IN REVIEW OF PEACEKEEPING FINANCES, FIFTH COMMITTEE MAKES PROPOSAL ON LOGISTICS BASE AT BRINDISI, ITALY

13 October 1997

Press Release
GA/AB/3168

IN REVIEW OF PEACEKEEPING FINANCES, FIFTH COMMITTEE MAKES PROPOSAL ON LOGISTICS BASE AT BRINDISI, ITALY

19971013 General Assembly Asked to Authorize Commitment of $4.2 Million To Clear Inventory Backlog, also Maintenance Costs Until 30 June, 1998

The General Assembly would authorize Secretary-General Kofi Annan to commit $4.2 million to clear inventory backlog at the United Nations Logistics Base in Brindisi, Italy, if it adopts a two-part draft resolution approved this afternoon without a vote by its Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary).

Operating since late 1994 under a rent-free arrangement with Italy's Government, the Brindisi facility at an Italian Air Force base is central to United Nations peacekeeping operations, with 13 of them located within 5,000 kilometres, in the former Yugoslavia, the Middle East and Africa. When fully developed, the facility is expected to cover more than 400,000 square metres and some 45 buildings. The base was offered to the United Nations by the Italian Government in response to a request for storage facilities to augment those at the United Nations, Italy, which had been expected to close at the end of 1995.

By other terms of the draft, the Secretary-General would be authorized to commit $812,100 monthly to maintain the base for the period from 16 October to 30 June 1998. The draft would have the Assembly consider additional appropriations in the context of the performance reports of peacekeeping operations for that period.

In terms of personnel, the draft would also authorize the Secretary- General to provide for 10 Professional, 6 Field Service and 28 locally recruited staff.

By other provisions, the draft would have the Assembly ask the Secretary-General to propose different ways of financing the base, and to consider expanding its use for the benefit of other United Nations purposes, such as activities of the World Food Programme and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Further, the Assembly would approve policies proposed in a report of the Secretary-General on the transfer of used assets to the base, including the

Fifth Committee - 2 - Press Release GA/AB/3168 8th Meeting (PM) 13 October 1997

provision of logistics experts to help identify items to be transferred to the base at the closing of missions. Among guiding principles for those decisions, according to the report, would be whether retaining some items would be cost-effective, taking into account shipping and repair costs, as well as their remaining useful lives.

According to a second part of the draft resolution, on the field assets control system, the Assembly would endorse the recommendations the Secretary-General makes in his report on implementation of the system. In that document, he makes detailed suggestions on a system that would track the condition of assets and ensure efficient management of spare parts. The system would use the Organization's existing global communications, data and storage and transmission infrastructure.

The draft resolution on the financing of the base and on assets management (document A/C.5/52/L.3) was introduced on behalf of the Fifth Committee Chairman by Mexico's representative, Marta Pena, who had conducted informal consultations on its contents.

Speaking in explanation of position after the draft's approval, the representative of the United States said he would have preferred to have the Committee decide on the base's budget in the current session, since a decision on the costs of clearing the backlog was not a prerequisite for the facility's future funding. The backlog should be liquidated by the first resumed session. The representative asked the Secretariat to explain the status and costs of the United Nations depot in Pisa, Italy. While the impression had been given that it had been closed, the Department of Humanitarian Affairs kept assets there. Only one logistics facility should be kept in Italy.

Turning to the management of assets, the representative expressed opposition to the provision of international General Service posts or to designation of an audit post. The Organization's existing audit capacities should suffice.

The Committee is scheduled to meet again at 3 p.m. on Monday, 20 October, to take up the scale of assessments used to split United Nations bills.

* *** *