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&htab;&dtab; FIFTH COMMITTEE
&htab;&dtab; 33rd meeting
&htab;&dtab; held on
&htab; Wednesday, 21 November 1990
&htab; at 3 p.m.
&htab; New York
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SUMMARY RECORD OF THE 33rd MEETING
: Mr. KOULYK (Ukrainian Soviet
(Vice-Chairman) Socialist Republic)
Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and
: Mr. MSELLE
CONTENTS
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AGENDA ITEM 119: PROGRAMME PLANNING ()
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&htab;Distr. GENERAL
&htab;A/C.5/45/SR.33
&htab;30 November 1990
&htab;ORIGINAL: ENGLISH
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In the absence of the Chairman, Mr. Koulyk (Ukrainian Soviet
Socialist Republic), Vice-Chairman, took the Chair.
The meeting was called to order at 3.40 p.m.
AGENDA ITEM 119: PROGRAMME PLANNING () (A/45/3, A/45/6, A/45/16 (Part I)
and Add.1 and A/45/16 (Part II), A/45/204, A/45/218 and Corr.1 and Add.1 and
Add.1/Corr.1, A/45/279 and A/45/617; A/C.5/45/42; A/C.5/45/CRP.1)
1.&htab; (Director, Programme Planning and Budget Division), responding to a
number of questions raised by the representative of Cuba, said that the Committee
for Programme and Co-ordination (CPC) had been provided with an informal paper
showing the relationship between the structures of the proposed medium-term plan
and the current plan, and he would be happy to make that paper available to the
Fifth Committee informally. While the Secretary-General had been unable to
determine exactly the financial resources needed to implement the proposed plan,
CPC had in fact received an informal paper indicating the resources required for
the proposed major programmes for the biennium 1990-1991. That paper, too, could
be made available informally to the Fifth Committee. As to why some of the
proposed programmes, in particular programme 1, had not been reviewed, he said
that great progress had been made in the process of involving subsidiary bodies in
the consultation process since the preparation of the previous medium-term plan.
Generally, there had been two reasons why subsidiary bodies had not been
consulted. One was what the Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Administrative
and Budgetary Questions had termed the lack of a planning culture; quite simply,
no one had thought of consulting certain bodies. The other was that in certain
cases, such as programmes 1 and 7, the mandate of the bodies that had seemed
appropriate was actually too limited. In the case of programme 11, there was
obviously no subsidiary body for overall issues and policies. He would continue
to encourage the Secretariat to intensify the consultation process during the
preparation of the next medium-term plan and the revision of the current plan,
scheduled for 1992. With the encouragement of the Committee, the Secretariat
could be asked to submit its outline to legislative bodies, including those not
consulted on the draft plan under consideration.
2.&htab;Turning to the questions raised by the representative of Brazil, and
specifically the question of the legislative mandate for the activities to be
carried out under subprogramme 3 of programme 1, he said that the Office for
Research and the Collection of Information (ORCI) had been established relatively
recently, which meant that its mandate was still somewhat unclear. All the
activities under subprogramme 3 described in subparagraphs 1.20 (a) through (e) of
document A/45/6 (Prog. 1) were taken from a Secretary-General's Bulletin issued in
October 1988. While it was understood that Secretary-General's Bulletins should
not be considered legal authority in drawing up a medium-term plan, they could be
referred to in determining whether a body should perform certain activities. With
respect to the mandate provided by General Assembly resolution 44/167 on human
rights and mass exoduses, he reminded the Committee that CPC had wished to put the
activities requested in that resolution under programme 36 on refugees. The
Secretary-General had preferred to include them under subprogramme 3 of
&htab;&htab;&htab;&htab;&htab;&htab; ()
programme 1, perhaps because resolution 44/164 provided for early-warning
activities, which were within the purview of ORCI. Since the plan was supposed to
provide a framework for future United Nations activities, it was important for
ORCI to be able to advise the Secretary-General on possible future refugee flows.
3.&htab;The Secretariat had drawn up a 45-page summary of the views expressed in the
Fifth Committee in the course of its discussion of item 119, and he would discuss
with the Committee how those views would be taken into account at a later date.
