FIFTH COMMITTEE HEARS PROPOSAL FOR CREATION OF UNITED NATIONS TRUST FUND TO FINANCE HUMANITARIAN, DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES

4 December 1995

Press Release
GA/AB/3122

FIFTH COMMITTEE HEARS PROPOSAL FOR CREATION OF UNITED NATIONS TRUST FUND TO FINANCE HUMANITARIAN, DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES

19951204 Fund Could Collect Tax-free, Unconditional Donations From Transnational Private Sector, Says Poland's Representative

The Organization should consider the creation of a United Nations Trust Fund which would collect voluntary payments from the transnational private sector as a supplementary form of financing, especially for humanitarian and development support activities, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) was told this morning as it considered the United Nations financial situation.

Making that suggestion, the representative of Poland said that the Fund could collect tax-free and unconditional donations which would be controlled and allocated by Member States. Transnational corporations and their host Governments should set incentives such as tax cuts to encourage private sector contributions.

The representative of Qatar said that financial reforms in the United Nations should start with the scale of assessments, which should be made more flexible, transparent and fair, with the capacity to pay retained as the fundamental criterion for assessments. While United Nations reforms should improve services, the downsizing of the Secretariat should not harm its efficiency or the implementation of programmes, especially those related to development.

Statements on the financial situation were also made by the representatives of Mexico, Latvia and Canada. Committee Secretary, Joseph Acakpo-Satchivi, also spoke.

Also this morning, the Committee considered the United Nations common and pension systems, the report of the Economic and Social Council and the status of informal consultations on agenda items before it.

Speaking on the common system, Canada's representative said his delegation would not agree with any base/floor salary increase, given the current financial constraints. In determining United Nations system salaries,

the Organization should be compared only to national public services, not to unrepresentative special agencies and pay systems.

Japan's representative said that the costs of the proposed base/floor salary increase should be absorbed to the greatest extent possible by the common system organizations.

The representative of Ukraine, speaking on the pension system, said that the proposed Agreement between the Russian Federation and the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund was unacceptable as it would cover a small category of Russian citizens. It would exclude former Fund participants living outside Russia from getting the benefits entitled them by the 1981 Transfer Agreements between the Pension Fund and the Governments of the former Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), Ukrainian SSR and Byelorussian SSR. The former Soviet leadership had used various tricks to take hard currency from former participants and any comprehensive solution that would re-establish their pension rights should cover the money they had remitted, regardless of where they now lived.

Latvia's representative reserved the right to speak later on the 1981 Transfer Agreements.

Also this morning, the Committee approved an oral draft decision that would have the Assembly note chapters of the report of the Economic and Social Council allocated to it for consideration.

The coordinators of informal consultations on various agenda items briefed the Committee on the status of those meetings. They included Committee Vice-Chairmen, Klaus-Dieter Stein (Germany) and Syed Rafiqul Alom (Bangladesh). Others were the Committee's Rapporteur, Igor Goumenny (Ukraine), Uldis Blukis (Latvia) and Mary Jo Aragon (Philippines).

Statements on the consultations were made by the representatives of Mexico, Zambia, Costa Rica (on behalf of the "Group of 77" developing countries and China), Ukraine and Cuba.

The Committee is scheduled to meet again at 10 a.m., on Friday, 6 December, to conclude its debate on the United Nations common and pension systems and discuss the Secretary-General's report on the ratio between career and fixed-term appointments, which falls under the agenda item on human resources management.

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Committee Work Programme

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) met this morning to continue discussing the United Nations common system and pension system, as well as the Organization's financial situation. It is also expected to take up the 1996 report of the Economic and Social Council and to hear oral reports by coordinators on the results of the Committee's informal consultations.

On the United Nations common system, the Committee is considering the 1995 and 1996 reports of the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), including an addendum to the 1995 report; a statement by the Secretary-General on administrative and financial implications of the ICSC's decisions and recommendations as stated in the 1996 report; a note by the Secretary-General transmitting a statement adopted by the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC) on the United Nations common system; and comments by the Federation of International Civil Servants Associations (FICSA).

The Committee also has before it two notes by the Secretary-General: the first, dated June 1993, transmits to the Economic and Social Council, a Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) report on relationship agreements between the United Nations and specialized agencies pertaining to salaries, allowances and conditions of service; and the other, dated November 1993, transmits to the Council the comments of the ACC on the JIU report.

