DPI `FLAGSHIP OF DEPARTMENTS,' SHOULD RECEIVE NEEDED RESOURCES, FIFTH COMMITTEE TOLD

Press Release
GA/AB/3037

DPI `FLAGSHIP OF DEPARTMENTS,' SHOULD RECEIVE NEEDED RESOURCES, FIFTH COMMITTEE TOLD

Committee Concludes Review of Information Budget Section; Speakers Argue Importance of Information Activities as Development Tool

The Department of Public Information (DPI) was "a flagship of Departments" and a model operation, which should be provided the resources needed to carry out its crucial function of enlightening the world about the United Nations, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) was told this afternoon.

A number of representatives praised the department's work, as the Committee continued its first reading of the proposed United Nations budget for 1996-1997. The afternoon meeting concluded its review of section 25 on DPI and will continue its review of section 26 on the Department of Administration and Management tomorrow.

The sums proposed for those sections, after adjusting for such factors as inflation and exchange rate fluctuations, was $137.9 million for DPI and $952.7 million for the Department of Administration and Management. The Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) approved the DPI estimates, but cut the Department of Administration and Management to $943.4 million. The final budget would be cast in such adjusted dollar terms.

During the discussions on DPI, most delegates said that its work was useful as a development tool and that the General Assembly should review and increase DPI's resources. It was also suggested that the spirit shown in seeking more funds for the budget's human rights section should be extended to DPI, since its activities could be regarded as United Nations priorities.

"Public information work was just as important as the work carried out by tanks in peace-keeping operations," said the representative of China, referring to DPI activities. However, the representative of Spain, speaking on behalf of the European Union, said that, with the exception of public relations for the fiftieth anniversary, criticisms of the United Nations were not adequately countered. Although the management of public information had improved, much had be done before the Union could be satisfied that the resources proposed for DPI were justified.

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The United States said DPI could be scaled back considerably without harming the essential mandates of the United Nations. The Organization should examine, country by country, the need to maintain costly information centres where less expensive alternatives were available. The Dag Hammarskjold Library should be studied, in order to reform and modernize it, and the DPI travel budget should be further reduced.

On the Department of Administration and Management, delegates said that the Fifth Committee's secretariat should be strengthened to shoulder its increased workload. Several delegates also stressed the need to retain two language coordinator posts in the United Nations language training programme.

Regarding the section on support services, Cuba said it seemed as if the United Nations was becoming a corporate entity, with its tendency to replace staff with contract workers. The Secretariat should provide information on the number of staff being replaced by contractors and consultants, the activities that had moved into private hands and what the resultant savings had been, if any.

Statements were also made by the representatives of Tunisia, Japan, Egypt, Algeria, Uganda, Kuwait, Yemen, Bangladesh, Kenya, Burkina Faso, India, Russian Federation, Ecuador, Libya, Canada, Brazil, and the Philippines. The United Nations Controller, Yukio Takasu, responded to the statements.

The Committee will meet again at 10 a.m. Tuesday, 7 November, to continue its section by section reading of the proposed programme budget for 1996-1997. It is scheduled to take up Sections 26 to 33.

Committee Work Programme

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) met this afternoon to continue its first reading of the proposed budget for 1996 and 1997, involving its section-by-section review.

The budget's first reading is meant to help the Committee identify difficult points in it that would eventually be resolved in informal consultations. At the end of the first reading and first round of informal consultations, the Committee would put together amounts approved for each section and those approved in respect of revised estimates and programme budget implications. In second reading, each section's total appropriation would be approved. The entire exercise is expected to produce a package, which would form the programme budget for 1996-1997.

For its first reading of the proposed budget, the Committee had before it the Secretary-General's proposals (document A/50/6/Rev.1 Vols. I and II) and the views of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) (document A/50/7) and the Committee for Programme and Coordination (CPC) (document A/50/16). The Secretary-General proposes a budget of $2.51 billion (in 1994-1995 dollars), before adjustments for inflation and exchange rate fluctuations. The ACABQ's recommendations are largely in 1996-1997 figures, adjusted for those factors. (For background on the proposed budget, see Press Release GA/AB/3017 of 4 October.)

