Fifty-eighth General Assembly

Fifth Committee

1^st Meeting (AM)

FIFTH COMMITTEE ELECTS OFFICERS, DISCUSSES WORK PROGRAMME

FOR FIFTY-EIGHTH SESSION

Opening its regular session this morning, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) completed its Bureau by electing Abdelmalek Bouheddou (Algeria), Ronald Elkhuizen (Netherlands) and Asdrúbal Polido León (Venezuela) as its Vice-Chairmen, and Fouad Rajeh (Saudi Arabia) as its Rapporteur, all by acclamation.

Addressing its work programme, the Committee agreed on the schedule of meetings for the first week of its substantive work, with certain modifications.  It postponed action on the programme of work for the rest of the session, until the Bureau presented the Committee with a revised schedule, based on the suggestions voiced by delegates at today’s meeting. 

According to the report of the General Committee on the organization of the fifty-eighth session (document A/58/250), the Fifth Committee is scheduled to consider 35 agenda items during the main part of the session, with the proposed budget for 2004-2005 taking centre stage in its deliberations.  Also on the agenda will be the scale of assessments for the apportionment of the expenses of the United Nations, the financial situation of the Organization, and the progress of the Capital Master Plan for modernizing the Headquarters complex. 

As the Organization’s regular budget cycle is biennial, so is the programme of work of the Fifth Committee, which traditionally devotes every other year to the formulation of the regular budget, focusing on human resources management and other administrative issues during alternate years.  [The so-called “regular” budget of the United Nations is used to finance most of its core activities other than peacekeeping missions and the International Tribunals for Rwanda and former Yugoslavia.  The current, 2002-2003, budget was considered during the fifty-sixth session of the Assembly in 2001.]

Outlining the rationale behind his agenda for further change in his annual report this year (document A/58/1), the Secretary-General stressed the need to align the activities of the Organization with the priorities identified by the General Assembly in the medium-term plan for 2002-2005 and agreed upon at the Millennium Summit and global conferences.  Reflecting this priority challenge, his almost $3.06 billion (at preliminary 2004-2005 rates) budget proposal incorporates concrete measures to continue the process of reform within the United Nations.

Under a new item added to the Fifth Committee’s agenda this year -- Strengthening of the United Nations System -– the Committee is supposed to

consider the reports of the Secretary-General entitled “Improvements to the current process of planning and budgeting” and “Intergovernmental review of the medium-term plan and the programme budget”.  Among the “traditional” items that the Committee takes up every year are efficiency of the administrative and financial functioning of the Organization; reports of the Joint Inspection Unit and the Board of Auditors; the pattern of conferences; activities of the Office of Internal Oversight Services and peacekeeping financing. 

The representatives of Italy (on behalf of the European Union and associated States), Morocco (on behalf of the “Group of 77” developing countries and China), Costa Rica, Cuba, Senegal, Russian Federation and Guinea commented on the programme of work, stressing the need to allocate sufficient time for the consideration of the Committee’s priority items.  Several speakers expressed preference for allocating additional time to the discussion of individual budget sections, pattern of conferences and scale of assessments. 

Cuba’s representative felt that discussing the budget in informal meetings would affect the transparency of the budget process.  Also emphasized in the debate was the need to ensure timely issuance of documentation needed for the Committee, as late submission of reports affected the delegates’ work. 

Referring to a recent administrative circular prohibiting smoking at the United Nations buildings and premises, Costa Rica’s representative requested inclusion of an item on administrative regulations on smoking at Headquarters.  The problem was not a smoking ban, but who had the authority to make decisions in that respect.  The answer was clear, she stated, it was Member States.

In that connection, the representative of the Russian Federation stressed that there were no Assembly decisions completely prohibiting smoking at the United Nations.  The issue of smoking was governed by resolution 55/222 on the pattern of conferences, which, among other things, reaffirmed decision 38/401 concerning the prohibition of smoking in small conference rooms and discouragement of smoking in large ones.  Delegates were strongly encouraged to refrain from smoking to avoid exposing non-smokers to passive smoking. 

In his opening statement, the Committee’s incoming Chairman, Hynek Kmoníĉek (Czech Republic) expressed his confidence that with the spirit of cooperation, the Administrative and Budgetary Committee could strive to complete the tasks entrusted to it successfully and in a timely manner.  He intended to pursue an “open door policy” and transparent conduct of work during the current Assembly session.

Committee Secretary Movses Abelian responded to queries.

At the outset of the meeting, the Committee observed a minute of silence for the victims of the 19 August bombing of the United Nations complex in Baghdad.

The Committee will hold its next meeting at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 7 October.

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