Fourteen organizations, together with the United Nations itself, participate in the United Nations common system of salaries and allowances. The 15-member ICSC advises the Assembly on salary and compensation issues, including post adjustment and pension, for Professional and higher level staff as well as on General Service remuneration and conditions of service.

For its consideration of the United Nations pension system, the Committee has before it the report of the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Board, the related Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) report and the Secretary-General's report on the investments of the Pension Fund. It also has before it, the Secretary-General's report on improving the financial situation of the United Nations. (For background on the United Nations common system and the pension system, see Press Release GA/AB/3118 of 25 November.) Report of Economic and Social Council The Committee will consider parts I and II of the three-part report of the Economic and Social Council (document A/51/3), which have been assigned to it by the Assembly. Part I contains the foreword by the President of the Council and chapters I to IV relating to the high-level, coordination and operational activities segments of the Council's work. Part II contains chapters V to VII covering the general segment, elections and organizational matters.

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The various parts of the report are allocated to the Main Committees and the Assembly plenary according to their respective fields of competence on the understanding that administrative, programme and budgetary aspects should be dealt with by the Fifth Committee. Chapter I of part I of the report summarizes the matters calling for action by the Assembly or brought to its attention.

Statements on UN Common, Pension Systems

SAM HANSON (Canada) said that the Committee was in the same position as last year on the question of margin management and floor salary when the General Assembly asked the ICSC to review its recommendations on the basis of the views expressed by Member States. The equal-weighting approach adopted by the ICSC was fundamentally flawed and was a distortion of the conditions in the comparator [the United States federal civil service]. By applying the equal-weighting method to the United States Federal Service General Schedule, the ICSC had considered a few special pay systems with higher rates applicable to a minority of staff and put them on an equal footing with other larger pay systems. That undermined the basis for any real comparison. The use of the weighted distribution approach was more appropriate, as it better reflected the actual conditions of United States federal civil service staff. Furthermore, the Secretariat had not provided convincing evidence of recruitment and retention problems. In cases of occupational or geographical distribution problems, the principle of special occupational rates should be implemented.

The representative said that the ICSC's decision to consider special pay systems using an equal-weighting method, and to include bonuses and performance awards, seemed to have been based solely on an a priori conclusion by the ICSC that the floor salaries should be raised. In this time of financial constraint, Canada questioned the validity of giving an unnecessary salary increase to a large portion of United Nations staff and would not agree with any raise in the base/floor salary. As for post adjustment, it should operate only to compensate for price differences between duty stations. Increases should not be automatic, but should require the Assembly's approval. However, he welcomed the ICSC's recommendation to delink hazard pay from base/floor salary for Professional and higher categories.

The representative said that the implementation of the Noblemaire and Fleming principles should be revisited. [Note: The Noblemaire principle determines the approach to be used in setting Professional salaries while the Fleming principle applies to the General Service wages.] The significant overlap between the General Service and Professional salaries was one of the obvious anomalies. He questioned the high salary levels of some General Service staff and the lack of transparency of the process. There should be greater flexibility though. Consideration should be given to the remuneration in organizations where the public sector was a significant player. Diplomatic

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missions and the transnational organizations should also be considered, as they competed for the same type of personnel. While supporting the Noblemaire principle, Canada had a problem with the way it was applied by the ICSC. It was unfair to compare the United Nations common system to unrepresentative special agencies and pay systems. The United Nations should only be compared to similar national public services.

HIDEKI GODA (Japan) said that the recruitment and retention of highly competent Secretariat personnel was essential to the Organization's efficient and effective operation. To recruit and retain competent staff members with a view to promoting equitable geographical distribution of posts, appropriate working conditions had to be maintained. In that connection, regarding the Noblemaire principle and its application, neither the addendum to the 1995 ICSC report nor its 1996 report had responded adequately to the reservation which Japan had raised last year concerning the grade equivalencies and another aspect of the methodology (elimination of dominance) in the comparison with the United States federal civil service. However, he was still in favour of the present methodology.

