Tehran- On February 2nd UNFPA and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs held the first Steering Committee meeting of 2015 with participation of implementing partners to discuss the Annual Work Plans for the upcoming year and extend appreciation for yet another successful year of fruitful cooperation.
The Steering Committee was co-chaired by his Excellency Peiman Seadat, Director General, Environmental and Sustainable Development Affairs, MFA and Dr. M. Hulki Uz, UNFPA Representative.
The meeting started with briefing on UNFPA’s new Strategic Plan (2014-2017) putting emphasis on Advocacy, Policy Dialogue and Upstream Engagement. UNFPA Country Programme Evaluation, objective and timeline was presented by UNFPA’s M&E Programme Analyst and followed by presentations by implementing partners on their proposed activities for 2015 which were discussed and agreed upon.
In 2014, UNFPA worked closely with its implementing partners which resulted in several outstanding achievements, among which was to provide technical support for review and revision of the draft national policy on ageing, the launch of a three-year project to improve maternal health in Afghanistan and further to promote South-South cooperation by fostering strategic partnerships, and identifying opportunities for mutual learning, based on the principles of national ownership, respect for sovereignty and equality among partners.
Mr. Seadat while providing his opinion on the work plans, reiterated Government’s position that: “Every joint activity with UNFPA must and will be carried out within the frameworks of the Islamic Republic’s national ownership, UNDAF and CPAP, with Iran’s National Development Plan being the highest priority.”
Dr. Uz, while confirming Mr. Seadat’s statement, extended his gratitude towards him for his professional guidance and support through 5 years of cooperation and towards the Implementing Partners for their accuracy and dedication in executing plans and added that: “The Supreme Leader’s 14 point population decree came out just in time to raise sensitivity on issues such as ageing, youth and vulnerable women and paved the way for UNFPA to address the issues as instructed. In fact we have published 4 comprehensive analytic reports on the subjects.”
At the end, Dr. Hosseini, the Deputy Minister in International Affairs, Ministry of cooperatives, Labor and Social welfare, Dr. B. Murali, Deputy Resident Representative of UNDP and other implementing partners joined Mr. Seadat to bid farewell to Dr. Uz. Mr. Seadat presented a token of Government’s appreciation to Dr.Uz and thanked him for his exemplary cooperation and leadership of UNFPA’s Country Office.
