Thank you, President.

Rwanda aligns itself with the statements delivered by the Group of 77 and China.

The seventy-third session provides an important opportunity to advance the implementation of the Geneva Consensus and translate its commitments into concrete development outcomes.

For Rwanda, structural transformation remains essential to achieving sustainable and inclusive development. This requires stronger productive capacities, economic diversification, value addition, digital transformation, skills development and greater participation by developing countries in regional and global value chains. These efforts must be supported by an open, transparent, inclusive, rules-based and predictable international economic environment.

Regional integration is central to this objective. The African Continental Free Trade Area provides an important platform for expanding markets, promoting industrialization and strengthening regional value chains. Realizing its full potential will require continued progress in implementation and trade facilitation, as well as targeted support to enable micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, particularly those led by women and young entrepreneurs, to take advantage of the opportunities it creates.

Rwanda also emphasizes that graduation from least developed country status should be approached as a development process, rather than simply the achievement of a statistical threshold. Graduating countries require predictable, coordinated and country-specific support to consolidate development gains, address remaining vulnerabilities and graduate with momentum.

We encourage UNCTAD to continue providing focused and demand-driven research, consensus-building and technical cooperation, tailored to national priorities and backed by adequate and predictable resources.

Rwanda remains committed to working constructively with UNCTAD and all Member States to advance a more equitable, inclusive and development-oriented global economy.

I thank you.