Resumed Fifty-fifth General Assembly

Fifth Committee

56^th Meeting (Night)                

FIFTH COMMITTEE POSTPONES ACTION ON FINAL ITEMS OF RESUMED SESSION;

NEGOTIATIONS CONTINUE ON HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) this evening decided to postpone action on several texts until the last meeting of its first resumed session.

The Committee’s Chairman, Gert Rosenthal (Guatemala), said that texts on several items were ready to be approved, but very little time remained to conclude the discussions on the main issue before the Committee -- human resources.  Proposing to save time by deferring action on the formal items before the Committee today, he said that immediately after the formal meeting, informal consultations on human resources management would continue.  If progress was made in the course of the evening today, tomorrow afternoon it would be possible “to tie up some threads” and meet formally on Wednesday to complete the work of the resumed session.

The representative of Pakistan informed the delegates about the status of informal consultations on human resources management, saying that the Committee was working on a long document, and strenuous efforts were being made to make progress.  However, despite the positive attitude, many issues remained unresolved.  There were divergent views on several issues, but he hoped to make progress later this evening.  If delegates showed flexibility tonight, tomorrow afternoon it would be possible to clean up the text.  If no agreement was reached today, tomorrow the Committee would find itself in the same position as today. 

Speaking on behalf of the “Group of 77” developing countries and China, the representative of Iran expressed the Group’s disappointment that the work had not been concluded, as planned.  Indeed, the Group had wished to conclude work on the resolution on human resources management last Friday to avoid allocating additional time.  Constructive and cooperative efforts were being made, and some good progress had been achieved.  In view of the importance of the matter, the Group had made concessions on some issues and was ready to withdraw some of its proposals.  However, if there was no willingness to reciprocate such a constructive approach, it would be difficult to resolve the issue.

The representative of Sweden, speaking on behalf of the European Union, said that he appreciated the constructive efforts of all the members of the Committee regarding the draft on human resources management.  Most of that text, however, had not emanated from the Union.  He agreed with the Chairman’s proposal.

Also this evening, the representative of Syria said that the Arabic version of the draft decision on the reports of the Office of Internal Oversight Services should be aligned with the English version of the text. 

Before adjourning the meeting, the Chairman informed the Committee that it would be possible to distribute drafts electronically, as suggested by the delegate of Egypt last week.  The Committee would do so in the future.  Regarding the concern of the representative of Syria on the scope of the term “to take note”, he said that a representative of the Office of Legal Affairs would provide the Committee with a legal interpretation of that term on Wednesday.

The Committee will meet to conclude its work at a time to be announced on Wednesday, 4 April.

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