I am pleased to send greetings to all participants at this important event. I thank the Governments of Liberia, Timor-Leste and Afghanistan for bringing us together. 

I have been a strong supporter of the New Deal since its adoption in Busan last year. Today offers a welcome opportunity to present the New Deal to a wider audience.

Just a few weeks ago, during a visit to Timor-Leste, I saw for myself the ways in which the country is carrying out the New Deal as a pilot country.  At the fragility assessment workshop in Dili, I was encouraged by how Timor-Leste has involved key national stakeholders and civil society. 

Other pilot countries have made important progress as well.  The DRC, Liberia, Sierra Leone and South Sudan are at varying stages of their fragility self-assessments. In South Sudan, the self-assessment was kickstarted in late August with a workshop involving close to one hundred government, civil society, academic, non-governmental organization and donor representatives.   

The New Deal aims to help us focus on achieving five important peacebuilding and statebuilding goals. Success will depend on political and financial commitments from both g7+ countries and their development partners. But the New Deal and its goals go far beyond aid flows. Three of the five goals relate to politics, security and justice. 

To reach all of the goals, we need g7+ and partner countries to commit themselves to the New Deal fully and visibly. The presence of President Johnson-Sirleaf and Prime Minister Gusmão at today’s event sends a powerful signal of commitment. 

The United Nations will strongly support the New Deal through a coordinated, system-wide effort.  Looking ahead, I have asked the High-Level Panel on the post-2015 development agenda to reflect the particular challenges of the g7+ and other conflict-affected countries in the post-2015 framework. 

I am confident that together we can help the 1.5 billion people who live in conflict-affected and fragile states to achieve lasting peace and sustainable development that benefits their people, their regions and our world.