UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC BODY FOR PACIFIC REGION IS PRAISED FOR GUIDANCE DURING POST-1997 FINANCIAL CRISIS IN ASIA

Press Release
GA/AB/3336

UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC BODY FOR PACIFIC REGION IS PRAISED FOR GUIDANCE DURING POST-1997 FINANCIAL CRISIS IN ASIA

Fifth Committee is Told of ESCAP Recommendations to Minimize Impact: Part-by-Part Review of Programme Budget for 2000-2001 Continues

The Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) was the only regional cooperative intergovernmental forum in that part of the world, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) was told this afternoon as it continued its part-by-part consideration of the programme budget for 2000-2001.

Since the end of 1997, Asia had undergone a financial crisis which had seriously damaged twenty years of achievements in development, said the representative of China. He said ESCAP made recommendations on how to cope with the crisis to keep its impact to a minimum, and full support must be given to it. That another decrease was proposed in its resource levels was a cause of great concern.

The representative of Bangladesh told the Committee that ESCAP had played an important role since its inception, and that it serviced more than half the world’s population. He agreed that the economic crisis in the region meant enhanced cooperation was needed, yet a decline in resources was proposed.

The Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) had made solid progress in its reform effort and now had the most useful and least academic work programme of all the commissions, the representative of the United States stated. Other Commissions should follow its lines.

However, it still carried some low value elements, and it met twice as often as it should, he added.

The representative of Ukraine expressed concern about a decrease in the proportion of resources proposed for the ECE’s substantive work, as opposed to those requested for the running of the Commission itself. He asked how this would impact on the Commission’s substantive activities.

Fifth Committee - 1a - Press Release GA/AB/3336 30th Meeting (PM) 8 November 1999

The representatives of Uganda, Philippines, Japan, Cuba and Canada also spoke, as the Committee considered three sections of part IV of the budget proposal -– on economic and social development for Africa, on economic and social development for Asia and the Pacific, and on economic development for Europe.

The Director of the Budget Division, Warren Sach, answered questions from Member States.

The Committee will meet again at 10 a.m. tomorrow 9 November, when it plans to continue its consideration of the report of the Secretary- General on the activities of the Office of Internal Oversight Services.

* *** * Committee Work Programme

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) met this afternoon to continue its consideration of part V of the proposed programme budget -- on regional cooperation for development, as part of its part-by-part consideration of the programme budget for 2000-2001.

[For a general introduction to the programme budget proposal and the general response of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), see Press Release GA/AB/3322 of 27 October. Further parts of the Secretary-General's proposed budget and the relevant ACABQ responses will be summarized in the Press Release covering the meeting at which the Committee commences considering them. For background on part V of the programme budget, see Press Release GA/AB/3335 of 8 November].

Statements on Programme Budget

NESTER ODAGA-JALOMAYO (Uganda) noted that only release one of the Integrated Management Information System (IMIS) was operating in Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and asked for clarification on the situation on the various releases in the ECA.

The Assistant Secretary-General for Programme Planning, Budget and Accounts and United Nations Controller, JEAN-PIERRE HALBWACHS, said that release two of the IMIS had been installed in all duty stations. By the end of 2000, he aimed to have released three, now partly installed, and release four, installed in all stations as well.

The System was being released in stages, he noted, and installation was becoming smoother and easier with each stage. The regional commissions would have both these stages by 2000. A schedule of the proposed release dates of stages would be available to Member States in the Secretary-General’s report on the status of the IMIS.

MARY JO ARAGON (Philippines), speaking on behalf of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) said, under section 16, the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) programme of work for 2000-2001 was the first to be formulated on the basis of the cumulative reform efforts the Commission had undertaken. She supported the four main priority areas identified by the Commission, as well as the continuing focus on regional economic cooperation, poverty alleviation and environment and natural resources. She also welcomed the efforts towards gender mainstreaming in ESCAP’s work programme and activities in support of gender equality and the advancement of women.

She was, however, concerned that ESCAP’s overall budget in the last two biennia had been decreasing and would further decrease by 0.3 per cent in 2000-2001. She was also concerned that the high vacancy rate in ESCAP could adversely affect the implementation of its work programme. She asked what the reasons were for this high vacancy rate.

TETSUO KONDO (Japan) said that the three major themes of ESCAP programmes were important. He was also pleased to see the reforms reflected in this proposal. He was concerned about increased requests for resources for consultants and experts, in the context of a small budgetary decrease for the section at large. In one instance, the increase was in the vicinity of some 420 per cent, and he asked if there was any non-specified unusual element that required this level of increase. He also sought additional information on resources sought under contractual services for consultants’ and experts’ travel, and sought information on this.

Regarding the reported high vacancy rate, he noted that the increased efforts had not yet resulted in much improvement. He shared the view of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) that long delays in human resource changes created serious shortcomings in units’ capacities to deliver their outputs.

ZHOU QIANGWU (China) said that since the end of 1997, Asia had undergone a serious financial crisis resulting in devaluations of currencies and economic recession. This had caused serious damage to the results of the twenty years development in the region. The ESCAP was the only regional cooperative intergovernmental forum, and since the beginning of the crisis it had done serious research and made recommendations on how to cope with the crisis to keep its impact to a minimum. China appreciated this. As ESCAP nations faced the challenges of the new century, full support must be given to this Commission.

However, the Commission’s regular budget resources had been reduced in the past biennium, and another decrease was now proposed for the next biennium, he said. This was a cause of great concern, and he agreed with the representatives of Japan and Philippines on this issue.

