Mr. President,
Excellencies,
Distinguished delegates,

It is an honour for Germany, in its capacity as Chair of the Peacebuilding Commission, to take part in this important debate.

Having assumed the position of the Permanent Representative of Germany last week, it is a profound pleasure to initiate my function as Chair by addressing the General Assembly. I very much look forward to engaging with the Peacebuilding Commission, its Membership, and all interested delegations.

I wish to continue the Commission’s nineteenth session in the same spirit- as my predecessor, Ambassador Leendertse. I am most grateful for her dedicated leadership as Chair of the PBC.

Please also allow me to acknowledge the exemplary stewardship of Brazil during the Commission’s eighteenth session. We greatly value the dedication and leadership that marked their tenure, and thank them for their very productive collaboration this year as Vice-Chair.

I further recognize our Vice-Chairs — Morocco, Japan, and Poland — and commend the efforts of the Chairs of the Commission’s Country-Specific Configurations, Brazil for Guinea Bissau, Morocco for the Central African Republic, and Sweden for Liberia. I will also seize this opportunity to thank all the 31 member states of the PBC. All their sustained efforts testify to the Commission’s collective resolve and are instrumental in driving forward our shared agenda of building and sustaining peace. I also wish to thank the Peacebuilding Support Office, whose strategic engagement and policy support underpin the Commission’s work. In the first half of our Chairmanship, we have focused on reinforcing the Peacebuilding Commission’s strengths as a platform that brings together Member States, regional and international partners, and the United Nations system in support of nationally-owned peacebuilding priorities.

Mr. President,

This year, we have deepened country-specific engagements. The Commission held Ambassadorial-level meetings on Liberia, Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Colombia. These meetings addressed concrete national challenges and opportunities, from women inclusion in Liberia, to reconciliation and reintegration in Colombia, to justice sector reform and conflict prevention in São Tomé and Príncipe. They also produced meaningful follow-up, underlining the close collaboration the Commission can offer to countries that seek its support for their nationally owned priorities.

In June, the 2025 Annual Session marked the 20th anniversary of the UN Peacebuilding Architecture. The session extended participation beyond the PBC to all Member States, reflecting peacebuilding as a collective responsibility and inviting broader engagement for peacebuilding and sustaining peace. It saw the participation of the Foreign Ministers of The Gambia and Timor-Leste, sharing important lessons from their valuable engagement with the Commission.

The Commission has also remained committed to expanding cooperation with international and regional financial institutions including regional development banks, namely the Asian Development Bank. In March, we invited World Bank experts for discussions on peacebuilding perspectives in view of the Bank’s forthcoming adoption of its new Strategy on Fragility, Conflict and Violence. These efforts are geared toward better aligning peacebuilding and development financing. This month, on 4 and 5 September, I will travel to Washington DC to engage with the World Bank Group Executive Board for a strategic exchange on peacebuilding and sustaining peace.

The Commission also held its first-ever Annual Strategic Dialogue with the Peacebuilding Fund, following the adoption of its new Terms of Reference, which reaffirmed the role of the Commission in providing policy guidance on the use of the Peacebuilding Fund to maximize its impact and improve its functioning, and the General Assembly’s decision to allocate assessed contributions to the Fund. This dialogue is a significant step in the direction of enhancing synergies between the Fund and the Commission, strengthening the complementarity between the Fund’s catalytic support and the Commission’s convening role.

Mr. President, Excellencies,

As Chair of the PBC, Germany has sought to reinforce the Commission’s thematic work.

Engagement this year has included South-South and Triangular Cooperation, guided by principles of national ownership, mutual benefit, and equality among partners. The Commission held both expert- and Ambassadorial-level meetings on the topic, which made reflections that the Peacebuilding Support Office and the Office for South-South Cooperation can consider in their work. In our capacity as Chair, Germany also participated in this year’s biennial session of the General Assembly’s High-level Committee on South-South Cooperation.

Guided by the PBC’s strategies on women and youth in peacebuilding, we convened an expert-level meeting on the margins of this year’s session of the Commission on the Status of Women and intend to convene an Ambassadorial-level meeting in October, which will serve to mark the 25th anniversary of Security Council resolution 1325 and the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action. The Youth, Peace and Security agenda is also moving forward through the PBF’s thematic review on youth-led peacebuilding, on which the Commission held an expert-level meeting. The Commission also intends to hold an Ambassadorial-level meeting on YPS.

Internally, the Commission is also continually exploring ways to improve its working methods and to strengthen follow-up, including through enhanced engagement by the Vice-Chairs. We also continue to coordinate closely with the Presidents of the General Assembly, the Security Council, and ECOSOC to reinforce the Commission’s advisory and bridging roles.

Looking ahead, the Commission will continue a series of engagements for the rest of this year. We look forward in particular to the eighth annual consultative meeting with the African Union Peace and Security Council later this year, a cornerstone of our partnership with regional actors as well as to the Ministerial Level Meeting during the High-Level Week, which is scheduled for September 25.

Mr. President,

Germany firmly believes in the value of the Peacebuilding Commission as a platform for dialogue, cooperation, and concrete support for countries on the path toward lasting peace. The 2025 Peacebuilding Architecture Review offers an opportunity to further align our peacebuilding efforts with the national priorities of the countries concerned.

In line with its program of work the Commission will continue to explore opportunities to strengthen its visibility and showcase its work, as appropriate, and its functions in accordance with its mandate, including in the context of discussions related to the implementation of the relevant provisions of the Pact for the Future.

We look forward to continuing our work with all members of the Commission and the wider United Nations system to advance sustainable peace and partnerships.

I thank you.