Regarding the restructuring of the salary scale of the Professional and higher category of staff, he was in favour of a larger increase at the Director (D) level, where the problem of competitiveness was more serious. The ICSC's decision to recommend the revised staff assessment rates for the determination of gross salaries for the Professional and higher levels, effective 1 March 1997, was acceptable. The Commission should continue to review the post adjustment methodology. It was regrettable that the Commission had not established a single post adjustment index for Geneva, as the Assembly had requested.

Turning to the remuneration of the General Service and other locally recruited staff, he said the present system for determining the salary levels for that category and those of the Professional and higher category of staff was causing an overlap in the remuneration in both categories. That phenomenon should not be overlooked if the Organization was to maintain the consistency of the overall staff salary system in the common system organizations. The Commission should tackle that issue by examining the Flemming principle, [which governs the setting of General Service salaries and base them on the best prevailing local conditions], in the broad perspective of the whole system of the common system organizations.

He supported the Commission's recommendation on the education grant. However, he had some reservations about the present mobility and hardship allowance system, especially the direct linkage of the increase of the allowance and the revision of the base/floor salary and looked forward to the review of the scheme by the Commission. On pensionable remuneration, he said the phenomenon of income inversion between the two categories of staff was not justified and should be eliminated, if possible. He supported the

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recommendations on determining the pensionable remuneration. He also welcomed the common staff assessment scale for both categories of staff.

He expressed concern about the post adjustment classification for staff of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris. He attached great importance to the effective operation of the common system which contributed to eliminating unnecessary competition in personnel recruitment, promoting cooperation and interchange among the staff of the participating organizations and enhancing cost effective human resource management. Although it was important to ensure appropriate working conditions for the staff of participating organizations, it must be borne in mind that the expenditure relating to the staff costs constituted a substantial portion of the budget of the participating organizations. He therefore urged the Secretariat to continue its efforts to absorb the financial implications to the extent that it was possible to do so.

Speaking on the United Nations pension fund, he supported the Pension Board's recommendations including the conclusions on the interest rate applicable to lump-sum commutations of periodic benefits. He expressed satisfaction with the performance of the investments made and with the action taken on the Board of Auditors recommendations on the Fund. Regarding the pension adjustment system, he said the Board should continue to monitor the costs of recent modifications of the two-track features of the system.

He expressed support for a number of other aspects of the Board's report, including the procedure for determining final average remuneration and the review of the possibility of suspending benefits in cases of re-employment in a member organization of the Fund. He looked forward to the Board's further study of that matter. He also supported the Board's conclusions on posts and other related matters as well as the decision on a long-term support arrangement for the Fund's secretariat. He expressed appreciation to the Board and the Fund's secretariat for their work on the smooth operation of the United Nations staff pension, which was an important component of the remuneration of international civil servants.

YURI BOHAYEVSKY (Ukraine) said he had not been satisfied with the responses to his questions by the Secretary of the United Nations Pension Board on 29 November. Under the 1981 Transfer Agreements between the United Nations Pension Fund and the Governments of the former Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), Ukrainian SSR and Byelorussian SSR, Pension Fund participants from those former Republics, before ending their international service, had to transfer the actuarial equivalent of their pension entitlements to the Social Security Fund of the USSR. As a result, the persons concerned ceased to be entitled to any benefits from the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund, on the understanding that the pension rights they accrued while participating in the Fund would be considered in determining their national pension benefits.

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The Ukrainian SSR was compelled to sign the Transfer Agreement with the Pension Fund even though its pension system was an integral part of the common pension system of the former USSR, he said. Since then, the relevant bodies in Moscow, under the legal cover of the Agreements, had transferred the money earned by staff members seconded by the Government of the Ukrainian SSR to the former USSR's central budget. None of those funds had been returned to the Ukrainian SSR or to Ukraine. With the disintegration of the former USSR, the Secretary of the Pension Board suspended in January 1992 the processing of any transfers under the three 1981 Agreements. The aim was to maintain the suspension until the status of those Agreements had been determined.