The sections to be reviewed today fall under Parts VII, VIII and IX of the budget, on public information, common support services, and jointly financed administrative activities and special expenditures, respectively. They are sections 25, on public information; 26, on administration and management; 27, on jointly financed administrative activities and 28, on special expenses.

Section 25. Public Information: The Secretary-General proposes $127.4 million, before adjustments, for the Department. That reflects a $4.1 million cut from the abolition of 14 posts in connection with the discontinuation of activities relating to apartheid, one post assigned to the fiftieth anniversary secretariat and other cuts from past spending patterns.

For 1996-1997, the Department will implement comprehensive information strategies and programmes to generate support for United Nations objectives and activities, and to gauge the usefulness of its products to its audiences. With the rapid development of new technologies, emphasis continues to be placed on the dissemination of information through electronic means. The proposed programme budget reflects a further streamlined departmental structure of six divisions and offices -- the Office of the Assistant Secretary-General, Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General, Media

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Division, Library and Publications Division, Promotion and Public Services Division and Information Centres Service.

The Secretary-General proposes 822 established posts under the regular budget (290 Professional and above, 268 General Service, 214 Local level and 50 National Professional Officer posts). A total of 39 posts are expected to be available from extrabudgetary resources -- one each at the First Officer (P-4) and Second Officer (P-3) levels, 10 General Service posts, and 27 Local level posts funded from ad hoc government contributions -- reflecting a cut of five extrabudgetary posts from 1994-1995.

In its report, the ACABQ states that it does not oppose the conversion of 10 Local level posts to the National Professional Officer category at United Nations information centres and approves the money sought by the Secretary-General.

Section 26. Administration and management: Before adjusting for factors such as inflation and currency rate fluctuations the Secretary-General proposes $897.4 million for the Department of Administration and Management, to be allocated as follows:

26A. Office of the Under-Secretary-General: $12.6 million 26B. Office of Programme Planning, Budget and Accounts: $20.5 million 26C. Office of Human Resources Management: $38.3 million 26D. Support services, Headquarters:. $210 million 26E. Conference services: $445.3 million 26F. Administration, Geneva: $118 million 26G. Administration, Vienna $42.1 million 26H. Administration, Nairobi $10.6 million

In an overview of the section, the Secretary-General states that four new posts are required to implement the human resources management strategy and that he would eliminate three posts through efficiency measures. In support services, the contracting out of some building management and archival functions will reduce 28 posts. He asks for six translator posts in conference servicing and a transfer of seven posts from the support account for peace-keeping operations to the regular budget since they perform core functions in the peace-keeping financing division. Reforming the justice system would need four new posts. Meanwhile, streamlining in the Division of Administration at Geneva would allow the abolition of 15 posts. Cuts are also expected in conference services due to office automation and streamlining. At Nairobi, the creation of a comprehensive common service for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat) will allow him to eliminate 11 posts.

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The ACABQ recommends $943.4 million, after recosting, down from the $952.7 million the Secretary-General had sought at 1996-1997 rates.

Section 27. Jointly financed administrative activities: The section covers the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), the Joint Inspection Unit (JIU), and the United Nations share of the costs of inter-agency-financed secretariats of subsidiary bodies of the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC) -- the Consultative Committee on Administrative Questions, the Information Systems Coordination Committee and the Consultative Committee on Programme and Operational Questions. It pays for the United Nations use of the Geneva International Computing Centre.

For the section and before recosting, the Secretary-General proposes $26 million, reflecting a $1.2 million cut. The proposed budget covers, among other items, the ICSC ($10.4 million); the JIU ($8.5 million) and the use of the Geneva International Computing Centre ($6.1 million). The cuts come partly from downgrading some positions, rationalizing the ICSC meetings, abolishing a General Service post and savings from technological innovations.

The ACABQ approves the appropriation proposed.

Section 28. Special expenses: Before recosting, the Secretary-General proposes $35.3 million, reflecting a $2.5 million increase, for the section, which covers after-service health insurance, compensatory payments, general insurance charges, bank charges and inter-organizational security measures. The major part of the rise is related to an anticipated increase in membership in the after-service health insurance programme in 1996-1997.

