Sixty-ninth General Assembly

Second Committee

1^st Meeting (PM)

Second Committee Opens Sixty-ninth Session Approving Organization of Work

The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) of the United Nations General Assembly approved its organization of work for the sixty-ninth session this afternoon, also welcoming new bureau members and hearing proposals on working methods.

Committee Chair Sebastiano Cardi (Italy) drew members’ attention to the Organization of Work (document A/C.2/69/L.1), reminding delegates of General Assembly decisions on working methods and stressing that the packed agenda meant they would need to stick to deadlines in submissions of proposals and negotiations.  The Committee adopted the Organization of Work and a note by the secretariat on the status of documentation for the session (document A/C.2/69/L.1/Add.1) by consensus.

Thanking the outgoing Committee bureau, Mr. Cardi welcomed its new members:  Vice-Chairpersons Tishka Francis ( Bahamas), Tarik Izararen ( Morocco) and Alexsandra Stepowka ( Poland) and Rapporteur Borg Tsien Tham ( Singapore).  He then described how their responsibilities would be divided.

He outlined his plans to ensure the Committee’s effective and efficient operation, which included a meeting on working methods, a commitment to start all meetings on time, and the production of concise, action-oriented resolutions.  Discipline and full use of time available for informal discussion of agenda items would aid in those efforts.

For the first time in the Committee’s history, he said, the keynote speaker in its General Debate would be a woman, Janet Gornick, a Professor of Political Science and Sociology at the City University of New York Graduate Center.  The debate would run from 7 October until 9 October.

Mr. Cardi told members that the Committee would hold special events to brainstorm and encourage unconventional thinking on topics.  Special events would focus on e-Government for sustainable development in small island d eveloping States; Investment promotion regime for foreign direct investment in least developed countries; Promoting accountability at all levels:  Monitoring the post-2015 development agenda; and Social market economy and new instruments of social finance.  Two joint meetings would be held with the Economic and Social Council.

It was essential to conclude the Committee’s work by 26 November, not least because any draft proposals with financial implications had to be submitted to the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) by 1 December.  He noted that the second United Nations Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries would be held in Vienna from 3 to 5 November and would affect availability of Committee members for consultations.

The Second Committee will meet again on 7 October at 10 a.m. to begin its substantive work.

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For information media • not an official record