However, it was already obvious that the proposed medium-term plan had elicited a
more lively discussion and was a more useful instrument than in the past. As to
the criticisms that the proposed plan was too verbose, he said that it was
sometimes necessary to include reference to abstract ideas when stating long-term goals.
4.&htab; (Brazil) said that she wished to make clear that, in the opinion
of her delegation, ORCI had a very definite mandate in the area of predicting
refugee flows under General Assembly resolution 44/164, of which her country had
been a sponsor. What her delegation questioned was the appropriateness of
including such essentially humanitarian activities under major programme I, which
dealt with issues of peace and security. However, she understood that the issue
was subject to further consultations. She agreed that a Secretary-General's
Bulletin could not be cited as legislative authority and thought that the question
of what constituted a valid legislative mandate should be decided at the current
stage. In her opinion, mandates could basically be derived only by General
Assembly resolutions.
5.&htab; (Italy), speaking on behalf of the 12 States Members of the European
Community, said that he wished to confirm his previous statement that the point
addressed in the letter from the Permanent Representative of Cuba to the Chairman
of the Special Political Committee (A/C.5/45/42, annex I) was not specifically
connected with administrative or budgetary questions and was therefore not within
the exclusive province of the Fifth Committee. He supported the Chairman in his
intention to take the matter up with the Chairman of the Special Political
Committee, bearing in mind its relevance to other Main Committees and principal
organs of the United Nations.
6.&htab; (Cuba) concurred with the representative of Brazil that the
problem with subprogramme 3 of programme 1 was not its reference to General
Assembly resolution 44/164 or the role of ORCI in it. Resolution 44/164,
paragraph 7, provided a specific mandate for those activities, but only under
programmes 35 and 36. To date, there was no justification for the inclusion of
those activities in subprogramme 3, and she agreed with the representative of
Brazil that the issue warranted further discussion.
7.&htab;As for the question of what did or did not constitute a legal legislative
mandate, like the representative of Brazil, she was not entirely in agreement with
the criteria proposed by the Director of the Programme Planning and Budget
Division. She preferred to abide by the definition given in regulation 3.2 and
elsewhere of the Regulations and Rules Governing Programme Planning.
()
8.&htab;In application of General Assembly resolution 36/228, section I, appropriate
chapters of the proposed medium-term plan had been submitted to the Main
Committees so that their views could be taken into account in the plan before it
was transmitted to the Assembly for adoption. However, some Committees had not
devoted a full meeting to the consideration of the medium-term plan, and decisions
had been taken in great haste. In some cases, the topic had not been indicated in
the programme of work of the Committee. As a result, her delegation had been
unable to express its opinion on the issue in question at the appropriate time and
place and had done so instead in a letter to the Chairman of the Special Political
Committee. She agreed with the representative of Italy that the topic should be
considered in the context of the Special Political Committee and the various other
Committees, since the Fifth Committee could not legislate on an issue of that nature.
9.&htab;As the Director of the Programme Planning and Budget Division had said, many of
the shortcomings in the consultation process were due to the lack of a planning
culture, which was also demonstrated by the comments received from the Second and
Third Committees.
10.&htab; (Ghana) said that the roles of the Main Committees in formulating
the medium-term plan needed to be clarified. The purpose of submitting the
various chapters of the proposed plan to them was to have them verify that the
programmes in it faithfully reflected the mandate that they had given to the
Secretary-General in those areas. It was not surprising that the First Committee,
the Special Political Committee and other Committees had not taken any position on
the issue in question, since it was purely conceptual and did not concern the
implementation of their resolutions. However, the task of the Fifth Committee was
to ensure that programmes made sense, which meant that it had a duty to discuss
and clarify conceptual questions. The issue at hand was whether Articles 33 and
99 of the Charter could be cited as valid authority for peace-making activities,
and the Fifth Committee should not refuse to deal with it simply because the
General Assembly had not yet acted. Until the term "peace-making" had been
clearly defined, it would remain subject to different interpretations, and there
would be continued concern over the use of that concept to justify interference in
the internal affairs of sovereign States. Pending a clear definition of that
concept, one solution might be to review and combine the three subprogrammes under
one programme, to be entitled "Peaceful resolution of disputes".