The ACABQ approves the appropriation proposed.

Statements on Public Information

On budget section 25, relating to public information, RAPHAEL MUNOZ (Spain), speaking for the European Union, said the Union was disappointed with the results of activities of the Department of Public Information. With the exception of the public relations activities for the fiftieth anniversary, criticisms of the United Nations were not adequately countered. Although the management of public information activities had improved and resources available had been reduced, much work still needed to be done before the Union could be satisfied that the resources devoted to the section were justified and were being used efficiently.

Improvements and significant savings could be achieved in a number of ways, he said. In that regard, he supported the ACABQ's recommendations on the functions of personnel who had had responsibility for activities relating to the fiftieth anniversary. Much work needed to be done in the area of publications to ensure that they were relevant and cost-effective. Specific

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information should be provided regarding the impact of those publications on the targeted audiences. The Union supported the ACABQ's recommendations on that matter. Greater collaboration should be promoted among DPI and the Office of Conference Services and the Committee on Information.

Printing services could be used more efficiently, he continued. New technologies could lead to improvements in the coverage of international conferences outside Headquarters and to increased productivity. The use of such technologies, as in the case for the recent Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, should serve as a model for securing services through the modification of standards on the volume of work and the composition of staff to service those conferences. Such a modification would lead to a reduction of personnel that travelled to those conferences.

JAMES GODLEY (United States) said "the Department could be scaled back considerably without harm to the essential mandates of the Organization". To perform its core mandate, it must focus its resources in the most efficient manner. Further rationalization of the Department's programmes was possible. He expressed support for the Advisory Commitee's recommendations regarding the Department's publications and information centres. "We question the proposed reassignment of posts from the fiftieth anniversary secretariat to the Department and suggest that these posts be reassigned to areas of high priority in the budget."

There were three areas which could be scaled back, he said. Given the changed situation of the availability of new information technologies, such as Internet, the Organization should examine, on a country-by-country basis, the need to maintain costly information centres where less expensive alternatives were available. Those measures were most relevant in the developed countries. The Department should examine the conditions in each country with an information centre or service to determine whether there was a reliable national library or another institution which served as a depositary library, whether the Internet and World Wide Web were well-developed and whether the centre was expensive. The cost of the centre should then be compared to those alternatives.

A second area was the Dag Hammarskjold Library, he continued, whose operations had not undergone serious scrutiny since its establishment. Consequently, its staffing had grown without full consideration of its impact on overall operations. A study of the Library should be undertaken and should lead to its reform and modernization. A survey had shown that reform was necessary. "In 1994, the Dag Hammarsjkold Library spent 83 per cent of its budget on salaries, compared to 61 per cent, 58 per cent and 55 per cent for the New York Public Library, the Columbia University Library and the New York University Library, respectively." The variances were large enough to point to the need for reform.

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The third area was travel, he said. The Department's request for travel was $1.4 million. While that represented a slight reduction from the 1994-1995 budget, there was far less demand for travel in the next two years. Peace-keeping expenditures were dropping and the increased use of information technology should obviate the need for large amounts of travel. Therefore, the United States would like to see further reductions in the Department's travel budget.

AMMAR AMARI (Tunisia) said the Department was playing a unique role. It was doing a difficult job and it must be provided with the resources to do it. There was a cutback of about 3.2 per cent in its resources from the present biennium. He expressed support for the ACABQ's views on the National Professional Officers. Clarification should be provided on resources for information support and promotion. The Department had 628 staff members; 166 of them were United States citizens. He asked for information on how the principle of geographical distribution was applied in the Department.

FUMIAKI TOYA (Japan) expressed respect for the Department's activities and its efforts to make savings of some 3 per cent before adjustment. Despite that, its budget was relatively high and further streamlining and saving should also be pursued. The section should be carefully reviewed. He agreed with the ACABQ that the employment of National Professional Officers at the United Nations information centres should be carried out in strict compliance with the revised ICSC system-wide criteria for employing those officers, as approved by the General Assembly.

