Romania won the mandate to serve as President of the Executive Board of some of the most important UN development agencies - UNDP, UNOPS and UNFPA - for 2026 and will be represented by its Ambassador to the UN Cornel Feruta, announced Foreign Minister Oana Toiu.

'Romania's activity at the UN has strengthened our positioning as a reliable and credible partner, so that at yesterday's meeting of the Executive Board in New York, Romania was elected by consensus for the mandate that will run throughout 2026. The position will be held by Romania's Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Cornel Feruta, a diplomat with seniority in multilateral formats, with the experience and creativity required for this role in a period of change. Working directly on sensitive files alongside Ambassador Feruta and our entire UN team makes me clearly say that we have a team in New York that does us credit,' the minister wrote on Facebook.

Oana Toiu added that assuming this position 'comes at a particularly important moment, against the backdrop of the deepening in 2026 of proposals for comprehensive reform of the UN system.'

As part of this overall process, the President of the Executive Board will lead negotiations on the UN Secretary-General's proposals regarding the merger of certain entities within the UN system.

The Executive Board of UNDP, UNOPS and UNFPA is made up of 36 member states, representative of all geographical regions of the world, elected for a three-year term. Romania has been a member since 2024.

With a budget of 23.8 billion dollars allocated for the 2026-2029 period, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is an integral part of the extended United Nations family and is the main agency with a mandate in the development area. UNDP aims to make a decisive contribution to combating poverty, reducing inequalities and building a democratic society by strengthening the rule of law and its institutions. UNDP focuses on achieving major improvements in living conditions, carrying out projects in 170 countries and territories.

With a budget of 4.8 billion dollars allocated for the 2026-2029 period, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) aims to effectively manage challenges related to population ageing by identifying solutions designed to support governments in planning population needs, as well as contributing to the eradication of gender-based violence and harmful practices, while protecting women, in 150 countries and territories.

The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), which implements projects in 188 countries and has an estimated budget of 3 billion dollars, represents a central resource for the UN system and its partners, providing project management, infrastructure development and procurement services in order to expand project implementation capacity aimed at promoting peace, delivering humanitarian assistance and advancing development efforts, thereby contributing to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

'Multilateralism now needs to be both defended and reformed at the same time and I believe we have the necessary balance for this, a balance also recognised through this mandate. We will continue to work day by day for Romania and to contribute, with the experience accumulated in our part of the world, to a global thinking process in which the reference points we all had in foreign policy are being redefined and changed, including multilateralism,' the Foreign minister said. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Oana Ghita; EN - writing by: Adina Panaitescu)