Second Committee Opens Seventy-Eighth Session, Approving Its Organization of Work
The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) of the United Nations General Assembly held the first meeting of its seventy-eighth session today, introducing its new Bureau and approving its organization of work.
Opening the meeting, Committee Chair Carlos Amorín (Uruguay) welcomed his new colleagues: Vice-Chairs Jeswuni Abudu-Birresborn (Ghana), Diego Antonino Cimino (Italy) and Nichamon May Hsieh (Thailand), as well as Rapporteur Ivaylo Gatev (Bulgaria).
He then referred delegates to the allocation of 13 agenda items for consideration during the session (document A/C.2/78/1); Organization of work of the Second Committee (document A/C.2/78/L.1); and Status of documentation for the session (document A/C.2/78/L.1/Add.1).
The Committee’s general debate, which runs from 2 to 3 October under the theme “Building a sustainable recovery for all”, will be preceded by a keynote address by Jayati Ghosh, Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Massachusetts. He added that during its session, the Committee will hold a joint meeting with the Economic and Social Council on 10 October, with a focus on “Leveraging commodities for sustainable economic development”. A side event titled “New perspectives on development in the twenty-first century” is scheduled for 12 October. Another joint gathering, the annual dialogue with Executive Secretaries of regional commissions, will be held on 16 October. The Committee’s work is scheduled to conclude on 22 November.
He reminded delegations that action on draft resolutions will be held during the second half of the work of the Committee in November, while all draft proposals with financial implications should be submitted to the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) no later than 1 December. He further recalled the General Assembly decisions on revitalization, encouraging delegations to make resolutions more streamlined, concise, focused and action-oriented; to make a clear link to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in their titles; and to consider including provisions to accelerate their implementation.
The Committee will meet again at 10 a.m. on Monday, 2 October, to begin its general debate.
Press releases, in English and French, on the Second Committee’s public meetings are prepared by the Department of Global Communications and are made available on the United Nations website.