11.&htab; (Cuba) said that programme 4 should include specific activities
relating to the International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism.
12.&htab;Under programme 7, paragraph 7.8 should include some reference to the link
between disarmament and development. The reference in paragraph 7.19 covered only
matters of co-ordination. Her delegation would like to know the legal basis for
the fourth sentence in paragraph 7.8, which described efforts by only a small
group of States as "multilateral". Subprogramme 4 of programme 7 should include
some activities directly related to peace, security, and threats thereto.
&htab;&htab;&htab;&htab;&htab; ()
13.&htab;Programme 8 was generally consistent with its mandate, although implementation
was obviously very much affected by a lack of financial resources. In
paragraph 8.9, her delegation felt, despite the recommendation of CPC, that the
words "is necessary" should be retained in the second sentence and that the
efforts mentioned in the last sentence should be described as being of benefit to
all countries, while bearing in mind the needs of the developing countries. The
second sentence of paragraph 8.15, as amended by CPC, should include a reference
to use of the training capacities of the United Nations Programme on Space
Applications.
14.&htab;Her delegation questioned the references to peace-making in the context of
programme 9. Also, in paragraph 9.33, it would appreciate clarification from the
Secretariat as to the logic for linking international terrorism, drug-trafficking
and the degradation of the environment. In paragraph 9.39, the reference to an
international criminal court was inappropriate, given that no final decision had
yet been taken on that subject.
15.&htab; (Cameroon) asked how the Secretariat had assisted the other Main
Committees in their examination of those chapters of the proposed medium-term plan
which were submitted to them. He also wondered whether the intention had been
that the Committees should adopt joint positions on such chapters or simply
transmit the views of their members to the Fifth Committee and, if some Main
Committees were now to be asked to consider those views in detail, whether the
Fifth Committee would have to await further comments before proceeding with its
consideration of the item.
16.&htab; (Venezuela) said that paragraph 16.17 of document A/45/6 made very
specific references, in the context of climate change, to increases in global mean
temperatures and the sea level and to a doubling of carbon dioxide concentrations,
despite the absence of any scientific consensus on those issues. While agreeing
on the need for a general mention of climate change as a significant environmental
threat, his delegation felt that such specific references should be deleted from
the text of the proposed medium-term plan.
17.&htab; (United Kingdom) believed that many, if not all, delegations could
suggest improvements to chapters under major programme I. He suggested, in
accordance with the recommendation of CPC, that high priority be assigned to
subprogramme 1 of programme 2, and that a number of amendments be made to the
narrative of that subprogramme. In paragraph 2.11 (a), the whole list of
subsidiary bodies following the first occurrence of the words "the plan period"
should be deleted. In paragraph 2.11 (b), a full stop should be placed after the
first occurrence of the words "Security Council" and the rest of that subparagraph
deleted.
18.&htab;Under programme 7, legislative mandates adopted more than five years previously
should be deleted from paragraph 7.29, in accordance with the Regulations and
Rules Governing Programme Planning. His delegation also questioned why CPC should
have decided to recommend the deletion from paragraph 7.34 (a) of the words
"accurate, objective, topical and useful".
(Mr. Kinchen, United Kingdom
)
19.&htab;It was far from clear that such a redrafting exercise constituted a proper use
of the Committee's time in formal meetings. His delegation would, however, join
in that exercise if necessary, recognizing the need to reach some conclusion on
the proposed medium-term plan. While awaiting with interest the Secretariat's
response to points raised by the representative of Cameroon, his delegation would
prefer to proceed towards the formulation of a draft resolution through informal
consultations rather than by extending the general debate.
