Sixty-first General Assembly

Plenary

106^th Meeting (PM)

GENERAL ASSEMBLY ADOPTS RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING AD HOC WORKING GROUP

TO REVITALIZE AUTHORITY, STRENGTHEN PERFORMANCE OF MAIN ORGAN

Member States acted unanimously this afternoon in adopting a resolution to establish an ad hoc working group on revitalizing the role and authority of the General Assembly and strengthening its performance.

By the terms of the resolution (document A/61/L.65), the ad hoc working group would be open to all Member States.  It would assess the status of implementation of relevant resolutions on revitalization and identify ways to further enhance the Assembly’s role, authority, effectiveness and efficiency.

Also by the text, the Assembly requested the Secretary-General to submit an update to his report on the implementation of resolutions on revitalizing the Assembly’s work (document A/61/483), in particular resolutions 58/126, 58/316, 58/316, 60/286 and the current text.

The Assembly also commended its current President, Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa ( Bahrain), for her efforts during the sixty-first session, in particular the holding of thematic debates on issues of high importance to Member States, and increasing the Assembly’s visibility and work in the media.

Earlier, the Assembly was informed that no additional conference-servicing resources would be required, as resources for the working group would be allocated from those already earmarked for meetings of the General Assembly.

Following the adoption, the Assembly President stressed the importance of implementing resolutions on revitalization, which was the common responsibility of Member States, and welcomed the new step to strengthen the Assembly’s performance, an objective to which she was personally attached.

The representative of San Marino, one of the facilitators of the consultations on the resolution, said he had conveyed a paper to the President, containing ideas brought forward during the consultations, which might form a basis for the Assembly’s revitalization during the sixty-second session.

In other business, the Assembly appointed Misako Kaji (Japan) to fill the vacancy on the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Question for the remaining term of Jun Yamazaki (Japan), which expires on 31 December. (Ms. Kaji’s curriculum vitae can be found in document A/61/101/Add.1.)

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For information media • not an official record