FIFTH COMMITTEE RESUMES CONSIDERATION OF DEVELOPMENT ACCOUNT
Press Release
GA/AB/3294
FIFTH COMMITTEE RESUMES CONSIDERATION OF DEVELOPMENT ACCOUNT
19990513 The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) this morning resumed its consideration of the Development Account -- a means through which savings from efficiency gains are used to fund projects for social and economic development. It had before it reports from the Secretary-General on the Account's logistics and on project proposals.For the 1998-1999 biennium, the General Assembly had approved $13.1 million for the Account. In April 1999, it had approved four out of eight proposals made by the Secretary-General for using the Account, and asked him to reformulate the others.
Germany's representative, speaking for the European Union and associated States, said the Union accepted the reformulated proposals and hoped the Committee would approve them without further delay so that implementation could begin before the end of the biennium. The United States representative welcomed the revisions, especially the expanded sections on anticipated results.
Japan's representative said his delegation placed priority on the early use of the resources. Stressing that the objective of the Account was not to reduce the budget, he said that the exercise of enhancing efficiency to release resources must be done in a transparent manner. The Assembly should be consulted on the modalities to be used for the Account and should provide guidance to the Secretariat.
The Secretary-General's reports were introduced by the Under-Secretary- General for Management, Joseph E. Connor and the Assistant Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Patrizio Civili.
After C.S.M. Mselle, the Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), said that body's report was still being prepared, the Committee decided to revert to the issue at a later date.
The Fifth Committee will meet again at 10 a.m. on Monday, 17 May, to continue discussing financing United Nations peacekeeping operations, and to take up reports on management irregularities as it considers human resources management and review of the Organization's administrative and financial efficiency.
Committee Programme of Work
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) met this morning to begin its consideration of the Development Account, under its agenda item titled Programme Budget for the Biennium 1998-1999.
[The Development Account is a means by which savings from increased productivity gains generated by the Secretary-General's reform process could be used to fund specific development projects. Using existing process, rules and regulations, the General Assembly would approve transfers from the Development Account budget section to the special account. The General Assembly would also approve projects to be funded from the special account that are consistent with the objectives of the medium-term plan and complementary to existing programmes.]
The Committee had before it an addendum to a Secretary-General's report on the use of the development dividend (document A/53/374/Add.1). The addendum contains information requested by the General Assembly in April 1999 when it approved four of the eight proposals for projects to be funded from the Development Account made in the Secretary-General's report on use of the development dividend (document A/53/374). The approved proposals (A,B, D and E) are represented in accordance with the Assembly request that the they be reformulated and implemented in accordance with the relevant Financial Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and the Regulations and Rules Governing Programme Planning, the Programme Aspects of the Budget, the Monitoring of Implementation and the Methods of Evaluation.
The Assembly also requested that the Secretary-General reformulate the other proposals ( C, G, F and H) contained in that report explaining how these projects would: have multiplier effects and promote capacity-building primarily in developing countries; promote regional and interregional economic and technical cooperation among the developing countries; and use available human and technical resources from the developing regions. All but one -- project C from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) -- have been reformulated to indicate how they fit these criteria.
Project A involves some $2 million for the promotion of electronic commerce through the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Project B, through the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), involves some $2.5 million for capacity building in economic and social policy in Africa through networking expertise. Project D involves some $1.1 million for a computer and telecommunication system for international and national drug control via the United Nations International Drug Control Programme. Project E would see the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat) allocated some $945,000 for capacity building and networking for the implementation of the Habitat Agenda in least developed countries.
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Project F involves an allocation of some $1.5 million for an on-line network of regional institutions for capacity building in public administration and finance through the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. That same department would establish a research network for development policy analysis with some $1.3 million in funding in Project G, and would, in Project H, have some $3.6 million for activities for the implementation of Agenda 21, the Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action, and the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action.
Another Secretary-General's report on the modalities for operating the Development Account (document A/53/945) explains how the sustainability, modalities and mechanisms of the Account could work in practice. The report recommends the Assembly approve: the creation of a special account for supplementary development activities, specifying that it is of a multi-year nature; the procedures outlined in the report for the transfer of resources from productivity gains to the Development Account budget section; the proposals for the operation of the Development Account budget section; and the operation of the special account for supplementary development activities.
Methods for the identification and transfer of resources released due to productivity gains to the Development Account budget section, for the operation of the Development Account budget section, and for the operation of the special account itself are proposed. Funds would be transferred from the regular budget section twice in each biennium -- in January of the first year of the biennium after the initial appropriation of the programme budget and again after Assembly consideration of the second performance report. The report notes that at all stages of the process, no action would be taken without the full approval of the intergovernmental bodies, and no amendments to existing rules and regulations would be necessary.