MOHAMED FATTAH (Egypt) said he fully supported the Department. It should do more on issues of concern to developing countries, such as poverty, the environment, drought and many others. The least developed countries did not have the means to share their problems with others. He expressed support for the Secretary-General's proposal to cut the Department's budget by some 3.2 per cent; the Department should continue to streamline its work. He expressed thanks to the Department's staff members, such as those in the Dag Hammarskjold Library, for their work.

LARBI DJACTA (Algeria) said the Department was a model operation, which should be emulated by other departments. Information was necessary to enlighten the world about the work of the United Nations. As a flagship Department, it could also serve as a development tool in addition to being an information tool. The Library was essential for diplomats who did not have time to go elsewhere to do their research.

NESTER ODAGA-JALOMAY (Uganda) said the Department was very important. While some delegations were talking of Internet, it should be remembered that others were still talking of telex. The employment of National Professional Officers at the information centres should be carried out in strict compliance with revised ICSC criteria. Extrabudgetary resources for the information

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centres were falling even though they were useful for developing countries, particularly in programmes for Africa's critical economic situation and recovery. He expressed appreciation for the Department's work in enlightening the donor community about the continent's plight; it should be given the necessary resources to implement all its mandates, particularly those of interest to the developing countries. The Assembly should review the Department's resources in order to increase them to match its tasks. The spirit that had been demonstrated in calling for more resources for human rights should be applied to the Department, since its activities were priorities of the United Nations.

ZIAD MONAYAIR (Kuwait) said that the section on the Department was one of the most important in the budget. Information was a mirror that allowed the whole world to see the United Nations. The Department, its Assistant Secretary-General, Samir Sanbar, and his staff required support. The work of the information centres was crucial; it helped educate people and should be supported. The work of the Dag Hammarskjold Library was also very important. Kuwait supported the budget proposals for DPI.

DUELCE BUERGO (Cuba) expressed unreserved support for the Department's activities, to promote knowledge about the work of the United Nations. She expressed concern that there was selectivity regarding activities that were highlighted. Those involving issues such as the environment and technical cooperation had not received enough attention. She asked whether the proposed budgetary cut would hamper the Department's work. Cuba was concerned about the zero growth in extrabudgetary resources for the trust fund for international cooperation and development and about the decrease in funds for the information centres and for libraries. The libraries were important because most countries did not have the means to have access to the Internet. The Department should continue to highlight the plight of the Palestinian people, with adequate resources.

MOHAMED AL-SHABI (Yemen) said the Department provided support for the developing countries and the least developed countries in the field of information. The Palestinian people needed support. The level of resources allocated to that area was a cause for concern. Any decrease would have a negative impact on support for the Palestinian media. That support should continue until the situation had been resolved in an equitable manner.

SYED RAFIQUL ALOM (Bangladesh) said it was imperative for the Department to communicate with clarity and in a cost-effective manner all important United Nations issues to Member States. However, there was scope for its further rationalizatiton. There was enough scope to end duplication and for the streamlining of the Department's work so that it could be more effective. Information centres were the most important means of disseminating information on the United Nations, particularly in the developing countries.

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Information centres should overhaul their activities and programme approaches in the developing countries, he continued. They must be examined in the context of the economic and social situation of those countries. The information centres should be centres of excellence in the provision of information on the United Nations and library services. They must be accessible to the public and have improved coordination with academic institutions in developing countries. Some rethinking was needed for a more effective functioning of the information centres.

PHILIP OWADE (Kenya) said he supported the programme area. As the Organization commemorated the fiftieth anniversary, it was clear that the area of public information must be strengthened. It must be given the importance it deserved. He therefore supported the budget proposals and underscored the importance of the information centres. They should be strengthened. The technological innovations in the United Nations should be used to enhance the delivery of the system. Adequate resources must be given to the Department to ensure its programme delivery.

MAMADOU SERME (Burkina Faso), expressing support for the Department's budgetary allocations, said he regretted the decline in the resources for information centres. Training was not adequately supported. It was important for the information centres to deliver balanced information as well as to provide feedback from the host countries so that such information could be shared with the international community. The role of the information system should be reviewed in that light. There should be no reduction in the ways by which Member States could address the international community.

