PRESS CONFERENCE ON UNITED NATIONS BUDGET

 

The Secretary-General’s proposed budget for the 2008-2009 biennium totalled almost $4.2 billion before recosting and almost $4.4 billion when estimated inflation and currency changes were considered for that period, reporters were told at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon.

Addressing those budgetary matters were Warren Sach, United Nations Controller, and Alicia Bárcena, Under-Secretary General for Management, who also discussed plans included in the budget and the Secretary-General’s two-year vision, both of which had been presented that morning to the General Assembly’s Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary).  (See Press Release GA/AB/3818.)

The $4.4 billion represented an increase of 0.5 per cent over the 2006-2007 biennium, and reflected the priorities set by Member States.

Ms. Bárcena said that, accompanying the proposed budget, her office would also present to Member States several budgetary “ads on” -- which had arisen from legislative mandates or General Assembly resolutions -- to cover the costs of initiatives such as the Independent Audit Advisory Committee, the Pandemic Preparedness Report, implementation of the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, and introduction of a new system of administration of justice, for example.

Resources for the Human Rights Council would also be available, as Member States had requested, to ensure its institution-building needs were met, she said.  Her Office would also submit plans for strengthening the Department of Political Affairs, business continuity and disaster recovery.  Together with the proposed $4.4 billion budget, the set of “ads on” and the revised estimates attached to legislative mandates would total $4.6 billion, which would be presented to Member States.

Turning to the Secretary-General’s vision for the next two years, she said the Secretary-General wished to see the United Nations three pillars –- peace and security, human rights and development –- in better equilibrium.  Development issues would be spotlighted next year with the Doha Review Conference and midpoint for achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

Asked about exactly how the Department of Political Affairs would be strengthened, Ms. Bárcena said an additional $17 million was being requested for building regional capacities, particularly in Central Asia and Central Africa, and becoming better equipped in the areas of mediation, conflict prevention and conflict resolution.  A budget for the special political missions had been included in the budget proposal; however, those missions needed more support for field work.  About 90 additional positions would likely be created, Mr. Sach added.

Pressed as to whether $17 million constituted a “significant” strengthening of the Department’s six divisions, as requested by the Secretary-General, Ms. Bárcena responded that the amount reflected what could realistically be obtained at this stage.  It was a minimum amount that would allow the Department to respond to new challenges.  She discussed the Department’s proposal to create a cadre of young professionals at the P-2 and P-3 levels to move between political missions, and another to split the Asia and Latin America Division into two separate units.  The Department had also asked for strengthening at the division level.  Key proposals related to strengthening some of the regional divisions, including Africa-1 and Africa-2, without changing their structure.  Structural proposals included the creation of new Middle East and Europe divisions, creation of a policy and mediation support division, and strengthening of the electoral assistance division.

Responding to several questions about the size of the budget proposal, Ms. Bárcena explained that $4.19 billion was the amount given to her office by the General Assembly outline last year.  The $200 million difference between $4.2 billion and $4.4 billion reflected inflation and exchange rate questions -- a process called “recosting”.  Thus, the $4.4 billion reflected the amount after recosting.

Mr. Sach added that $4.2 billion reflected 2006-2007 rates used by the General Assembly at its sixty-first session, when it had approved the budget outline for the forthcoming biennium.  The Assembly always worked on the basis of the current biennium’s rates when setting an outline for the following biennium.  To actually operate the budget in the forthcoming period, inflation and currency changes had to be taken into account.  He explained that recosting was a normal process when the General Assembly decided the budget outline for the next biennium, it used current period prices as a basis for setting a limit for the next period.  Another recosting would be done in December to take those same changes into account.  As to whether the 0.5 per cent -- which represented $23 million -- would also be adjusted, he said that, due to weakness in the dollar, that figure would likely increase by $70 million.

Taking a question on why a $250 million contract in Darfur had been awarded on a sole-source basis, Mr. Sach said that was outside the budget introduced by the Secretary-General this morning.  The question related to the $1.5 billion budget for the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID), proposals for which would be considered by the Fifth Committee in two weeks.  The contract had been awarded under a sole source arrangement to pay for logistics support in the construction of four camps and the mission’s headquarters.  It was done in that way to meet tight deadlines set by the 31 July Security Council resolution.  It was hoped that the continuation contract, which would likely begin after the initial six month period, would be a competitive process.

Responding to a question on whether the $250 million contract represented a cost-saving of $500 million, Mr. Sach said the United Nations would not have claimed to have saved $500 million.  However, the negotiations, which had taken about five weeks, had revolved around the specification of requirements, and who would assure certain risks.  Several doubts of the contractor had been removed in that process.  Troop levels of 19,550 and some 7,000 police had been decided by the Security Council in July.

Responding to a question regarding the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) recommendation to discontinue publication of the Secretariat’s consolidated report, Ms. Bárcena said the issuance of the report had started before she assumed office.  She saw value in the publication, which presented information on programmes and budgets.  With the resources already spent, it would make sense to carry on.  However, if Member States decided it was not a good product, the Secretariat was prepared to implement their wishes.

Asked to respond to criticism about the Organization’s recruitment system, in particular to questions about fairness and respect for the criteria of geographic representation, transparency and competency, Ms. Bárcena said that the United Nations had to adjust to the changing realities, and the recruitment process had advanced in recent years.  “We need to professionalize ourselves quite a bit in terms of human resources management,” she said.  Among the systemic issues that had to be looked into, she mentioned the need for better systems to identify, attract, retain and mobilize staff, and to move people around.  That was one of her own priorities, and the Secretary-General was committed to improving the human resources management system, as well.

She believed that Galaxy had been a very good innovation and had opened opportunities for people to apply.  Now, due to the difficulties in dealing with a large number of applications, Member States had already indicated their support for the replacement of Galaxy.  However, the problems of the recruitment system were not only technical in nature, and much remained to be done to make the process transparent and credible.  Among other things, the Secretariat was suggesting to Member States the creation of a recruitment centre to identify the best talent.

Regarding the Capital Master Plan, she said it would be easier to contain costs with the newly proposed accelerated renovation strategy, which envisioned completion of work in five, instead of seven years.  That would make it easier to work within the $1.8 billion budget that the Assembly had approved for the project.  As far as she knew, the Fifth Committee was in the final stages of considering a draft resolution on the matter.

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