Colleagues, friends. Thank you all for getting us here today. It wasn't easy. It wasn't easy at all. We've worked around the clock, but this outcome does move us forward.

An historic outcome, one that benefits the most vulnerable all around the world. I want to give a sincere thank you to our COP President, Minister Sameh Shoukry and his able team and the Egyptian presidency. And I want to recognize the work of the Secretariat. I am so, so proud of your dedication, your total commitment in putting yourselves on the front line for this cause. And I want the hall to recognize their appreciation for the Secretariat.

So what have we achieved? We have determined a way forward on a decade long conversation on funding for loss and damage. Deliberating over how we address the impacts on communities whose lives and livelihoods have been ruined by the very worst impacts of climate change. So at COP27 we've established the fund that will provide one pillar of the response required to ensure loss and damage is addressed.

The IPCC report that came out in April, written and agreed to by the world's scientists, told us that global emissions need to start a downward trajectory by 2025. That's only two years away. The IPCC also told us to cut emissions by nearly half by 2030. That's only seven years away. In this text, we have been given reassurances that there is no room for backsliding. It gives the key political signals that indicate the phase down of all fossil fuels is happening. The Mitigation Work Program will deliver passed this year. On adaptation, we have set a workplan for 2023 to help articulate the nature and components of a global, collective goal on adaptation and resilience and how it can be structured in a way that feeds into the Global Stocktake.

This opens the door for transformative action to achieve climate resilient development. It will help to break the mindset that for decades has kept us from moving beyond business as usual. On finance, we've created a pathway to align the broader climate finance flows towards low emissions and climate resilient development. With the launching of the Sharm el Sheikh dialogue and Article 2.1C. And we have also provided further impetus to the setting of a new long term goal on finance. The Egyptian presidency has championed the cause for just transition, taking a creative approach to implementation. All parts of society must be supported to move away from fossil fuels, including coal, oil and gas. The work program demonstrates how we do just that. It puts people at the heart of a rapid transition away from fossil fuels. The decisions taken here today reemphasize the critical importance of empowering all stakeholders to engage in climate action, in particular through the five year Action Plan on Action for Climate Empowerment and the intermediate review of the Gender Action Plan.

We need to use this package as a springboard to restore trust in our process. Gone are the days when we should rely on a system of abstract negotiations, which drives us to the lowest common denominator, disconnected from the real world.

Friends, we came here to Sharm el-Sheikh to launch a new phase of our collective process. The secretariat will help parties and future presidents to navigate this path to the new phase of implementation. I will take this responsibility seriously. I will listen carefully to all parties and other stakeholders in the coming months. I intend to share my views with parties on the margins of the June sessions on the operation of this inter-governmental process. As custodian of this process, I'm gaining a much clearer vision of how we do things differently.

I see the following. Firstly, accountability on the commitments that are made by nations, sectors, businesses and institutions. There is absolutely no point putting ourselves through all that we've just gone through if we're going to participate in an exercise of collective amnesia the moment the cameras move on. The numbers on our NDCs just don't add up. The transparency of commitments from countries, businesses and institutions will be a priority of the Secretariat. The Secretary General asked the Secretariat to come up with a plan early next year on how we'll ensure transparency and accountability with non-state actors, that have been critical in getting us to where we are today. They are critical in getting us to where we need to be. Civil society should take significant credit for helping us get to this point. Without the voices of individuals, whether they're activists, researchers, scientists, youth or indigenous peoples, we would not have gotten this far.

Secondly, I've been humbled thinking about the millions of people around the world who've been following our challenges and progress here at COP 27. This is a joint human endeavor like no other. To protect our collective future. Your voices at home have an immediate impact on policymakers and what they feel is demanded and what they feel is possible. Your voices have a direct impact on how we find our way forward at the multilateral level. You can help us deliver transformations in global systems that are needed if we are able to deal with this crisis. And finally, our global financial system must be pushed and multilateral development banks reformed to be able to harness their financial power, technical expertise and leverage further private finance. The cost of inaction is far, far greater than the cost of action.

We now have only seven COP sessions ahead of us before 2030. We must focus on 2030 and then work back from there. We have a series of milestones ahead. We must pull together with resolve through all processes, may they be national, regional or others such as the G20. Every single milestone matters and builds momentum. Keep your eye on 2030. That is our horizon.

The poet Maya Angelou wrote "The Horizon leans forwards, offering you space to place new steps of change" . The new step of change is just around the corner with the United Arab Emirates' stewardship of the first Global Stocktake. For the very first time, we will take stock of the implementation of the Paris Agreement. It will independently evaluate the progress we have made and if our goals are adequate. I look forward to going into that afresh. It will inform what everybody, every single day, everywhere in the world needs to do to avert the climate crisis.

Shukran. I thank you.