20.&htab; (Brazil) said that her delegation was pleased to note the views
expressed by members of the Second Committee on programmes 12 and 13, as reflected
in the summary record of that Committee's 29th meeting (A/C.2/45/SR.29). Although
those views did not represent the opinion of the Committee as a whole, they had
been voiced by an important group and did not appear to have been opposed. Under
programme 12, her delegation believed that high priority should be assigned to the
very important issues addressed in subprogrammes 3 and 6. The narrative of
neither programme 12 nor programme 13 appeared, despite references to resolutions,
adequately to reflect agreements reached in the course of the eighteenth special
session of the General Assembly. High priority should also be assigned to
subprogramme 4 of programme 13, with specific attention to matters of financing
and the transfer of environmentally sound technology.
21.&htab;Her delegation had very serious concerns in connection with programme 16. A
new "environment culture" had emerged since the adoption of General Assembly
resolution 44/228. Preparations for the United Nations Conference on Environment
and Development to be held in 1992 should be duly reflected. The programme
appeared to be concentrated exclusively on the medium-term plan for the United
Nations Environment Programme, without recognizing the wider scope of the
medium-term plan of the Organization as a whole. The specific reference in
subprogramme 9 to the concept of environmental security, which had not been
accepted by the General Assembly, should be deleted from the narrative.
22.&htab;Her delegation shared the concerns expressed by the representative of Cuba with
respect to any proposed linkage between the environment and drug-trafficking and
terrorism.
23.&htab;In conclusion, her delegation failed to see the logic behind the inclusion of
peace-making under the list of objectives for subprogramme 1 of programme 38. It
too looked forward to informal consultations: without wishing to dwell on minor
drafting amendments, it recognized the Committee's responsibility to see General
Assembly mandates properly reflected.
24.&htab; (Tunisia) asked whether the Committee intended to use open meetings
for detailed discussion of each programme or to proceed directly to informal
consultations in that connection.
25.&htab; (Romania) felt that only general statements should be made in formal
meetings. He suggested that the Chairman might wish to give some guidance to the
Committee as to how it might proceed with its work.
26.&htab; said that the main purpose of the previous and the current
meetings had been to obtain the Committee's reactions to the outcome of the letter
sent by the Chairman of the Fifth Committee, through the President of the General
Assembly, to the Chairman of the other Main Committees, as summarized in
document A/C.5/45/42. The Committee must now decide how to proceed in the virtual
absence of any comments by the Main Committees. As the Director of the Programme
Planning and Budget Division had indicated, the Secretariat had already prepared a
summary of the debates in the Fifth Committee on the proposed medium-term plan.
The Chairman of CPC had also been present throughout those deliberations.
Further, the representative of Cameroon had agreed to chair the informal
consultations and to act as a focal point in regard to the proposed medium-term plan.
27.&htab; (Director, Programme Planning and Budget Division) said in reply to
the question about the role played by the Secretariat in consulting the Main
Committees that, in accordance with the usual practice, it had been informally
indicated to the secretaries of the various Committees that the Secretariat was
available to help in introducing the various items or replying to questions, if
any. He recalled that, in the case of the Second and Third Committees, the
Director-General for Development and International Economic Co-operation had
introduced the items concerning the programmes of interest to those Committees.
He emphasized that, again according to the usual practice, what the Chairman of
the Fifth Committee had asked for was not the jointly agreed and formalized
recommendations of the Main Committees but the views of Committee members. That
was in conformity with the role of the various Committees in regard to the
medium-term plan. The overall role belonged to the Fifth Committee.
28.&htab;In response to the specific questions that had been raised, he assured the
representatives of Cuba and Brazil that the Secretariat would reply as soon as
possible, either at a formal meeting or in the course of the informal
consultations. He was, however, in a position to reply at once to the question
about the juxtaposition, in paragraph 9.33 of programme 9, of international
terrorism, drug-trafficking and the degradation of the environment. The intention
was not to establish a link between those phenomena but rather to offer three
examples which seemed to call for the development of international law.
29.&htab;The question of mandates would undoubtedly come up in the informal
consultations. The plan was required to reconcile a number of contradictions in
that respect. In the first place, it was founded on existing mandates but it must
at the same time reflect a view of the future. Further, once it had been adopted,
the plan became a mandate. Again, as one representative had recalled, the plan
did not normally refer to mandates over five years old. At the same time,
however, the plan was based on fundamental mandates that dated much further back,
such as the Charter itself. The Fifth Committee's task was thus far from easy.
