Director General/Executive Director
It is a pleasure to have this opportunity to meet with you a last time.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime has endeavoured to provide the necessary support to this Commission over a challenging period, encompassing preparations for the 2014 high-level review, the 2016 UNGASS and 2019 Ministerial Declaration.
We have worked together to put these commitments into effective practice, to advance balanced responses to the world drug problem that are based on evidence and focused on health.
We have strengthened international cooperation to address challenges across the UN pillars of peace and security, human rights and development.
It is a source of pride for me that UNODC has benefitted from your trust and recognition of our work.
Even as regular budget resources have decreased, we have been able to rely on your contributions to ensure that we could continue delivering to the high standards we and Member States expect.
However, our delivery has come under increasing pressure as the whole of the UN Secretariat faces severe budget challenges.
UNODC needs predictable and stable financial resources so we can continue supporting you in the areas of our mandates.
In terms of our operations, we remain committed to seeing through reforms, implementing your priorities and supporting an enabling and inclusive work environment that recruits and retains a highly competent, geographically diverse and gender-balanced staff.
We in turn rely on the Commissions to support us in finding sustainable, long-term solutions to our financial situation.
Excellencies,
The Commission on Narcotic Drugs and the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice remain clear examples of multilateralism in action.
During a time when the value of consensus has come into question, the work of the Commissions, blessed by what we call the "spirit of Vienna", provide irrefutable evidence that cooperation based on shared commitments is the only sustainable response to shared challenges.
I have no doubt that working together, you will continue to find common ground and develop common solutions.
Dear CND colleagues,
You have lost no time in taking forward the commitments of the Ministerial Declaration, with the adoption of a multi-year workplan and concrete timeline.
I welcome these solid steps to strengthen integrated, comprehensive responses to the world drug problem, and UNODC is here to support you as ever.
The sixty-third session will have on its agenda urgent drug control issues facing the international community.
I wish you every success in the deliberations ahead, in your work with my successor, and in your future endeavours.
Thank you.