Excellencies and Ambassadors,

Honorable Ministers,

Distinguished guests,

Ladies and gentleman,

I would like to thank you all for making the trip to Hargeisa. I would like to mention, in particular, the UN Resident Coordinator, Philippe Lazzarini, and the Danish and UK governments for working with us to facilitate this meeting. On behalf of the Somaliland government and people, we are grateful to those development partners that sit before us here today, as well as those who were unable to share this occasion with us, for their generous assistance to Somaliland over all these years.

Today we come together to take stock of the progress Somaliland has made in implementing the New Deal since we endorsed the Somaliland Special Arrangement in September 2013, and to point the way forward. Somaliland and the international community are committed to working towards the same goals of a peaceful, democratic and prosperous region, and this coordination forum offers an important opportunity for the Somaliland government, civil society and our development partners to engage in productive dialogue on how to make this a reality on the ground.

We are not starting from scratch, but building on over two decades of successful peace consolidation, democratization and institution-building. These foundations have created an environment where programmes can be implemented successfully and effectively, with long-established government institutions and experienced civil society groups.

We have a long-term Vision: 2030 with a stable, democratic and prosperous society as our endpoint, and we have been working towards this goal since 2012 with our five-year National Development Plan. Our Special Arrangement is fully aligned with the National Plan, and provides architecture for our efforts to be focused in priority areas to achieve defined milestones.

My government is very much committed to necessary transformational reform in key areas such as public financial management, civil service, justice, investment climate and security. We have ambitious plans across all these sectors. With the support of our partners, we can create the institutional and legal framework necessary to fully realize the fruits of the New Deal.

The ownership and the accountability principles of the New Deal are also behind the government’s choice of the Somaliland Development Fund as our preferred financing mechanism. We thank the UK and Danish governments for helping to establish and contribute resources to this fund, and we call upon all international partners to consider channeling their support through the SDF and similar Trust Funds.

Although Somaliland, a post-conflict country, has made impressive progress in a very challenging environment, our future development needs cannot be ignored. For stability and security to be maintained at home and spread throughout the more volatile areas of our region, the international community must reward and empower Somaliland for its commitment to our shared values of peaceful coexistence and legitimate politics.

Major challenges and threats continue to present themselves which have global repercussions. We believe that the best solutions come from indigenous approaches and bottom-up initiatives. Somaliland takes pride in having embarked on such unique course of bottom-up state building which has far exceeded expectations.

Somaliland is committed to continue being a responsible international partner, and with your support for the Somaliland Special Arrangement, and our determination to carry out comprehensive reforms, we believe Somaliland can be a model of what successful New Deal-led development can look like. I am sure that one day, all of us sitting here will look back on this day with pride of what we have achieved together.

Thank you