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Thank you President, and I want to start too by welcoming President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud to our meeting today and to thank him for his important briefing.

Thanks also to SRSG Laing, SRCC Souef, and Executive Director McCain for your valuable briefings, thank you.

Somalia, as we know, faces many interconnected challenges and we welcome and commend the progress that you have made.

Let me make three points, President.

First, on the humanitarian side we are relieved that the system-wide scale up averted famine. And that the arrival of rains has ended the protracted drought. But climate shock and continued conflict will leave millions displaced and facing crisis levels of food insecurity.聽 So we cannot afford to be complacent about the scale of humanitarian need.

As the SRSG said, it affects 50 percent of the population.

Second, President Mohamud, we welcome your commitment to and progress in advancing political reforms, and if I may say education reforms as well.聽 The UK supports state-building efforts in Somalia, including the process of democratisation and recent local elections in Puntland represent an important milestone on this journey.

An inclusive, consultative process in line with the constitutional review is necessary for those reforms to succeed and we encourage all parties, including Puntland, to聽 engage constructively to that end. Inclusive politics at all levels will also be important聽 in the fight against al-Shabaab.

That brings me to my third point, security and counterterrorism. The UK commends the momentum gained from Somalia鈥檚 operations against al Shabaab. As you made clear President Mahmoud, enduring progress will be聽 measured by the ability to hold and stabilise those liberated areas.

So, I encourage Somalia to continue working with the UN and partners to coordinate聽 stabilisation efforts and to prioritise investment in reconciliation as a foundation for聽 long-term progress.

Alongside hard-won security gains, Somalia continues to take critical steps to聽 prepare for a security transition. We encourage the international community to continue to support聽 Somalia to enable a sustainable, affordable and accountable security sector to take聽 full responsibility for Somalia鈥檚 security as ATMIS draws down by the end of 2024.

This Council has an important role to play, supporting both ATMIS to deliver its critical functions聽and plan a strategic drawdown, and Somalia鈥檚 needs as they assume responsibility.

We welcome the Federal Government of Somalia鈥檚 commitment to strengthen聽 weapons and ammunition management. The benchmarks in resolution 2662 were聽 recommended by technical experts to prevent weapons reaching Al-Shabaab. We聽 urge all partners to join us in supporting Somalia to make further progress against聽these benchmarks, to facilitate lifting of arms controls on the Government.

President Mohamud, you have our support for your efforts to degrade Al-Shabaab聽 militarily, financially, and ideologically. Through this Council, and as a committed聽 long-term partner and friend to Somalia, the UK will continue to stand with Somalia on its journey to peace and prosperity.

Thank you.