STATEMENT BY
H.E. MR. SULAY MANAH-KPUKUMU
MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY
Thank you, Madam Chair,
At the outset, Sierra Leone congratulates you on your re-election as Chair of this Committee and be assured of my delegation’s support for a successful tenure.
Let me also seize this opportunity to express Sierra Leone’s appreciation to Members of the Committee for endorsing our nomination for re-election as a bureau member and in the same vein, congratulate colleague bureau members on their re-election.
Sierra Leone extends thanks to the Secretariat and the Department of Political and Peace Building Affairs for their continued support all year through.
We welcome the programme of work for this Session which will guide our engagements and ensure the fulfilment of our mandates as outlined in resolution 1514.
It is my delegation’s hope that during this session, our committee will recommit to prioritizing the interests and concerns of the 17 Non-Self-Governing territories, noting the many challenges confronting them, including but not limited to the economic, political and environmental. We also look forward to identifying ways of ensuring that these territories have the resources and support needed for their existence and to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
We should continue to create a conducive space for dialogue and cooperation between the territories and the Administering Powers to identify the pathways to a sustainable future.
Sierra Leone would like to thank the Government of Timor Leste for graciously consenting to host the Pacific Regional Seminar for 2025.
We look forward to participating in this year’s Regional Seminar, which is an integral part of the work of this Committee and one of the most effective platforms used to engage all the relevant stakeholders, as we strive to achieve a just and lasting solution to addressing the varying dimensions of the obstacles toward the decolonization of the remaining Seventeen (17) NSGTs, albeit on a case-by-case basis.
I would like to conclude this remark by reiterating my delegation’s willingness to constantly engage in the forthcoming meetings outlined in the just adopted Programme of work.
I thank you.
