these negotiations.

This high-level engagement in the early days of the negotiations shows us, once again, that women’s rights remain a priority for the multilateral system. It remains worthy of the investment of your time and your efforts.

I look forward to always engaging with as many of your Delegations as possible and to harnessing energy from civil society and the women’s movement.

We will also commemorate International Women’s Day 2026 on March 9th, just before the opening of CSW, under the theme, “Rights. Justice. Action. For All Women and Girls”. I invite you all to join us in the General Assembly Hall for this commemoration.

Our number one priority in the coming year will be to maintain a laser-sharp focus on the implementation of our Strategic Plan.

It remains our North Star. Our commitment to you remains to deliver on the results we have laid out in it, results that we know will impact lives, transform communities, and propel sustainable development, peace and security forward.

Investing in women is investing in a future that is more just, more secure, and more prosperous.

Our focus on efficiency and effectiveness, as you heard this morning, has allowed us to weather many storms, and it will continue.

Our pivot to the countries and regions process, improved business models, and continuous striving to advance is more relevant than ever. It is actually UN80 in action.

We will also continue to diversify our resources. As I told you yesterday, the cut to our resources from 2024 to 2025 is not insignificant, but it remains lower than the overall global ODA cuts.

We are also proud to see that new donors are coming to UN Women, and that some of our steadfast partners are increasing their support. This, too, shows your political will and the importance you place on gender equality.

I thank you, as always, for the engagement throughout this session.

Your insights strengthen our resolve and sharpen our priorities.

Your support to UN Women, and to our teams around the world, is never taken for granted. I know that this trust is earned, and we will continue to earn it.

We will continue to champion the rights, dignity, and opportunities of every woman and girl. In a challenging global context, our shared commitment is more vital than ever. Let us move forward together, united, ambitious in vision, practical in action, and unwavering in our pursuit of impact and gender equality for all.

Thank you.