ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL, BEGINNING ORGANIZATIONAL SESSION, ELECTS OFFICERS, ADOPTS PROVISIONAL AGENDA

23 January 1997

Press Release
ECOSOC/5692

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL, BEGINNING ORGANIZATIONAL SESSION, ELECTS OFFICERS, ADOPTS PROVISIONAL AGENDA

19970123 Karel Kovanda (Czech Republic), Elected President, Calls for Seriousness and Commitment in Approaching Council's Business

The newly elected President of the Economic and Social Council, Karel Kovanda (Czech Republic), called for seriousness, commitment and dedication in members' approach to the Council's business, as he addressed the first meeting of its 1997 organizational session this morning.

The Council also elected as Vice-Presidents Daniel Abibi (Congo), Anwarul Chowdhury (Bangladesh), Gerhard Walter Henze (Germany) and Juan Somavía (Chile).

Mr. Kovanda said it was not a sign of seriousness or commitment to draw up a work programme that manifestly could not be fulfilled, or focus on issues twice -- in the Council and in the General Assembly's Main Committees. It was also not a sign of dedication to ask the Secretary-General to produce more reports than could possibly be read, much less discussed.

He expressed the hope that much of the Council's discussions and negotiations would run across group boundaries and pre-set positions and that the automatic adoption of positions of blocs and groups of countries would abate. He also hoped that Council members would take one another as colleagues to work with rather than adversaries to mistrust.

The outgoing Council President, Jean-Marie Kacou Gervais (Côte d'Ivoire), said that the Council had accomplished a great deal during 1996, including beginning the process of implementing Assembly resolution 50/227 on restructuring of the Organization in the economic and social fields, which led to a more efficient and effective body. If the Council's policy dialogue on major developments in the world economy was to be meaningful, the executive heads of the international financial and trade institutions must participate in it. He also stressed the importance of ministerial participation in the high-level segment of the Council.

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Also this morning, the Council adopted the provisional agenda for its organizational session as contained in document E/1997/2. Earlier, the Council President said he intended to hold consultations during the week of 27 January on the Council's basic programme of work and on other organizational matters. The Council's organizational session is scheduled to resume on Tuesday, 4 February. Statements JEAN-MARIE KACOU GERVAIS (Côte d'Ivoire), the outgoing President, said the Council had accomplished a great deal during 1996. It began the process of implementing Assembly resolution 50/227 on further restructuring of the Organization in the economic and social fields, which led to more efficient and effective work. The Council should be proud of the outcomes of the coordination and operational activities segment and the adoption of important resolutions, including those on consultative relationship with non- governmental organizations, follow-up to major United Nations conferences, collaboration with the Bretton Woods institutions and humanitarian assistance. However, the high-level segment and the general segment needed to be more focused, he said. he presence of the executive heads of the international financial and trade institutions in the high-level segment was essential if the Council was to have a meaningful policy dialogue. It was critical that the remainder of that segment should have a more focused debate and broader ministerial participation. The theme selected for 1997 -- "Fostering an enabling environment for development: financial flows, including capital flows; investment; trade" -- lent itself to an important exchange as it was a topical subject of high international priority. The general segment, which addressed a wide range of economic, social, humanitarian, human rights and coordination questions, needed extensive effort to have a more productive exchange, he continued. The agenda continued to be overburdened and fragmented and needed to be streamlined -- a task which acquired new urgency since the Council would be required to complete its work programme within four weeks in 1997. With a shorter session and an even more complex agenda, the Council would have a formidable challenge before it, which should be faced in a pragmatic manner. Stressing the great value of the Council's work, he said it had served the needs of Member States very well and had launched global initiatives on such important issues as women, population and development and human settlements. However, it had not yet tapped its full potential. He expressed optimism, however, that with the commitment of all countries the Council could do even greater things to enhance the economic and social well-being of the world's population. KAREL KOVANDA (Czech Republic), the newly elected President, wondered how to approach reform of the Council. One approach, that he called "mission- driven", would consist of focusing on the mission of a body and from that

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derive its most appropriate form. The other approach, described as "form- driven", would entail taking the body as it was without questioning its work content or its mission. He said that a priority of his presidency would be reorganizing and streamlining the Council's agenda for the general segment of the 1997 substantive session and eliminating duplication of agenda items with the Assembly's Second (Economic and Financial) and Third (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) Committees.

That would not be easy, he noted, adding that all the necessary collective effort would have to be invested to accomplish those objectives as best as possible. Council members could complain as much as they wish about the Council not enjoying the necessary respect, "but it will always enjoy only exactly the respect it deserves", he said. That respect was derived from the seriousness, commitment and dedication members invested in it, he added.