The representative said that in the past year, the United Nations Pension Fund had received a growing number of petitions from its former participants, citizens of the former USSR, including those from Ukraine, who had been insisting that the transfer of their pension rights under the 1981 Agreements had not led to commensurate increases of the pension rights they had received under the national pension schemes. In that connection, the Pension Fund had decided that a solution would entail the return to it of the sums credited to the USSR State budget and the re- establishment of former participants' erstwhile Pension Fund rights in full. With that in mind, the Secretary of the Pension Board had intensified talks with appropriate Russian authorities in order to ascertain the extent to which the problems related to the three 1981 Agreements could be resolved.

The representative said that since the Russian Federation had assumed legal responsibility for the former USSR's international obligations, it also bore legal obligations arising from the funds transferred to the USSR State budget under the 1981 Agreements. "Simply speaking, the monies of those people had been transferred to Moscow and therefore were entirely inherited by the Russian Federation." That nation had been expected to take responsibility for an all-round solution to the pension problems related to the 1981 Agreements, especially the financial implications. But, Moscow had not proposed a comprehensive solution acceptable to all. Rather, it had suggested a financial arrangement that would cover the interests of only a certain number of former Pension Fund participants who were now Russian citizens. The proposed Agreement between the Pension Fund and the Russian Government could not be seen as a step towards a comprehensive solution to all the problems involved. It was an unfair approach which deprived former Fund participants living outside the Russian Federation of the possibility of receiving their international pension benefits.

He said that his Government had tried to solve the problem by proposing some solutions to Russian authorities. For example, last May, Ukraine had proposed the discussion of the matter in expert working groups. But it had not received any response from the Russian Federation. "Such behaviour cannot be interpreted otherwise than a demonstrative separatism and an integral element of the `narrow-minded national isolationism'." The proposed Agreement

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between the Russian Federation and the Fund was reached in Moscow without Ukraine and was in an unacceptable format. It would replace a comprehensive solution to the problem by implementing financial arrangements of a doubtful character pertaining to a small category of Russian citizens. It was an attempt to shift the financial responsibility on the issue from the Russian Federation to other States, including Ukraine, which had never received any money as a result of the Transfer Agreements. The former Soviet leaders, he said, had "resorted to various tricks to take hard currency from those, including myself, who, in the capacity of international civil servants, had contributed to the promotion of the purposes and principles of this world Organization". Solutions to the pension problem should cover the sums remitted by the former Pension Fund participants, regardless of where they lived in today. ULDIS BLUKIS (Latvia) said that since one of the beneficiaries of the 1981 Transfer Agreements lived in Latvia, he would reserve the right to speak on the question later.

Statements on United Nations Financial Situation JAN JAREMCZUK (Poland) said that the Assembly's high-level open-ended working group on the financial situation had encouraged the search for inventive ways of raising funds for the Organization. It was time to make proposals to raise funds from various sources, including the private sector. The President of Poland had suggested, in an address to the Assembly, a supplementary form of financing the United Nations, especially in the humanitarian and development support activities. He had proposed the creation of a United Nations Trust Fund which would consist of voluntary payments from the transnational private sector business, mainly in the form of tax-free donations, since international stability, economic growth and social peace helped that sector as well. The implementation of the idea would require cooperation between the transnational corporations and their host Governments in order to work out the conditions that would encourage private sector contributions to the United Nations, he said. The conditions could include common rules for tax cuts and other incentives. The Trust Fund would not affect the United Nations intergovernmental character if control over the allocation of the additional resources rested with the Governments and when no conditions were attached by the donors. The idea should be considered by the high-level working group. FAHAD IBRAHIM AL-MUSHIR (Qatar) said he shared the concerns expressed by others on the current financial crisis which would prevent the United Nations from adapting to the ongoing changes in the world. At the Special Commemorative Meeting of the Assembly to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations, heads of State had called for urgent solutions to the problems of the Organization's financial crisis. Qatar supported the need for financial reforms in order to ensure the long-term stability of the United Nations.

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Foremost among the reforms should be a change to the scale used to share out United Nations expenses among Member States, he said. The scale should be flexible, transparent and fair, with the capacity to pay retained as the fundamental criterion for assessing Member States. Any changes to how assessments were determined should be based on consultations, not unilateral actions. The special responsibility of the permanent member of the Security Council should be taken into account in the scale of assessments. The major contributors should pay their dues and arrears in full, on time and without conditions in order to prevent the use of the arrears to impose reforms.