30.&htab; (Tunisia) said that he had not received a precise answer to his
question whether the Committee was being asked to review the medium-term plan
programme by programme, or whether it was engaged in a general discussion. His
delegation was ready to comment programme by programme but would not do so if that
was what was to be done in the informal discussions. His delegation had, in fact,
()
questions to ask about a number of programmes, but it would refrain from doing so
at the current formal meeting.
31. &htab; (Cameroon) said that his first question had been what the Main
Committees had thought they were being asked to do by the letter from the Chairman
of the Fifth Committee. General Assembly resolution 36/228 had endorsed the
recommendation of CPC that each chapter of the proposed medium-term plan should be
submitted to the appropriate Main Committee of the General Assembly before the
plan as a whole was adopted by the Assembly in plenary meeting. The Main
Committees ought, therefore, to have been asked to debate the relevant chapters of
the plan in order to bring out areas of agreement and disagreement between
delegations and to reach a consensus on whether, in the view of those competent to
discuss the chapter in question, the plan put forward by the Secretary-General was
in conformity with the legislative mandates, whether it was properly oriented and
whether the suggested priority was appropriate. To help them in their discussion,
they had the reports of CPC and other sectoral bodies. They should then have been
in a position to send their considered view to the Fifth Committee. The Fifth
Committee itself, of course, was responsible for some chapters of the plan, those
relating to conference services and administration and management.
32.&htab;However, since that approach had not been followed, and since the Secretariat
had not helped the Main Committees to study the plan, their responses had been
very variable. The Committee was being asked at the current meeting to examine
the views or absence of views reproduced in document A/C.5/45/42, and at the same
time delegations had been invited to comment on programmes. He did not think
there was any advantage in commenting on specific programmes as the Committee had
already had a general discussion. In his view, the best course would be for the
Secretariat to prepare a single negotiating document as a basis for informal
consultations, containing the views put forward in the Fifth Committee and, where
available, in the other Main Committees. The document should consist of two
parts, the first on general questions of methodology and substance, and the
second, on specific proposals made in the general debate. Such a document could
be put before a formal meeting of the Committee first, to make sure that all the
views that had been expressed were reflected, and the Chairman could then adjourn
the formal meeting to allow the informal negotiations to get under way. His
course, as leader of the informal negotiations, would then be to take first the
general problems one by one and ask for solutions, and second, to go on to
specific proposals of the kind made at the current meeting by the representatives
of Brazil and Cuba. Such proposals could not be negotiated in a formal meeting
but, if they were consolidated in an informal paper, it would be possible, little
by little, to solve the outstanding problems and to construct a draft resolution
that could be adopted by the Committee as a whole. He believed that the list of
speakers on the item should be closed, therefore, and only one or two more formal
meetings devoted to it.
33.&htab;He regretted that the other Main Committees had been unable to help the Fifth
Committee. He did not see how the Fifth Committee, for example, could
successfully negotiate a definition of the terms "peace-making" and
"peace-keeping" as used in programme 1. If that programme had been properly
considered in the First Committee
&htab;&htab;&htab;&htab;&htab; ()
or the Special Political Committee, and if the origin of the mandates in which
those terms were used had been clearly explained, the Fifth Committee would have
been in a better position to decide the question. The economic programmes should
have been thoroughly examined by the Second Committee, which should then have sent
the Fifth its considered views. The Fifth Committee was not competent to decide
on economic programmes, or on the kind of social programmes that were the province
of the Third Committee. The Fifth Committee, which could only base itself on the
recommendations of CPC and the Advisory Committee, should say in its review,
therefore, that the Secretary-General had been unable to take account of the views
expressed. The Main Committees should then be asked to decide on the programmes
for which they had adopted the mandates.
34.&htab;Since the Fifth Committee could not negotiate on the basis of
document A/C.5/45/42, because it was incomplete, the Secretariat should put out a
consolidated paper containing all the views that had been expressed on general and
specific points.
35.&htab; asked whether delegations were in favour of asking the Secretariat
to prepare a document containing the general views expressed on the medium-term
plan and the various proposals made by delegations. Such a consolidated paper
would not preclude further proposals by delegations at a later stage or during the
informal negotiations.