JU KUILIN (China) said the importance of the Department's work was obvious to all. The United Nations was gaining in importance and public information was becoming important. Public information work was "just as important as the work carried out by tanks in peace-keeping operations". Therefore, it was important that adequate resources be provided to the Department. He hoped that the Department would do more to promote the development of information centres.

YUKIO TAKASU, United Nations Controller, said the Department of Public Information was an important arm of the United Nations. The Secretary-General and the head of the Department were aware of the need to get maximum results from expenditures. Some $4 million had been saved as a result of some efficiency efforts. The $1.7 million proposed for travel funds were to be reduced in the coming two years. The bulk of the travel funds would be to pay for the travel of journalists attending workshops. Analysis would show that the Department's travel proposals were not excessive.

The information centres had dual functions, he continued. They were staffed sometimes by Information Officers who, in addition to disseminating information, liaised with political leaders, local groups, non-governmental

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organizations and others. There were about 350 depositary libraries across the world, with the largest number being in the United Nations host country. Those libraries maintained United Nations documents and were not meant to replace the need for information centres. United Nations documents were now transmitted electronically to information centres. The treatment of National Professional Officers would conform with approved criteria. Those officers had immense knowledge of the local situation. Gradually, the running of the centres would be transferred from international staff to the national officers.

The Dag Hammarskjold Library was not an ordinary library, he said. It provided special services to the public and Member States. Simple comparisons of its costs with those of other libraries were not fair, because the Library received most of its publications from the United Nations itself and did not have to spend as much as other libraries to acquire material. Therefore the percentage of its budget spent on buying books would be relatively low compared with other libraries. After the completion of the fiftieth anniversary activities, most of the staff resources would return to their original departments.

The Department, he added, hired its professional staff on the basis of geographical distribution, that requirement did not apply to General Service staff.

The Committee concluded the first reading of the section on public information.

Statements on Administration and Management

On budget section 26, relating to administration and management, Mr. MUNOZ (Spain), also speaking for the European Union, expressed support for the ACABQ recommendation that the Secretary-General should review the staffing of the Office of the Under-Secretary-General for Administration and Management, which provided substantial services to the Fifth Committee. Those services should be reinforced by redistributing resources. It also supported the Secretary-General's proposal to create seven new posts in the division of financing and peace-keeping operations, which until now had been funded through the support account. Despite the increase of resources for training, the Union was concerned about possible negative effects of the proposal to eliminate two language coordinator posts from the official language programme of the United Nations. That type of training should be handled more favourably, and it was surprising that while resources for official language training were being cut, those for other types of training were increasing considerably.

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The Union, he said, strongly supported the efforts to reform the procurement process in the United Nations. It noted that the ACABQ had recommended that the proposed reclassification of the head of the procurement and transportation service to the Director level (D-2) be deferred until the Assembly had reviewed the whole issue of procurement reforms. It trusted that deferral action would not harm the ongoing reform process.

Mr. DJACTA (Algeria) said he shared the ACABQ's concern on the increased workload of the Fifth Committee. It was time to review the situation.

HIDEKI GODA (Japan) expressed support for efforts to cut administrative costs by using technology, for instance. He supported the ACABQ recommendation that the Office of the Under-Secretary-General be strengthened through the redeployment of resources to provide adequate substantive servicing capacity. The possible adverse effect of abolishing two language coordinator posts was a cause for concern. Regarding alternative ways of recruitment, geographical distribution should be considered. Cost-effective options of translation should be pursued. More information should be provided on the reclassification of certain professional posts.

VIJAY GOKHALE (India) said he had questions on the proposals for reforming the internal justice system since the reforms had not been approved by the Assembly. The expenditure should be deferred. Resources to service the Fifth Committee should be reinforced through redistribution. Additional posts must be provided only through redeployment. He did not favour the creation of new posts by converting them from the support account for peace- keeping operation. The Secretary-General's report on the reforms of the procurement system should be released as soon as possible. The procedures could require some posts but that could be considered when the relevant information became available.

He asked whether there were adequate resources to provide suitable venues for the meeting of leaders at future Assembly sessions.

