Concluding Coordination, Management Segment, Economic and Social Council Takes Note of Oral Decision on Text Addressing Financing for Development
Annual Overview Report of United Nations Chief Executives Board Also Considered
Concluding a three-day coordination and management segment today, the Economic and Social Council took note of a text on financing for development and heard an introduction to the annual overview report of the Organization’s Chief Executives Board.
By an oral decision, The Council took note of the report on the inaugural session of the Economic and Social Council forum on financing for development (document E/FFDF/2016/3) and decided to transmit its conclusions and recommendations to the 2016 high-level political forum on sustainable development.
Simona Petrova, Acting Secretary, United Nations Chief Executives Board, then introduced that body’s 2015 annual overview report (document E/2016/56). The report provided an overview of major activities in inter-agency cooperation within the framework of the Board, which brought together, under the leadership of the Secretary-General, the Executive Heads of United Nations specialized agencies, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization, and United Nations funds and programmes.
She described several activities undertaken by the Board in support of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including the promotion of youth employment, contributing to the data revolution and applying lessons learned from the Millennium Development Goals. In addition, she drew attention to some additional activities of the Board’s subsidiary bodies in such areas as disaster risk reduction, sustainable urbanization, climate change, administrative and management matters, and procurement.
Nicolas Randin (Switzerland), while acknowledging the report’s promotion of system-wide coherence and coordination and more efficient uses of resources, said that the report was more descriptive rather than informative on conclusions reached, decisions taken or next steps and follow-up actions from the work. He asked if the Board had an action plan with annual, measurable targets to be achieved, in the spirit of results-based management.
Jill Derderian (United States), however, applauded the Board’s “invaluable work” in arriving at pragmatic solutions to help improve performance and coordination. Its coherent implementation of mandates and other resolutions sought to harmonize the United Nations development system as a whole. She highlighted the data catalogue project, which now included more than 4,000 datasets, to provide key information to all stakeholders.
Nonetheless, Patricio Aguirre Vacchieri (Chile), concurring with his Swiss colleague, pointed to a lack of projected future steps in the report. He asked if, within the session, there had been a discussion of the possibility of adjusting to the new legal framework set forth by the 2030 Agenda, and which specific areas might see an improvement due to overlapping mandates.
In response, Ms. Petrova, explained that the work of the Board was to align at the most strategic level to move the United Nations system forward in implementing activities mandated by Member States. Target setting and specifics of the work were the responsibility of three committees: the High-Level Committee on Programmes, the High-Level Committee on Management, and the United Nations Development Group. The strategic work plans of those committees had been published and could be made available.
The Board’s annual report was a limited overview, she continued, and precluded specific details about each committee and sub-committee. As an annual overview of 2015, all activities described were simply examples of committee work. The Board’s work was structured to address three sets of activities: follow-ups to international conferences it was mandated to support; issues emerging from decisions by Member States; and issues dictated by current events, such as migration. The Board did not have a work plan because it tackled specific ideas and followed up with mandates. The work plans of the three high-level committees reporting to the Board were very detailed.
In other matters, Frederick Musiiwa Makamure Shava (Zimbabwe), Vice-President of the Council, said, in regards to the agenda item entitled “International Cooperation in Tax Matters”, that informal consultations on the venue and dates for future sessions of the Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters were ongoing. The outcome would be announced at the Council’s next coordination and management meeting in July.
The Council will meet again on Monday, 25 July, at 10 a.m. for its final set of coordination and management meetings to consider all outstanding agenda items.