Second Committee

Dian Triansyah Djani, Permanent Representative of Indonesia to the United Nations, was elected Chair of the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) on 13 June 2016 (see Press Release GA/11791).

Holding its first meeting of the General Assembly, the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) today introduced the Bureau and approved its organization of work.

The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) concluded the work of its seventieth session today, amid pointed calls for it to align its work methods and plans with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and strong concerns that entrenched differences over those tactical processes risked side-lining it from the important work ahead.

Concluding its work for the main part of the General Assembly’s seventieth session today, the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) unanimously approved 18 draft resolutions on topics ranging from international financial systems to women in development and beyond.

The General Assembly would reaffirm that climate change “is one of the greatest challenges of our time”, and express its “profound alarm” over a global rise in greenhouse gas emissions, by the terms of one of 14 draft texts approved today without a vote by the Second Committee (Economic and Financial).

The General Assembly would underline the instrumental role of agricultural technology in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development under the terms of a draft resolution approved by a recorded vote today by the Second Committee (Economic and Financial), which also took action by consensus on six other texts as well as a draft decision.

The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) met this morning to introduce five draft resolutions, including a new text on “Financial inclusion for sustainable development”.

The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) approved a resolution today on “Consumer protection”, deciding to establish an intergovernmental group of experts on consumer protection law and policy within the framework of an existing commission of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) approved three resolutions today, one of them reaffirming the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and the population of occupied Syrian Golan over their land, water and energy resources.

Domestic resource mobilization and taxation were crucial to achieving sustainable development, several panellists stressed today at a joint meeting of the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) and the Economic and Social Council.