FIFTH COMMITTEE TAKES UP BUDGET IMPLICATIONS OF 2006 MEETING TO ASSESS PROCESS OF GLOBAL RESPONSE TO HIV/AIDS

Sixtieth General Assembly

Fifth Committee

35^th Meeting (PM)

FIFTH COMMITTEE TAKES UP BUDGET IMPLICATIONS OF 2006 MEETING

TO ASSESS PROCESS OF GLOBAL RESPONSE TO HIV/AIDS

In a short meeting this afternoon, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) took up the programme budget implications of the 2006 follow-up meeting on the outcome of the Assembly’s twenty-sixth special session on HIV/AIDS.

By the terms of the draft resolution on the follow-up (document A/60/L.43), the Assembly would decide to undertake on 31 May and 1 June 2006 a comprehensive review of the progress achieved in realizing the targets set out in the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS, which was adopted in June 2001, and convene a high-level meeting on 2 June 2006 aimed at continuing the engagement of world leaders in a comprehensive global response to HIV/AIDS.

Presenting the Secretary-General’s oral statement on programme budget implications of the draft, Vladimir Belov, Chief of the Common Support Services of the Programme Planning and Budget Division, indicated that the comprehensive review of the progress in the implementation of the Declaration would comprise two plenary meetings, one informal hearing, four panel discussions and five round tables.  While part of those requirements could be serviced from within existing resources, three panel discussions and four round tables would have to be added to the Organization’s calendar of conferences and meetings for 2006, at an estimated additional cost of $93,000.

A related report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) (document A/60/7/Add.30, to be issued), was presented by a member of that body, E. Besley Maycock, who noted that the amount of $15,300 requested under Section 28 D, Central support services, should be absorbed in the context of the consolidated statement of programme budget implications of all drafts awaiting action by the Assembly, with revised estimates to be submitted very shortly.  Under the circumstances, the Advisory Committee recommended that conference-servicing requirements in the amount of $77,700 be considered in the context of the review of the consolidated statement provided for in the procedures established by the Assembly for the use of the contingency fund.

The next meeting of the Committee will be announced.

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For information media • not an official record