United Nations country rep bids farewell




Ms Maria do Valle Ribeiro
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HARARE – Outgoing United Nations Resident Coordinator, Ms Maria do Valle Ribeiro yesterday bade farewell to President Mnangagwa following the coming to an end of her two-year mission.

Briefing journalists at State House after her meeting with the Head of State and Government, Mrs Ribeiro said they discussed a wide range of issues that include President Mnangagwa’s forthcoming trip to the United Nations Climate Change of the Parties (COP26) to be hosted by Britain in Glasgow next month.

Besides acting as a boost for the Second Republic’s engagement and re-engagement efforts, President Mnangagwa’s visit will also unlock trade opportunities with the Western world, which dovetails with Zimbabwe’s Vision 2030 and the National Development Strategy 1 (NDS1)

Ms Ribeiro said they had also discussed Zimbabwe’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

“I came to see His Excellency to bid farewell as I will be leaving Zimbabwe at the end of my mission this week. We discussed progress on Covid-19 response which is of course a partnership between Zimbabwe and the United Nations. 

“We also discussed the upcoming Cop26 where there will be an important delegation from Zimbabwe,” said Mrs Ribeiro.

Outlining major highlights of her tour of duty, Mrs Ribeiro commended Zimbabwe for taking measures to uplift the livelihoods of women and the girl child.

She said that include women participation in politics.

“I have seen a lot of progress in recognising issues related to girls and women and Gender-Based Violence (GBV), but also in terms of creating opportunities and supporting women as entrepreneurship in the private sector and businesses and taking economic position, there has been issues of women participation in the political space. There are ongoing policies in Zimbabwe to support women,” she said.

She acknowledged that every country had its own challenges and Zimbabwe had done a lot to mitigate them and fulfilling its objective of not leaving anyone behind.

“Every country has challenges that is why all the UN countries signed the Sustainable Development Goals, the whole impact of climate change, issues of cyclone has impacted on people’s livelihoods, the economic situation and these are ongoing issues. There is need for greater equity of benefits for the development of the whole population, reducing disparities,” she said.

The UN is finalising the new cooperation framework with the Government which is premised on four areas of cooperation which are people and human development, sustainable environment and climate change, economic transformation focusing on women and youth and governance issues focusing on Parliament, independent commissions and the devolution process.

Mrs Ribeiro also bade farewell to Speaker of the National Assembly Advocate Jacob Mudenda a fortnight ago where they discussed how the world body could help in strengthening Parliament’s oversight, legislative and representative role. – Herald