GENERAL ASSEMBLY PROVIDES BUDGET COMMITTEE WITH CONFERENCE SERVICES FOR NIGHT, WEEKEND CONSULTATIONS

Sixtieth General Assembly

Plenary

65^th Meeting (Night)

GENERAL ASSEMBLY PROVIDES BUDGET COMMITTEE WITH CONFERENCE SERVICES

FOR NIGHT, WEEKEND CONSULTATIONS

The General Assembly this evening, acting on the recommendation of its Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary), decided to provide that Committee with full conference services for night and weekend informal consultations until the end of the main part of its current session.

Adopting that text by a vote of 81 in favour to 33 against, as orally amended, the Assembly decided that any related expenditures would be reported in the context of the second performance report on the programme budget for 2004-2005 (see Annex).

Speaking in explanation of vote after the vote, the representative of India said there had been no winners or losers in the exercise before the Fifth Committee today.  It was unfortunate that the Fifth Committee had had to resort to a vote on the text.  The enormity of the task before it, however, had made it an urgent issue.  While he regretted that the efforts of the parties to reach a consensus decision had not succeeded, that was no reason to give up the Committee’s method of finding consensus where it could.

(annex follows)

ANNEX

Vote on Provision of Conference Services

The draft decision on provision of Conference Services (document A/C.5/60/L.10) was adopted by a recorded vote of 81 in favour to 34 against, with no abstentions, as follows:

In favour:  Algeria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Benin, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chile, China, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Cuba, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, France, Gabon, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, India, Iran, Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Monaco, Morocco, Namibia, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Philippines, Qatar, Russian Federation, Saint Lucia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, Viet Nam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Against:  Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, United Kingdom, United States.

Abstain:  None.

Absent:  Afghanistan, Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burundi, Chad, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Grenada, Haiti, Honduras, Indonesia, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Maldives, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nauru, Nicaragua, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Poland, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Suriname, Swaziland, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Ukraine, United Republic of Tanzania, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela.

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For information media • not an official record