Remarks by Ambassador Barbara Woodward at the Security Council briefing on Yemen

My thanks to Special Envoy Griffiths, Under-Secretary-General Lowcock, and Ambassador King for their briefings.

For Yemen, 2021 started much as 2020 left off: an intractable conflict with what threatens to be the worst famine in decades. But as we have heard, there is an opportunity. Increased US engagement on Yemen, including the reversal of designation, is a welcome milestone. And we fully support UN efforts to broker a deal that ends hostilities, eases economic restrictions, and leads to a comprehensive political process.

However, the Houthis have responded to this push for peace by escalating their attacks against Saudi Arabia and by launching a new offensive on Marib – a city where one million Yemenis have sought refuge.

It will take the collective efforts of this Council to persuade the Houthis to cease this offensive. This conflict will not end without a comprehensive deal involving all of Yemen’s key political groups, including the Houthis. In this regard, I welcome the supportive statements that Martin Griffiths received during his recent visits to Tehran and Riyadh, and hope that the Houthis will now receive Martin in Sana’a to discuss the way forward.

While the war rages, as we’ve heard, millions of Yemenis risk starvation. To prevent famine, the international community and Yemen’s key partners must step up at the Pledging Conference on 1 March – or, as Mark said, before that. History – and the Yemeni people – will not look kindly on us if we fail.

UNSC Resolution 2417 makes clear that humanitarian access must not be impeded. In addition, Government of Yemen restrictions on fuel imports are sharply increasing prices, as we’ve heard, threatening the delivery of basic services, and the lives of Yemenis. Significant external financial assistance to the Central Bank of Yemen is also urgently needed.

Finally, further Houthi delays to the UN mission to assess the SAFER oil tanker are unacceptable. With another vessel potentially identified, I hope the UN can outline in greater detail what more they need from the Houthis for this mission to deploy.

The up to 10-week Business Accelerator programme, delivered in partnership with business growth experts from Entrepreneurial Spark and The University of Strathclyde, offers free virtual sessions to help companies with their sights set on space to make progress.

Businesses that may not have previously considered the opportunities presented by the space industry can also benefit. Pre-launch activity already involves a nationwide targeting of relevant businesses to alert them to the possibilities for growth.

The scheme, getting under way in early March, aims to find entrepreneurs from a wide range of sectors to strengthen the UK’s space industry infrastructure.

Space has transformed into one of the UK’s fastest growing sectors, trebling in size since 2010. The UK space industry now employs close to 42,000 people across the country and generates an income of nearly £15 billion every year – and the government, via the UK Space Agency, wants to accelerate that growth.

Catherine Mealing-Jones, Director of Growth at The UK Space Agency, said:

The space sector is ripe with opportunity, and as the UK recovers from the Covid pandemic this new support programme will bring in diverse ideas and talent to realise that growth opportunity.

A practical approach to how to develop a business, combined with access to experts who can guide success are hallmarks of the programme. This is coupled with an holistic focus on supporting truly sustainable businesses to ensure that the space sector can provide new long-term secure employment right around the country.

Key to this approach is bringing innovators together in existing and new clusters of space-related activity, thereby gathering critical mass which will also benefit adjacent parts of the economy. The relationship with universities is also key and provides a pathway for students into the sector and for vibrant knowledge exchange for business”.

The UK is already a world leader in space science, in producing small satellites, and utilising space data; and as part of the government’s strategy of achieving 10% of the global space market share by 2030.SMEs in this sector are growing by 30% per annum and there is a real opportunity to get more businesses involved in exploring how space technology can enable their growth.

Sectors targeted include

• manufacturing
• engineering
• robotics
• computer and data science
• autonomous vehicles (self-driving cars)

Businesses of any size can take part. These include those that are:

1. In the space sector already and looking to grow
2. Using space technology as part of their business
3. Open to exploring expansion into the space sector – these may include conservation, archaeology, sustainability, economics, finance, law and lifestyle and health.

Under the scheme, two strands of support are available:

Business Horizons is a series of eight one-off events. The events are one hour each, with a “rich series of orbital activities”. The first event is set for Monday, 8 March.

Leo (which stands for Low Earth Orbit, named after the orbit satellites use to travel the Earth) is a 10-week programme designed to inject pace, with entrepreneurs emerging with momentum and a clear strategy for 90 days of targeted activity to help them make progress in the UK space programme.

Companies of any size are welcome to take part.

Scotland is particularly strong within the UK’s space sector. The Scottish space industry also punches well above its weight and is home to almost a fifth of the total jobs in the UK sector, valued at £880 million in 2017-18.