Mr. OWADE (Kenya), welcoming the proposals for section 26H on administration, Nairobi, said more information should be provided during informal consultations. The programmes in Nairobi, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat), should continue to keep their distinct identities and mandates. Restructuring should not hamper their operations. He sought more information on plans to abolish a large number of posts, adding that full benefits should be given to those whose posts were being abolished.

VLADIMIR KOUZNETSOV (Russian Federation) said he supported the ACABQ recommendations on section 26. Expressing support for the ACABQ's proposal to provide for five extra posts for the administration of justice, he said they should be deferred until the Secretary-General's proposals on the subject was

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discussed. There should be a strengthening of the Organization's administration and management. The proposal to create seven posts relating to peace-keeping should be supported. The Organization should hire high calibre staff; professional training should only take a small amount of resources. The amount for professional training was not modest. It should be used in the most cost-effective way.

He expressed concern at the adverse effect of the elimination of two language posts. If reform in support services was approved, it should be implemented at the D2 level. He shared the ACABQ's proposals on the administration of the Geneva Office. He supported the ACABQ's proposal to delete posts in those offices. The introduction of technological innovation should be continued since it would reduce the number of General Service staff employed.

ANA RODRIGUEZ (Cuba), referring to section 26A on office of the Under- Secretary-General, asked what initiatives the Secretariat would carry out in the next biennium. Aspects of the budget on the administration of justice should not be included because there was no mandate for it. Additional financing of activities from the support account under the section 26B -- the Office of Programme Planning, Budget and Accounting -- could not be supported.

The current impression was that the Organization was becoming a corporate entity; the tendency was to eliminate more staff through the use of contract workers, she said. The Secretariat must provide information on the number of staff to be replaced by outside contractors and consultants. She asked for information on the activities that had moved into private hands, savings they had yielded, and on the handling of contractual services.

The resources for conference services were not enough to service the increased demands, she continued. In that connection, she expressed concern that the conference services at the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) would be adversely affected by a resource reduction. She asked when the Secretariat would provide the report on the Secretary- General's justification for eliminating 19 posts in the Office of Conference Services and its adverse impact on that Office's work.

Ms. BUERGO (Cuba) said the section on human resources management presented some difficulties. Her first concern was on staff training. That was a high priority assigned by the Assembly, which would be adversely affected by resource decentralization. Information, in writing, should be provided on the total resources assigned to training. She said she could not support the elimination of two Associate Office posts (P-2) for language coordination, and would ask for their reinstatement. The treatment of language courses in Geneva was a cause for concern. She asked what rules governed the treatment of officials of permanent missions in their use of language training resources.

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There was excessive use of outside contracting, she said, adding that more information should be provided on the use of outside consultants. The proposals for alternative hiring practices was a cause for concern; no information had been given on those aspects. The Committee should be informed of their true financial implications so that it could come to grips with the issue. She also requested information on the implementation of the performance appraisal system in order to evaluate its effectiveness. The Secretariat should provide information on how the early retirement programme had been implemented. She asked why the office that dealt with housing matters spent time updating a guide on New York hotels.

ANNE STODDARD (United States) said the Committee should closely scrutinize the proposals for the Department of Administration and Management, since it consumed some 35 per cent of the United Nations budget. Budget proposals for the internal justice system's reform should be deferred pending the Committee's consideration of a report from the Secretary-General on those reforms. Requests for new posts should be met through redeployment and greater attention should be given to investment in technological innovation and telecommunications. The United States would make more comments on telecommunications when the Secretary-General's related report was considered.

Mr. ALOM (Bangladesh) referred to the creation of seven new posts for peace-keeping operations and said he could not fully agree with the statement that there was a need for a financial management unit. Financial management should be streamlined and efforts should be made to meet staffing needs through redeployment before new posts were created. He supported the ACABQ's recommendation that performance indicators be made more useful, that better cost information be provided on meetings and documentation and detailed analyses of the actual level of demand and output for conference services be made.