Resources resulting from productivity gains identified and approved for transfer after consideration of the second performance report would not need any special measures by the General Assembly to enable preservation of the funds for expenditure in future years, according to the report. During the second year of a biennium, the Secretary-General would prepare project proposals, that would address objectives within the context of the medium-term plan and augment existing work programmes, for the subsequent biennium. The proposals would be coordinated by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs. The total budget of the proposals would comprise the maximum amount that the Secretary-General considers may be available in the special account for that biennium. An example format for the proposals is annexed to the report.
These proposals would be submitted to the Committee for Programme and Coordination (CPC) to consider programmatic aspects and to the Advisory Committee for Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) to consider budgetary aspects and for each body to make appropriate recommendations to the
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General Assembly, according to the report. Towards the end of the biennium, the recommendations from the CPC and the ACABQ would be considered by the Fifth Committee. The total amount available would then be known as the Assembly would have approved the transfers in its deliberations on the second performance report. The General Assembly would then approve the projects to be funded from the special account.
Annual reports describing the activities carried out, expenditure, and other information required by the General Assembly would be provided in a similar fashion for other accounts of a multi-year nature through the ACABQ and the Fifth Committee, the report states.
Statements
JOSEPH E. CONNOR, Under Secretary-General for Management, introduced the Secretary-General's report on the modalities for operating the Development Account (document A/53/945). The report was a clarification of alternative modalities for operating the Account following the Fifth Committee's previous discussion of the issue. The report suggested the General Assembly create a special account of a multi-year nature into which regular budget accounts could be transferred.
PATRIZIO CIVILI, Assistant Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, introduced the Secretary-General's report on the reformulated proposals for projects to be funded from the development dividend (A/53/374/Add.1). He reminded the Committee that the Under Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Nitin Desai, was the programme manager for the account.
C.S.M. MSELLE, Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), stated that the ACABQ had held an executive session yesterday at which it had decided to submit a written report responding to the Secretary-General's reports. This ACABQ report was being prepared, and he envisaged that it would be approved by his Committee on Monday and would therefore be available to the Fifth Committee immediately after that. Given the nature of the subject, the ACABQ felt that a written report was required.
In the light of the statement by the ACABQ Chairman, the Committee decided, following a proposal from its Chairman, MOVSES ABELIAN (Armenia), to revert to consideration of the issue at a later date, pending the receipt of a written ACABQ report.
GERHARD KUNTZLE (Germany) spoke on behalf of the European Union, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Cyprus, Iceland and Norway. The Union had been prepared to endorse the Secretary-General's eight proposals, but had joined
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the consensus reflected in resolution A/53/220, since that had at least allowed the Secretary-General to disburse some of the available resources while taking into account concerns of other delegations.
The Secretary-General had responded expeditiously to the Assembly's request, giving due regard to the criteria set forth in resolution 53/220, and had revised them to enable Member States to better evaluate future achievements, he said. The Union accepted the reformulated proposals and hoped the Committee would now approve them without further delay, so implementation could begin as soon as possible during the current biennium.
JUICHI TAKAHARA (Japan) shared the view expressed on Monday for the "Group of 77" developing countries and China that the Committee should spend adequate time considering the matter in order to conclude its work on it as a matter of priority. He therefore regretted that the Secretary-General's reports had not been submitted in time for proper consideration, and that the ACABQ's report was still not available.
The early utilization of the resources allocated in the Development Account section was his delegation's priority concern, he said. The Account's sustainablity, mechanisms and modalities needed to be agreed upon as early as possible. A budget reduction as such was not the objective. The idea behind the Account was to enhance the efficiency with which the budget was implemented. Greater efficiency would release resources for other projects, especially those related to economic and social development. That exercise must be done in a transparent manner. Accordingly, the Assembly should be consulted on the modalities to be used in pursuing greater efficiency, and it should give the Secretariat guidance on that.
THOMAS REPASCH (United States), speaking about the proposed modalities and mechanisms of the Account as specified in the Secretary-General's report, asked whether Fifth Committee approval of the modalities would mean the Committee for Programme and Coordination (CPC) would be asked to consider reformulated project proposals in June of this year.
Regarding the reformulated proposals for projects to be funded from the development dividend, the United States was pleased by the revisions, he said. In particular, he appreciated the expanded sections in the proposals on expected accomplishments, which were consistent with the revised programme planning and budget and evaluation rules enacted last year. In later consultations he would seek information on how the Department of Economic and Social Affairs planned to get the feedback that the statements of expected accomplishments implied would be required to gauge whether the accomplishments had been achieved.
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