The representative said that while reforms in the United Nations should help improve services, the downsizing of the Secretariat should not lead to the downsizing of its efficiency or harm the implementation of programmes, especially those related to social and economic development.

MARTA PENA (Mexico) expressed concern that the Assembly had not received official updated information on the Organization's financial situation. The last official document was dated 15 October. Citing the recent payment of assessments by the Russian Federation, she said the Secretariat should continue to update the Committee frequently on the payment of such contributions. She asked when official documents to update the information on the Organization's cash situation would be issued.

MR. BLUKIS (Latvia) supported Mexico's statement.

JOSEPH ACAKPO-SATCHIVI, Committee Secretary, said that the Secretariat's practice of updating the Committee would be continued. Next Wednesday, 11 December, the Under-Secretary-General for Administration and Management Joseph E. Connor, would inform the Committee of recent developments that would affect the Organization's financial situation, including those related to the United States and the Russian Federation.

MS. PENA (Mexico) said the Committee should be informed of the receipt of significant amounts of contributions, particularly in view of the Organization's current financial situation. It was not necessary for Mr. Connor to report to the Committee in person every time a report was issued. The Committee was aware of his pressing schedule. Nevertheless, new information should be formally issued. She stressed that developments in the Organization's financial situation should be shared in official documents, not unofficial ones.

MR. HANSON (Canada) welcomed the news that Mr. Connor would inform the Committee of the developments in the Organization's financial situation. The Secretariat issued information on the status of contributions in an official report which was available monthly, he added.

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NGONI FRANCIS SENGWE (Zimbabwe), Committee Chairman, said the concerns expressed by Committee members would be relayed to Mr. Connor.

Action on Economic and Social Council Report

MR. SENGWE (Zimbabwe), Committee Chairman, said the Fifth Committee had been allocated specific chapters of the Economic and Social Council report: chapter I -- matters calling for action by the General Assembly or brought to its attention; chapter V -- the general segment (sections E, coordination questions, and G, programme and related questions in the economic, social and related fields); and chapter VII -- organizational matters.

The Committee decided to recommend that the Assembly take note of those chapters of the report of the Economic and Social Council which were allocated to the Fifth Committee.

Other Matters

KLAUS-DIETER STEIN (Germany), a Vice-Chairman of the Committee and coordinator of negotiations on agenda item 116 (1996-1997 programme budget), reported on the status of informal consultations on that item. He said the consultations had to take account of several reports, including the report on the savings on the budget, which was the only one that had been issued so far. It also had to take account of the first performance report on the budget, which was still awaited, other documents and programme budget implications of various activities. He reminded the Committee of the problem it faced with the concept of "within existing resources".

One session of the consultations had been devoted to the budget of the International Seabed Authority, on which he would table a draft resolution soon, he continued. However, members would have to await the issuance of the first performance report. Not much progress had been made on the issue of vacancy rate and involuntary separations. They were pressed for time and still depended on the Secretariat for information on a number of matters. Time did not allow thorough deliberation of the issues since conclusions had to be reached by the end of the year. "The situation was difficult but it was not hopeless", he said.

SYED RAFIQUEL ALOM (Bangladesh), a Vice-Chairman of the Committee, and coordinator of negotiations on agenda items 114 (programme planning) and 118 (pattern of conferences) reported on the status of those informal consultations. Regarding the medium-term plan, he said he had concluded four meetings on the 25 programmes. Consensus had been reached on 20 of the programmes with some minor adjustments to be made.

Of the remaining five programmes (programme 1 -- Political affairs; programme 9 -- Trade and development; programme 19 -- Human rights;

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programme 24 -- Administrative services; and programme 25 -- Internal oversight), Committee members had already taken up programme 1, he said. He hoped for consensus on the issues related to that programme. Programmes 9 and 19 would be discussed and a first draft of a resolution might be circulated soon. Delegates were keen that conclusions should be reached by 17 December. They were ready to agree on some complicated issues.

On the pattern of conferences, he said a draft resolution was being discussed. The most important parts of the five-section draft text had been completed. There was a problem of agreement on adding meetings to the calendar of conferences. The consultations were progressing well. He expected that they would come to a successful conclusion.