It was not a sign of seriousness to draw up a work programme that the Council manifestly could not fulfil, or of commitment to focus on issues twice -- in the Council and in the Assembly's Main Committees. It was also not a sign of dedication to ask the Secretary-General to produce more reports than Council members could possibly read, much less discuss. "There is hardly any more elementary way of demonstrating our seriousness, commitment and dedication than by sweeping up our own doorstep, by pruning the dead wood and culling the wild growth, by cleaning the stables, by putting our house in order."

He envisioned the "clean-up" to start during the general segment of the Council's substantive session with agreement on appropriate labelling of agenda items; their reorganization or clustering, where convenient; deciding what the Council have to deal with; comparing agenda items with those of other organs, especially the General Assembly; and ruthlessly eliminating all the duplication that could be identified. That approach to reform, if the Council succeeded, would eventually yield a clear, unobstructed, fresh picture of what it really was up to. The Council would further be able to discern far more clearly what other circumstances it needed to fulfil its potential.

The Council needed to change its style of work, he said. He hoped that much of its discussions and negotiations would run across group boundaries and pre-set positions and that they would focus on the merits of ideas submitted. He also hoped that the automatic adoption of positions of blocs and groups of countries would abate and that Council members would take one another as colleagues to work with rather than adversaries to mistrust. He hoped to have an open and transparent presidency, working closely with fellow bureau members and holding more informal consultations. He encouraged representatives to the Council, particularly ambassadors, to take a greater interest in its work than had been customary. He planned to adopt what was now known as "Razali time", meaning starting meetings on time.

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Provisional agenda

The provisional agenda for the Council's organizational session (document E/1997/2) includes consideration of its basic work programme for the year.

According to decisions already adopted, the high-level segment will discuss the theme of "Fostering an enabling environment for development -- financial flows, including capital flows; investment; trade"; and the coordination segment will focus on the following themes: "Mainstreaming of gender perspectives into all policies and programmes in the United Nations system"; and "Fresh water, including clean and safe water supply and sanitation".

By another action the Council decided that the high-level meeting of the operational activities for development segment would consider the theme: "Funding for operational activities for development: implementation of General Assembly resolution 50/227" on further measures for the restructuring and revitalization of the United Nations in the economic, social and related fields.

The Council is expected to deal with several provisions of resolution 50/227 in actions which have been postponed from last year. They include review of mandates, composition, functions and working methods of its functional commissions and expert groups and bodies.

At its organizational session, the Council is scheduled to consider a draft decision on "documentation of the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations" and a Secretariat note on documentation requests emanating from the Committee. It will also decide on a subject related to interregional cooperation, of common interest to all regions, for consideration under the agenda item on regional cooperation.

In addition, the Council is expected to hold elections and nominations postponed from previous sessions to the following bodies: Commission on Population and Development; Commission for Social Development; Commission on Science and Technology for Development; Commission on Human Settlements; Intergovernmental Working Group of Experts on International Standards of Accounting and Reporting; Committee on Natural Resources; Committee on New and Renewable Sources of Energy and Energy for Development; and the Executive Committee of the Programme of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. It is also expected to nominate members for election by the Assembly for the Committee for Programme and Coordination (CPC) and receive for confirmation the names of persons nominated to serve as representatives on the Council's functional commissions since the close of the 1996 organizational session.

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Council's Role and Sessions

General Assembly resolution 50/227 refers to the Council's role as the central mechanism for coordination of the activities of the United Nations system and its specialized agencies and supervision of subsidiary bodies, in particular its functional commissions, in the economic, social and related fields. The Council should provide overall guidance and coordination to the United Nations development system and promote a coordinated follow-up to the outcomes of major international conferences in the economic and social fields.

The Council convenes an organizational session in February and a four- week substantive session in July. The substantive session is divided into the following segments: a high-level segment open to all Member States, with ministerial participation, and devoted to the consideration of one or more major economic and/or social themes, and a policy dialogue on important developments on the world economy in which heads of the international financial and trade institutions of the United Nations system are invited to participate. That segment is followed by a coordination segment, an operational activities for development segment and a general segment.

Council Membership

The 54 members of the Council for 1997 are Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Belarus, Brazil, Canada, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chile, China, Colombia, Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Cuba, Czech Republic, Djibouti, El Salvador, Finland, France, Gabon, Gambia, Germany, Guyana, Iceland, India, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Latvia, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Mozambique, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Philippines, Poland, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russian Federation, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sweden, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States and Zambia.

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