36.&htab; (Romania) asked whether the Secretariat was in a position to summarize
the views of the various delegations. He wondered whether only the positions
expressed in the Committee would be considered or whether those that had been put
forward in the Economic and Social Council or at the sessions of CPC would also be
included. He believed the task would be very difficult.
37.&htab; (Venezuela) said that the procedure followed so far had led to some
confusion. At the start of the discussion on the proposed medium-term plan, the
Chairman had said that there would be, as it were, two readings of the plan,
although it had not been very clear what he meant. His delegation had assumed
that the Fifth Committee would ask the other Main Committees for their collective
opinions on the parts of the plan within their field of competence. The Fifth
Committee had ended its first debate on the medium-term plan after hearing some
opinions on the major programmes. On resuming the item, the Committee had been
presented with document A/C.5/45/42 purporting to contain the views of Member
States on the various chapters as expressed in the Main Committees. The Fifth
Committee was clearly not in a position to comment on those views.
38.&htab;The procedure suggested by the representative of Cameroon would remedy, more or
less, the previous errors and help to expedite the Committee's work. It would be
useful to have a paper giving a clear idea of where the main differences lay, so
that the informal consultations could resolve as many of those differences as
possible. He noted, however, that a precedent had been set during the discussion
of the programme budget at the last session. A procedural difficulty that had
arisen then had been solved by deciding that, during the informal consultations,
only proposals made in the general debate would be discussed. If that precedent
()
was followed, delegations would have to make haste to put their views forward in a
formal meeting in order to prevent their being left out of the informal
consultations. The Committee should agree on a mechanism whereby all such
comments would be taken into account so that the consultations could begin on a
clear and agreed basis.
39.&htab;The representative of Cameroon had noted that CPC and other sectoral bodies had
made recommendations that could be very useful to the Committee. However,
membership of CPC was limited to 34 countries, whereas 159 were represented in the
General Assembly. It would be unfortunate to allow the recommendations of CPC to
serve as a kind of strait-jacket for the General Assembly. The understanding of
his own delegation, which was a member of CPC, was that although its
recommendations were those of the Committee as a whole, that did not imply that
comments made in CPC could not be made again in the Fifth Committee. All
delegations were entitled to restate their views. That did not mean rejecting the
recommendations as a whole or reopening the whole debate, but merely recognizing
that there were points which certain delegations regarded as important and on
which there had not been full agreement. Those delegations had accepted the
conclusions and recommendations of CPC on the understanding that they would be
able to put their views before the General Assembly. The delegations of Brazil
and Cuba had proceeded on that understanding and other delegations had the same
right to do so. Provided that that was clear, his delegation could agree to the
suggested procedure.
40.&htab; (Cuba) agreed with the representative of Venezuela that the
procedures suggested by the representative of Cameroon were helpful. During the
first reading of the plan her delegation had said that it would make specific
comments at a later stage; it should be given an opportunity to do so in a second
reading. The representative of Romania had been right to point out that the
Secretariat would have difficulty in preparing its paper: there would have to be
time for delegations to submit their views on all the programmes and for the
Secretariat to respond to points raised either formally or informally. Her
delegation endorsed the comments made by the representative of Venezuela
concerning the views of other organs on the plan: such views should certainly be
taken into account in future reviews of the plan.
41.&htab; pointed out that the Fifth Committee and the other Main Committees
had before them under the item the consolidated summary of the comments and
recommendations made by Member States and intergovernmental bodies since 1988 on
the draft introduction to the medium-term plan for the period 1992-1997 (A/45/279)
and the report of CPC (A/45/16). As the letter from the President of the General
Assembly and the Chairman of the Fifth Committee indicated, the programmes falling
within the Fifth Committee's competence were programmes 39 to 44.
