I wanted to say that we very much share the very strong support, Deputy Secretary-General and Ambassador Mohammed, for your visit. I think this has been fantastic venture in highlighting the centrality of the the Women, Peace and Security agenda to African peace and security. And the United Kingdom very much supports all of those colleagues today who’ve called for more women in both political processes in general, but also specifically in peace processes. I think that means in turn, an even greater focus needs to be placed on the issue of girls education so that we can start to help young girls and women take their rightful place in community top tables and in the top tables of their nations.

If I can mention a few country specific examples, the United Kingdom has a strong partnership with Somalia on serving and protecting women and girls. We work to include women in reconciliation efforts, security reforms and political dialogue, address sexual and gender-based violence, and we support access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care. And I very much endorse what others have said today about the full, equal and meaningful participation of women in Somalia’s upcoming elections. We encourage Somalia to maintain her commitment to the 30 percent quota for women in parliament and we hope to see the Sexual Offences Bill and the Female Genital Mutilation Bill making swift progress through the Somali legislature.

Turning to Sudan, I think the Council very much wishes Sudan well and wants to do everything we can to support her. The United Kingdom shares that. We were delighted to hear the Prime Minister reiterate his commitment to the full participation of women in government at the General Assembly in September. We’ve all reheard referred to Alaa Salah’s very important contribution to the debate last week and I think we look forward to even more engagement and participation in public life.

We were very pleased that you were able to visit, DSG, the country of Eritrea. There’s a clear opportunity for step-change in UN and AU engagement with Eritrea, following the historic peace agreement with Ethiopia, the lifting of sanctions, and we believe it’s essential that increased international engagement delivers further improvements in regional security and concrete progress on human rights there.

Finally, on Ethiopia, I join other colleagues in paying tribute to Prime Minister Abyei and his award of the Nobel Peace Prize – a very important testimony to his role in promoting peace in the region and political reform at home. What everyone has said about the Ethiopian president is extremely important. It’s very good that 50 percent of cabinet positions are reserved for women; this is a lesson to us all, perhaps. We hope to see Ethiopia build on this progress and promote women’s participation as voters and candidates in upcoming elections and reform, security and justice institutions to make them more responsive to the needs of women and girls. Continued outbreaks of violence do concern us and highlight the need for all actors to work towards reformed institution and the importance of peaceful dialogue.

We wanted to make this session interactive, so I’d like to ask a few questions, if I may, in addition to those colleagues have already raised. One about girls education: how can we make sure that increased investment in girls education translates into women’s economic empowerment? I think the Indonesian ambassador already asked about what practical steps would improve women’s participation in peacekeeping; you’ve given us some, but if there’s more that can be said on that, we look forward to it. And what more support do you think women mediators and civil society actors need so that they can strengthen their participation in political dialogue?

Operation Orbital, the UK’s training mission to Ukraine, was established following the illegal annexation of Crimea by Russia, in a demonstration of our unwavering support to Ukraine. UK personnel have now trained over 17,500 members of the Ukrainian armed forces since the start of Operation Orbital in 2015.

In September Defence Secretary Ben Wallace travelled to the east of the country where he visited the frontline of the conflict and met with Ukrainian military commanders.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said:

“My recent visit to the Donbas region made clear not only the costs inflicted by Russian-backed separatists, but also the resolve the Ukrainian Armed Forces have demonstrated in defending their territorial integrity.

“That is why we are extending our training mission to Ukraine for another three years – so we may train thousands more Ukrainian personnel and continue to make a difference.”

The Defence Secretary also underlined the UK’s support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity in meetings with his newly appointed counterpart Andriy Zagorodniuk.

Mr Wallace travelled to Mariupol in the south east of the country on the coast of the Sea of Azov, where he witnessed first-hand the effects of the five-year conflict in the Donbas region and received a briefing on the situation in the region from Joint Force Operation Commander Lieutenant General Volodymyr Kravchenko and on the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov from Admiral Ihor Voronchenko.

Mr Wallace also met with UK armed forces personnel who are delivering vital military training to the Ukrainian Armed forces as part of the UK’s training mission to the country, Operation Orbital.

Last year the UK enlarged the scope of Operation Orbital by deploying training teams from the Royal Navy and Royal Marines to deliver training to the Ukrainian Navy who face increasing threats in the Sea of Azov.

During his meeting with Ukrainian defence minister Zagorodniuk, Mr Wallace also reaffirmed the importance of UK-Ukraine trade – as discussed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in August.

The PRC is responsible for the exercise of the Bank of England’s functions as the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA). The PRA is the UK’s microprudential regulator for deposit-taking firms, insurers and systemically important investment firms. The PRA is responsible for ensuring that firms it regulates are properly managing their capital and liquidity positions

The Bank of England Act 1998 requires the Treasury, at least once in each Parliament, to make recommendations to the PRC about aspects of the economic policy of the government to which the PRC should have regard when advancing the objectives and discharging the duties of the PRA.

This letter fulfils the Treasury’s statutory requirements detailed above. The Treasury will issue a further letter of recommendations at the next appropriate opportunity under the next Parliament.

The FPC acts as the UK’s macroprudential authority. It is tasked with ensuring that emerging risks and vulnerabilities across the financial system are identified, monitored and effectively addressed.

The Bank of England Act 1998 requires the government to provide the FPC with a written remit and recommendations at least once a year.

The remit specifies the government’s economic policy and provides guidance to the FPC on its objectives and functions.

The FPC is required to respond to the government, setting out any action it has taken or intends to take in response to a specific recommendation and, if appropriate, any reasons why it does not intend to act on a recommendation.

The FCA is the conduct of business regulator of all financial services firms in the UK. It is responsible for ensuring relevant markets function well, the conduct supervision of all financial services firms and the prudential supervision of any firms not supervised by the Prudential Regulation Authority. The FCA is also a concurrent competition regulator.

The Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 requires the Treasury, at least once in each Parliament, to make recommendations to the FCA about aspects of the economic policy of the government to which the FCA should have regard when advancing its objectives and discharging its duties.

This letter fulfils the Treasury’s statutory requirements detailed above. The Treasury will issue a further letter of recommendations at the next appropriate opportunity under the next Parliament.