Second Committee

The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today concluded its seventy-eighth session, approving nine draft resolutions and two draft decisions on a range of topics, voting on a draft addressing international tax cooperation.

The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today approved 16 resolutions on a range of topics, from information and communications technologies for sustainable development to agriculture development, food security and nutrition, with 14 of the texts approved by consensus.

The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today approved 15 resolutions, voting on 3 of them, including a text by which the General Assembly would request the Secretary-General to further encourage the United Nations Coalition on Combating Sand and Dust Storms to conduct its priority activities as identified by the Coalition’s five working groups: knowledge-sharing, capacity-building, training, awareness-raising and support.

The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today approved three resolutions, voting on two of them, including one demanding that Israel cease the exploitation, damage, cause of loss or depletion and endangerment of the natural resources in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and in the occupied Syrian Golan.

The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today concluded its debate on “Permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and of the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan over their natural resources”, with speakers disagreeing over the context of the current situation in Gaza.

With the COVID‑19 pandemic, geopolitical conflicts and persistent economic uncertainty still darkening sustainable development prospects, the five United Nations regional commissions remain critical to any progress, senior officials from those bodies told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today during their annual meeting.

South-South and triangular cooperation not only enabled developing countries to obtain vaccines during the height of the COVID‑19 pandemic, but also enhanced resilience through the establishment of vaccine production facilities in countries like Brazil, Egypt and Indonesia, a United Nations official told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today as it also discussed operational activities for development of the United Nations system.

An increase in extreme poverty in developing countries — for the first time in two decades — is inextricably linked to the global food insecurity crisis, senior United Nations officials warned the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today, calling for urgent strategies to turn back the tide.

Despite many commodity-dependent countries underperforming in development and falling further into debt, the global economy lacks an adequate response to the crisis, a Nobel Laureate told the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) and the Economic and Social Council as they met today for their annual joint meeting.

As the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) took up more than a dozen reports relating to sustainable development today, delegates spotlighted the importance of promoting renewable, sustainable and affordable sources of energy, also calling for more support for developing and least developed countries to sustain progress.