The United Nations (UN) Resident Coordinator (RC) for Mauritius and Seychelles, Ms Christine N. Umutoni, paid a farewell call on Tuesday afternoon on the Minister of Land Transport and Light Rail, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade, Mr Alan Ganoo, at Newton Tower in Port-Louis.
The RC is the highest-ranking UN representative in Mauritius and coordinates the support from the UN to Mauritius in meeting the nation’s objectives towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
In a statement, Ms Umutoni said that the courtesy call was an opportunity to bid farewell to the Minister as her mission is coming to an end in Mauritius. I will be ending my mission here with a Policy Dialogue between the Government and the UN around 28 October 2022 followed by a strategic retreat, she announced.
She also expressed gratitude to the Government, through Minister Ganoo, for their support and collaboration with the UN. We have had to implement together with the Government of Mauritius, the UN-Government Partnership Framework, and we have achieved a lot, she rejoiced.
‘I also thank the Government for embracing the UN Reform where the independent Office of UN RC was found’, she further indicated. In addition, Ms Umutoni remarked that work will start between the UN and the Mauritian authorities on a new Cooperation Framework.
The meeting, she also pointed out, discussed all the important achievements which include managing the COVID-19 pandemic and the Wakashio Oil Spill; socio-economic response plans; UN Agencies’ projects; fighting climate change; and the social aspect. It was a good opportunity to recognise this partnership, she emphasised.
She also lauded Mauritius for being a strong member of the UN. ‘We recognise the challenges of the Small Island States and we are just producing the vulnerability index to advocate for financing and funding of the Small Island States due to special challenges that they face. So, we will continue to advocate for that’, she added.
Previously, Ms Christine N. Umutoni served as the UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Mauritius and Seychelles before the UN Reform.
Before that she served as UN RC, Humanitarian coordinator an UNDP RR in Asmara, Eritrea since 2012 to 2017. Her main responsibilities included coordination of all UN agencies operational in Eritrea, coordinating UN’s humanitarian/development work and heading the UNDP Country Office.
Prior to joining the UN system, she worked as a development consultant in 2005 with focus on Governance and Gender. In that capacity she concluded assignments for Rwanda Demobilisation Commission, UNDP Rwanda, Survivor’s Fund (SURF) Rwanda –UK based organisation with offices in Rwanda and for the COMESA.