China also agreed with Committee for Programme and Coordination comments that vacancy rates were too high. These had an adverse effect, and he sought an update on the vacancy rate situation from a representative of the Secretariat.

RIAZ HAMIDULLAH (Bangladesh) said that since its inception ESCAP had played an important role. It serviced 52 member States and eight associate States, covering more than half the world’s population. The economic crisis led to a need for enhanced cooperation. However, he saw a decline in programmatic resources and extra-budgetary resources for it.

Bangladesh shared the Committee for Programme and Coordination concern on high vacancy rates, and noted that this was the same scenario as applied in the Economic Commission in Africa (ECA), he said. To bring them down required additional human resources decentralization. He noted some steps had been taken, and would like to hear what steps.

He also shared the ACABQ concern that the introduction of new technology was important, but in this region there were diverse needs and there was a clear need for the continuation of existing modes of publication.

He also stated that the numbers of reports or publications from a body should not be used as a guide to judge the value of the use of resources by that body. If 100 publications were forthcoming, and they were all substantive, then this 100 was not a large number.

THOMAS REPASCH (United States) said his delegation was particularly attached to the sub-programmes on transport and statistics. These programmes focused on needs that other Organizations didn’t. The ESCAP would also benefit from increased oversight and programme evaluation. He asked whether there had been any change in the vacancy rate for ESCAP and drew attention to the under-used conference centre in Bangkok; he asked where the money for the centre was coming from and what the operating costs were for the centre.

The Director of the Budget Division, WARREN SACH said there had been some progress on the vacancy rate; it was now 9.4 per cent for professionals and the general service category had also fallen slightly. There would also soon be a report on all vacancy rates above the budgeted rates. On the question of publications, he said anything that was provided electronically was also available in hard copy.

On the conference centre in Bangkok, he said there had been talk

of a subsidy but the centre had not been constructed as a revenue-

earning operation but rather as a meeting centre for the Commission.

The Organization was trying to recoup some of the costs through outside

utilization but it was not being run as a revenue earning opportunity in

Bangkok, any more than a centre in New York would be.

Mr. REPASCH (United States) said he had trouble with the Office of Internal Oversight Services finding that the conference centre was empty 85 per cent of the time. This indicated that there were not enough meetings there. He also asked whether the centre had a cost accounting system.

Mr. SACH said it was true that the needs of the Commission was such that the conference room was in use only 15 per cent of the time, but there was no point in scheduling meetings just to raise this figure. On the cost accounting issue, a separate cost line was being maintained for the conference centre, and it should allow tracking of related costs.

Ms. ARAGON (Philippines), speaking on behalf of ASEAN, reaffirmed the group’s full support for ESCAP’s work on poverty allevation. She did not agree that this activity should be terminated.

The Committee then turned to its discussion of section 18 of the proposed budget, on economic development in Europe.

MR. REPASCH (United States) said the Economic Commission for Europe had made solid progress in its reform, and it now had the most useful and applied, and least academic, work programme. Other Commissions should follow its lines. However, it still included some low value elements, notably on industry and housing. In addition, the United States believed the Commission should meet on a biennial basis, rather than annually.

Mr. KONDO (Japan) commended the presentation of this the section of the programme budget on the European Commission and stated his support for its programmes. However, indicators of accomplishment should be further refined and measures should be developed to appraise whether publications reached their target groups. Japan was prepared to consider the requested creation of a P-4 public information post.

Ms. BUERGO RODRIGUEZ (Cuba) said she supported the important work of the regional commissions. She sought clarification of the mention of special questions concerning the use of resources for administration and conference services in paragraph 18.14 of the budget proposal.

OLEKSII V. IVASCHENKO (Ukraine) said he had some queries on this budget section. He was concerned about the decrease in resources allocated to the actual programme of work, in the context of the overall distribution of resources at the Commission. He asked how this would impact on the substantive activities of the Commission. In addition, he noted the forecasted dramatic decrease in extra-budgetary funds expected to be available and sought more detailed information on this forecast.

Ukraine shared the ACABQ’s concern about delays in translation and interpretation of material due to the overload of the resources of the United Nations Office at Geneva, and wondered whether the increase in contractual services proposed would be sufficient to reverse this trend. He noted the ACABQ call for a review of the requested resources allocated for travel, and the suggestion that proposals be made to increase these and to redeploy resources to this area, as they might not reflect the workload given the increased membership of the Commission. He sought information on activities undertaken by the Secretariat to address these concerns. JOHN ORR (Canada) said that in relation to the statistics programme in the Economic Commission for Europe he was surprised at the level of resources allocated to this sub-programme, and he asked for further information on the division of expertise between ECE and Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

Warren Sach, Director of Budget Division, answered Member States’ questions. He pointed out that the Economic Commission for Europe had a different administrative structure from the other commissions, as it was co-located with an existing United Nations headquarters location.

On the request for resources for the Commission publications, he said these were made to insulate those publications against the peak periods of activity at the conference services section of the United Nations Office in Geneva.

Regarding the call for a review of the adequacy of travel resources of some $622,100 requested, he said the amount requested was a maintenance level, at the same level as granted for 1998-1999, which was in itself an increase over 1996-1997. The Secretariat would be reviewing the adequacy of this amount in the performance report and, should it prove inadequate, it would look into altering it for the following biennia.

On the question of duplication between the statistics programmes at the Economic Commission for Europe and those at Headquarters, he explained that there was an overlap in the attendees, but there was also careful integration of the two programmes which he would be happy to demonstrate in the Committee’s informal consultations on this section.

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