IGOR GOUMENNY (Ukraine), Committee Rapporteur and coordinator of the negotiations on agenda item 120 (human resources management), said the informal consultations had produced a draft resolution on human resources. Based on the discussions, the Committee had already approved a decision on retirees. The draft text on human resources had been distributed yesterday. It was important to provide political guidance to the Secretariat on how to deal with human resources management. Work would continue on the draft text tomorrow.

MR. BLUKIS (Latvia), as coordinator of negotiations on agenda item 111 (financial statements and the Board of Auditors reports), said that about 2000 pages of reports had to be considered. Informal consultations had focused on seeking information from the members of the Board of Auditors, representatives of the specialized agencies and the Secretariat. A draft resolution would be issued by Friday for discussion next week. Today was the deadline for the submission of text by delegations for inclusion in the draft resolution. At least two more informal sessions were needed to conclude consultations. Two major issues that were being addressed, preliminarily, were the implementation of the Board's recommendations and the change in the Board of Auditors term of office.

MARY JO ARAGON (Philippines), coordinator of negotiations on agenda item 141 (report of the Office of Internal Oversight Services), said a dialogue had been held with Under-Secretary-General Karl Theodore Paschke and some elements of a draft resolution already existed. The text would be available before the next informal meeting. More informal consultations were needed.

MR. SENGWE (Zimbabwe), Committee Chairman, called for support of the Committee members for the coordinators. Tryggve Gjesdal (Norway) was coordinating the consultations on the scale of assessments. He also called on the Secretariat to cooperate with the Committee's work.

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MS. PENA (Mexico) said if delegates showed a readiness to negotiate and to reach compromise results could be achieved. She expressed surprise that only one meeting per week of informal consultations had been scheduled on such a major item as the scale of assessments on which consensus must be reached as soon as possible. The Committee on Contributions awaited the Fifth Committee conclusions to prepare the scale for next year. She requested more meetings to discuss the issue.

She was concerned at the lack of consensus on the budget, the calendar of conferences and other issues on which the Committee needed to decide and to give guidance to the Secretariat. They should not be deferred to the resumed session, as she was hearing in the corridors. The holding of "informal informals" on the scale of assessments was also cause for concern. The issue must be handled in a transparent manner and not in "informal informals". She noted the issuance of mission press releases on the payment of assessments but said they were not comparable to formal reports to the Assembly.

ALBERT MUCHANGA (Zambia) inquired about the scheduling of informal consultations on other agenda items, such as 140, on the administrative and budgetary aspects of the financing of peace-keeping operations.

NAZARETH INCERA (Costa Rica), speaking on behalf of the "Group of 77" developing countries and China, expressed concern about the Committee's programme of work. Some issues were still in the early stages of being discussed, some official reports had still not been issued and there were some problems with the scheduling of informal consultations to discuss the scale of assessments. Of particular concern was the holding of "informal informals". Such discussions were usually held when some specific issues needed to be cleared up. It was important to proceed on high-profile issues such as programme planning, scale of assessments and pattern of conferences. The Group of 77 was attempting to conclude its work on all those issues.

VLADISLAV DROZDOV (Ukraine) said he supported the concerns expressed by the representative of Mexico on the timetable of informal consultations on the scale of assessments. He asked for views on how to proceed with that item. Decisions on the scale should be taken in a timely manner.

MR. ACAKPO-SATCHIVI, Committee Secretary, informed that informal consultations on item 140 would begin on Monday, 9 December.

DULCE BUERGO RODRIGUEZ (Cuba) said she echoed Costa Rica's statement on programme planning and the pattern of conferences, stressing the need for definitive decisions to be made on agenda items. She reminded the Committee that her delegation had reserved the right to return to formal meetings on the programme budget if there were major questions to be considered. She expected Mr. Connor to respond to questions on the Efficiency Board and to other questions on which her delegation still had some concerns.

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MR. SENGWE (Zimbabwe), Committee Chairman, said the focus of the Assembly was on the Fifth Committee. The Committee's negotiations called for joint efforts to conclude discussions on items such as the medium-term plan and the savings in the programme budget. The bureau would take account of delegations concerns about the tentative programme and the need to accelerate consultations on the other agenda items. Delegations should express their concerns on the consultations on the scale of assessments to the coordinator of that item. The Committee should redouble its efforts to reach conclusions in the next few days.

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