SECRETARY-GENERAL PROPOSES $2,535 MILLION PROGRAMME BUDGET FOR 2000-2001 BIENNIUM

Press Release
SG/SM/7197
GA/AB/3323

SECRETARY-GENERAL PROPOSES $2,535 MILLION PROGRAMME BUDGET FOR 2000-2001 BIENNIUM

Following is the text of Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s address today to the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) introducing the proposed United Nations programme budget for the biennium 2000-2001:

As Secretary-General and Chief Administrative Officer of the United Nations, I am pleased to present to you my proposed programme budget for the biennium 2000-2001.

I am proposing a budget totalling $2,535 million: virtually the same level, in real terms, as the last biennium. Of course, there are other procedures that must be applied before a final budget is settled upon.

My proposals call for small but important increases in certain priority areas: our efforts for peace and development in Africa; our delivery of vital humanitarian assistance; our promotion and protection of human rights; our fight against drug trafficking and organized crime; and our training programmes to ensure that staff have the skills and knowledge they need to do their jobs.

Internal oversight and capital expenditures will also receive modest increases. We have also made provision for special political missions whose mandates, though set to expire in 1999, may be renewed for part or all of the next biennium. To accommodate these increases, savings will be achieved in administration, common support services and through other efficiencies.

Also in response to priorities established by you, the Member States, I am proposing that more than 500 posts be redeployed among the various programmes and sub-programmes. Our work is ever-changing, with surprises and shifting demands, and so it is essential that the United Nations be able to put the right person in the right place at the right time, and to apply its resources where they are most needed.

The budget also reflects the ongoing reform effort. I welcome the resolution adopted by this Committee, last week, concerning the

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modalities for the Development Account. This will enable us to build up the account; quantify our efficiency gains; and use those savings for development activities. The first set of projects from the current biennium's funds are under way, and I know you share my hopes for what we can achieve through this mechanism.

Another crucial part of reform is the shift towards results-based- budgeting. My budget represents the first steps in that process, and includes statements of expected accomplishments for all substantive areas. For example, in the area of disarmament, we set out expectations covering negotiating processes, publications and outreach programmes, and even some region-specific efforts.

But this is just a first step. Separate proposals are before you to build on this and complete the shift to results-based-budgeting with widespread use of performance indicators. I know this will require considerable discussion and it will take time. With your support during this session of the General Assembly, and with your approval, we would be that much closer to the day when we will work with a fully results- based-budget.

For five years, the United Nations has had absolutely no increase in its budget, even in nominal terms. In each of those years, the United Nations has cut spending to cover the cost of inflation, for a total of $350 million in cuts since 1994 -- I repeat, $350 million in cuts since 1994. During that time, we have also absorbed special mission costs of over $100 million. And we have done so, within a budget total that is lower today than it was in 1994-1995.

Despite this rigorous budget discipline, the United Nations has persevered. Across the breadth of our agenda, we have carried on, doing more with less, lamenting the unfortunate constraints placed on us but maintaining all the while our dedication to serving you and the peoples of the world.

However, there comes a point at which further cuts would seriously compromise our ability to deliver the services that the Member States have mandated and expect from the Secretariat. Stringent budget discipline is one thing; a starvation diet, year upon year, is quite another, particularly when the Organization is continually asked to do more and more.

The Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) itself, in its review of the proposed budget, found no basis to propose any changes in the overall level of resources. The Committee also reiterated its concerns that continued reductions would compromise the quality and timeliness of services and lead to the curtailment or postponement of programmes. Something, somewhere, will have to give.

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Look around the world, from East Timor to Sierra Leone. Listen to the speeches last month at the General Assembly, on disarmament, development, discrimination and other urgent issues. Think for a moment about the 20th century. You will see and hear and understand why the international community continues to turn to the United Nations for its unique and universal services.

Our agenda is long; demands continue to rise; expectations are high. We must respond, but we must also be realistic. My budget seeks to do so. I commend these proposals to you. They are solid, reasonable and rational. They represent value for money. They will help us in our efforts to build a strong United Nations and a peaceful, more humane world as we move into the 21st century. Thank you very much.

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