Sarah Burns, Space Cluster Development Manager of The University of Strathclyde said:

Scotland’s space sector has seen impressive growth over the past years and this business support programme is a great example of how universities play an important role in this growth and the business eco-system. By translating research and innovative ideas into the business and commercial worlds, and as a ‘Place of Useful Learning’, the University of Strathclyde is well-placed to support businesses wishing to explore space as a business opportunity. This programme allows us to engage with the amazing start-ups and businesses that are becoming interested in the opportunities that the space sector can enable in their respective sectors, all of which supports the growth of what is an exciting and rapidly expanding UK space sector.

Mike Stephens, CEO of Entrepreneurial Spark, added:

Space is a truly exciting industry right now, with ground-breaking developments happening all the time. SMEs in this sector are growing by 30% per annum and there is a real opportunity to get more businesses involved in exploring how space technology can enable growth for them. Entrepreneurs have a massive role to play in generating an inclusive economic recovery, and mobilising them in Space sector has the potential deliver this across the whole of the UK. You may not even realise you are using space technology in your business, and the opportunities that are open to you as a result. This is a world-class programme of free support, delivered virtually reaching every corner of the UK. Now is the time for action and our partnership is there to support space entrepreneurs every step of the way.

To find out more about the UK Space Agency’s Business Accelerator programme, entrepreneurs and company directors should visit this link.

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We, the leaders of the Group of Seven, met today and resolved to work together to beat COVID-19 and build back better. Drawing on our strengths and values as democratic, open economies and societies, we will work together and with others to make 2021 a turning point for multilateralism and to shape a recovery that promotes the health and prosperity of our people and planet.

We will intensify cooperation on the health response to COVID-19. The dedication of essential workers everywhere represents the best of humanity, while the rapid discovery of vaccines shows the power of human ingenuity. Working with, and together to strengthen, the World Health Organisation (WHO), and supporting its leading and coordinating role, we will: accelerate global vaccine development and deployment; work with industry to increase manufacturing capacity, including through voluntary licensing; improve information sharing, such as on sequencing new variants; and, promote transparent and responsible practices, and vaccine confidence. We reaffirm our support for all pillars of the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A), its COVAX facility, and affordable and equitable access to vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics, reflecting the role of extensive immunisation as a global public good. Today, with increased financial commitments of over $4 billion USD to ACT-A and COVAX, collective G7 support totals $7.5 billion. We invite all partners, including the G20 and International Financial Institutions, to join us in increasing support to ACT-A, including to increase developing countries’ access to WHO-approved vaccines through the COVAX facility.

COVID-19 shows that the world needs stronger defences against future risks to global health security. We will work with the WHO, G20 and others, especially through the Global Health Summit in Rome, to bolster global health and health security architecture for pandemic preparedness, including through health financing and rapid response mechanisms, by strengthening the “One Health” approach and Universal Health Coverage, and exploring the potential value of a global health treaty.

We have provided unprecedented support for our economies over the past year totalling over $6 trillion across the G7. We will continue to support our economies to protect jobs and support a strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive recovery. We reaffirm our support to the most vulnerable countries, our commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals, and our partnership with Africa, including to support a resilient recovery. We will work through the G20 and with the International Financial Institutions to strengthen support for countries’ responses by exploring all available tools, including through full and transparent implementation of the Debt Service Suspension Initiative and the Common Framework.

Recovery from COVID-19 must build back better for all. Looking to UNFCCC COP26 and CBD COP15, we will put our global ambitions on climate change and the reversal of biodiversity loss at the centre of our plans. We will make progress on mitigation, adaptation and finance in accordance with the Paris Agreement and deliver a green transformation and clean energy transitions that cut emissions and create good jobs on a path to net zero no later than 2050. We are committed to levelling up our economies so that no geographic region or person, irrespective of gender or ethnicity, is left behind. We will: champion open economies and societies; promote global economic resilience; harness the digital economy with data free flow with trust; cooperate on a modernised, freer and fairer rules-based multilateral trading system that reflects our values and delivers balanced growth with a reformed World Trade Organisation at its centre; and, strive to reach a consensus-based solution on international taxation by mid-2021 within the framework of the OECD. With the aim of supporting a fair and mutually beneficial global economic system for all people, we will engage with others, especially G20 countries including large economies such as China. As Leaders, we will consult with each other on collective approaches to address non-market oriented policies and practices, and we will cooperate with others to address important global issues that impact all countries.

We resolve to agree concrete action on these priorities at the G7 Summit in the United Kingdom in June, and we support the commitment of Japan to hold the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 in a safe and secure manner this summer as a symbol of global unity in overcoming COVID-19.