FABIAN PALIZ (Ecuador), speaking for the Latin American members of the Rio Group, expressed concern about the possible adverse effect of the proposed abolition of two language coordinator posts. That was not appropriate and the allocations previously envisaged for the training programme should be retained. The delegations he spoke for would pursue the matter in informal consultations, in order to see whether their views had been taken adequately into account.

Mr. FATTAH (Egypt) said he agreed that servicing of the Fifth Committee should be strengthened. Regarding section 26C -- Office of Human Resources Management -- he expressed concern about the proposed abolition of the language coordinator posts. That would harm language training, in particular for such peace-keeping operations as the Middle-East. Since a recent Assembly had stressed the need to provide necessary resources for language training, those posts should be reintroduced.

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IBRAHIM ELMONTASSER (Libya) said he supported the need to improve services to help the Fifth Committee carry its workload. He asked for the legal basis for those posts that would be funded from extrabudgetary resources in section 26C. He agreed with the ACABQ's concern about the negative impact of abolishing two coordinator posts from language training. Libya would not accept any proposals that would harm training in any one of the United Nations six official languages.

AL-SHABI (Yemen) said the deletion of the two language coordinator posts would weaken such training at a time when it was expected that translation services, especially those for Arabic, would be strengthened.

SAM HANSON (Canada) said that the budget should cut administrative and overhead costs. Several sections in the budget amounted to overhead, taking some 57.6 per cent of the budget. It should be reduced by, for instance, contracting out services and cutting overlap. He was concerned about the ratio of general service to professional staff. For the United Nations it was about 1.52 to 1, while in the specialized agencies the ratio fell below the average set by the United Nations. It was about 1.55 to 1 for section 26 overall and varied in the subsections, exceeding 8 to 1 in some instances. The ratio of general service to professional staff in the Canadian mission was about 0.81 to 1. That could be a possible model that could provide an answer.

AMMAR AMARI (Tunisia) said the Fifth Committee secretariat should be strengthened. Tunisia regretted the intention to cut two language coordinator posts and could not and would not approve it.

Mr. FACUNDES (Brazil) associated his delegation with Ecuador's statement. He supported the recommendation that the Office of the Under- Secretary-General should be given both human and financial resources to carry out its tasks.

Mr. ODAGA JALOMAYO (Uganda) expressed hope that most of the issues raised would be tackled at informal, informal consultations. The questions raised in the ACABQ report should be clarified by the Secretariat during such informals. The Fifth Committee secretariat should be strengthened. The Office of the focal point for women should not depend on extrabudgetary resources. Rather, it should be considered under the core budget and the necessary funds provided. Since some posts were being occupied before they were advertised, the amount proposed for advertisements in that regard should be deleted.

Mr. DJACTA (Algeria) corrected an error he said he had made earlier, thinking that only section 26A was going to be considered. The two language coordinator posts should be retained.

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MARY JO ARAGON (Philippines) said she agreed that there was a need to strengthen the Fifth Committee secretariat. In addition, the same terms diplomats were given to participate in language courses in New York should be extended to Geneva.

Mr. TAKASU, United Nations Controller, said 50 per cent of the budget for the Department of Administration and Management was allocated to conference services for New York, Geneva, Vienna and Nairobi. Those services were fundamental to the Organization. Noting that the workload of the Fifth Committee needed additional support, he said that support was being provided by existing resources. The Secretary-General's proposals for administration of justice were important and were before the Assembly and the ACABQ.

On the issue of redeployment and abolition of posts, he said a redeployment of posts had not been possible in some areas. The proposal to eliminate the language posts would save costs and would not have an adverse effect on language teaching. Staff training was centrally administered by the Office for Human Resources and was not allocated by department. Alternative ways of recruitment would be provided in the informal consultations.

Noting that support services had been reduced by about $8 million, he said minimum requirements had been identified in that area. The ACABQ had advised on more cuts, such as in the cost of maintenance of mainframe computers. That maintenance would cost more than the Advisory Committee had recommended, as would the rental of premises. The request for conference services would meet the demand for a specific number of meetings per week. If more meetings were required, those costs would increase. If the ACABQ's recommendation on posts was agreed on, there would be no professional posts in conference services in Vienna. Unless other action was taken on those services by the Assembly, those services would be adversely affected.

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