ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT REVIEWS HIGHLIGHTS OF FIFTY-SECOND SESSION IN REMARKS TO JOURNALISTS ON CLOSING DAY OF SESSION'S MAIN PART

Press Release
GA/SM/26

ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT REVIEWS HIGHLIGHTS OF FIFTY-SECOND SESSION IN REMARKS TO JOURNALISTS ON CLOSING DAY OF SESSION'S MAIN PART

Following are remarks to the press by the President of the General Assembly, Hennadiy Udovenko (Ukraine), on the closing day of the main part of the fifty-second General Assembly session, 22 December:

Good afternoon. The main part of the General Assembly is coming to its end. I hope that the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) will wind up its issues before 1:30 p.m. At 1:30 p.m. I am meeting with the Chairman of the Fifth Committee. The Committee has worked very hard, as you are well aware, through the last three weekends. There are a couple of very difficult issues before the Committee. Therefore, the Committee is still in session and the General Assembly is waiting for the Fifth Committee to complete its work - - at least this stage of it.

I would like to say that the General Assembly has devoted great attention to reforming the Organization and the Security Council. You are well aware that the Secretary-General presented a report in which he suggested far-reaching recommendations and actions to be undertaken in order to adapt the United Nations to a new political environment. At the beginning of the General Assembly there were many pessimists who stated that it would be impossible for this session of the General Assembly to adopt any resolution on the reforms suggested by the Secretary-General simply because the membership would require a longer time to study the proposals of the Secretary-General. Fortunately, the General Assembly expedited the consideration of his report and adopted two important resolutions in which it gives very strong political support to the proposals of the Secretary-General aimed at reforming the United Nations.

Certainly, one should understand that reforming the United Nations after 52 years of existence will be a long process. This is not a single action; this is an ongoing process and it will take a long time for the General Assembly to implement many proposals which have already been suggested and which will be suggested in the course of in-depth consideration by other main organs, such as the Economic and Social Council for instance, on the future activities of these organs.

This is only the beginning of the process, but I am very pleased that those who had been pessimists became optimists. This transformation is a result of the consideration of the report of the Secretary-General on reform.

Another big issue the United Nations faces is reforming the Security Council. We had very important debates on 4 and 5 December, where delegations expressed their views concerning reforming the Security Council. A very important feature of that consideration was that the General Assembly avoided a clash among Member States on this very vital and important issue.

It was agreed not to take any decision on this issue, but just to have a general exchange of views on how the Security Council will reform itself. It has been agreed -- consensus has been reached -- that the Open-Ended Working Group which deals with the reform of the Security Council will meet on 27, 28 and possibly, if necessity arises, on 30 January next year.

There are different views on how the working group will have to proceed with its deliberations, but I think that many delegations now believe that a decision should not be delayed on the reform of the Security Council. There are three very important issues at this stage. First, there are a number of "magic formulas" on how many new members of the Security Council there will be. We will have to find such a "magic formula". Number two: who will become members of the Security Council? And number three is the veto right. These are the three main issues that we face now. What I am saying to you might be challenged, therefore please understand me correctly: I am trying to make an analysis of where we are now. But I may be immediately challenged. The number may not be the most important issue; possibly the most important issue is the veto right. This is a delicate process, and as the President of the General Assembly, I have to be as impartial as possible.

The third problem is the critical financial situation of the Organization, and that is why the Fifth Committee is still in session. This is a very important issue for the Organization at this stage. You may possibly recall that, at the request of the Secretary-General, I have convened the high-level working group which is dealing with the critical financial situation of the Organization. The Secretary-General expressed his very strong concern regarding the critical financial situation of the Organization. Now the Fifth Committee will, I hope, approve a new scale of assessments for 1998 and for other years to come. From the organizational point of view, this was a very difficult year for the Fifth Committee. Once every six years the Committee considers the biennial budget and the new scale of assessments. Therefore, this added greatly to the workload of the Fifth Committee.

I named only three major issues. I know that many delegations call this session of the General Assembly "The Assembly of Reform" of the United Nations. But there have been many other important issues. The General

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Assembly considered 160 agenda items altogether, some of which have been deferred for further consideration by the General Assembly at its next session.

I would like to emphasize that a number of important resolutions were adopted on financial issues and economic development. What was interesting in the Second Committee, for instance, there were six resolutions which were adopted by vote. Many delegations were upset that there was a vote on those resolutions, on which there had not previously been a vote. As a result of additional consultations, a consensus was reached. In the plenary, these resolutions were adopted by consensus, without a vote.

This fact demonstrates a very strong tendency in this Organization to reach an agreement on major issues by consensus. What happened in the Second Committee evidently demonstrates this good tendency in this Organization.

If you would like to hear more details in my remarks, come to the last meeting of the General Assembly, but I don't know when it will take place -- possibly in the afternoon, possibly at night, or tomorrow morning. At this point, I don't know.

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