Thank you chair.

I present this statement on behalf of Australia, Canada, the Republic of Korea and my own country New Zealand.

As we approach the end of another Third Committee season, we can all agree that this Committee has an oversubscribed workload, which is challenging for many delegations to meaningfully engage.

We appreciate the initiative taken by the African Group to find a way forward to address the Third Committee’s workload which has significantly increased over recent years.

The long conversations we have participated in regarding this text over the last two months is an indication of how important it is to get this text right due the implications it will have for our delegations, and the quality of our work.

As we have stressed from the onset, it is essential that we work together in shared understanding of our methods of work. While we will no doubt find divisions in the substance of work covered by this committee, we should be aligned in the way in which we approach its work. This is why we ultimately joined consensus today.

Despite cofacilitators efforts, we still have concerns with the text including with regards to OP4. We understand that other delegations may also have concerns with areas of the text.

This wording has been a long-standing concern for CANZ and the RoK during these negotiations. We broke silence on this paragraph as it has always been a key priority for our delegations, but our concerns on OP4 have not been addressed despite us showing maximum flexibility, and showing restraint with our others concerns in the text.

The inclusion of “reducing dialogues on a regional basis” is not procedural in nature, it is rather, a substantive element prescribing an approach to be taken in our methods of work, which we would want to be considered as an option for the road map the resolution speaks to, rather than pre-empting those conversations and having it included in the text.

On OP4, our delegations wish to reiterate our understanding of feasibility links not just to the practical and scheduling considerations or combined briefings, but also to the linkages between mandates, and to maintaining the quality of the third committee’s work, including the quality of its interactive dialogues.

We look forward to the next steps in this process, and engaging constructively on the roadmap this resolution has asked for, which will meaningfully consider the options that would better help the work of the Third Committee.

I thank you.