42.&htab; (Director, Programme Planning and Budget Division), responding to
the representative of Romania) said that the paper proposed by the representative
of Cameroon was nothing out of the ordinary. It would be perfectly normal for the
Secretariat, within the framework of the informal consultations, to present a
paper
&htab;&htab;&htab;&htab;&htab; ()
setting out the general points raised and the differences between delegations
concerning such matters as the structure of the plan and the priorities and
substantive issues which might appear in a draft resolution on the item. It would
also reflect specific suggestions for changes in the plan, such as those made by
the representative of Morocco on priorities and by the representative of Ghana on
titles, as well as the views of other Main Committees communicated to the Fifth
Committee. The presentation of the Secretariat's paper would not close the door
on other comments and suggestions in the informal consultations. Experience
showed, however, that if the Committee decided that a further week should be
allowed for the submission of written suggestions, the Secretariat would have
difficulty in producing the paper in time.
43.&htab; (Chairman of the Committee for Programme and Co-ordination)
pointed out that although CPC had only 34 members, its recommendations had been
endorsed by the Economic and Social Council which had 54 members.
44.&htab; (Cuba) said that, in view of what the Director of the Programme
Planning and Budget Division had said, it might be better to schedule one or two
additional formal meetings so that any other comments from delegations could be
made formally and included in the Secretariat paper. The point made by the
Chairman of CPC was of course valid, but the plan still had to be adopted by the
General Assembly after adequate discussion.
45.&htab; (Tunisia) agreed with the representative of Cuba that the General
Assembly had the last word on the plan. His delegation had reservations about the
conduct of the debate on the item. Many delegations had not had an opportunity to
express their views, and consequently the Secretariat paper would present only a
partial picture. If the Cuban proposal for one or two extra formal meetings was
impracticable, the paper should not contain any specific suggestions by
delegations. All delegations could then go to the informal consultations on an
equal footing and make their suggestions there. The views expressed in formal
meetings should of course be recorded but they should not be presented in a
working paper as a basis for consultation. If the extra meetings were held, the
Chairman should indicate their dates and whether the discussion would be conducted
programme by programme, so that delegations could have their materials ready.
46.&htab; (Ghana) said that the Secretariat paper should summarize the
differences and convergences of views already stated but it would not exhaust the
possibilities of comment. Delegations would be free to make further suggestions,
in formal meetings if there was time or in the informal consultations. His
delegation would also like to know whether the discussion in any additional
meetings would be conducted programme by programme.
47.&htab; (Controller) said that the comments made by the Director of the
Programme Planning and Budget Division did not mean that the discussion in the
Committee had been exhaustive. Delegations which had questions or suggestions
could help by putting them in writing, so that the Secretariat could respond at
future meetings. Of course delegations could raise further points in the early
stages of the informal consultations, and the Secretariat could respond either
orally or in writing as the consultations proceeded.
48.&htab; (Venezuela) agreed with the representatives of Cuba and Tunisia
concerning the need for additional formal meetings on the item. The informal
consultations should not begin until the formal discussion had ended, and there
should be a gentlemen's agreement not to raise new matters in the informal
consultations and to concentrate on the ones raised in the formal meetings. It
must also be remembered that only about a third of the Members of the Organization
were members of the Economic and Social Council, which in any event was not
responsible for the final decision on the plan.
49.&htab; said that additional formal meetings could be scheduled during the
week beginning 26 November. He pointed out that the note by the Chairman
(A/C.5/45/42) already contained the views of several bodies attended by all 159
States Members of the Organization.
50.&htab; (Sweden) asked whether the Secretariat paper would
include in any form the views expressed in CPC, where her delegation and others
had made detailed comments on the proposed medium-term plan, and whether the
recommendations and conclusions of CPC would be on the table in the informal consultations.
51.&htab; (Morocco) said that his delegation supported the procedure for the
informal consultations which seemed to be emerging; it would be a good idea for
the Secretariat to produce a paper because something was needed as the basis for
discussion. Rather than submitting comments in writing, as the Controller had
suggested, delegations should have an opportunity to state their views in formal
meetings so that they could be reflected in the summary records. The Secretariat
paper would then be more comprehensive and of greater use in the informal
consultations. Although the plan had been discussed by CPC, the Fifth Committee
still had a duty to comment on the programmes falling within its sphere of
competence. The CPC report had indeed been endorsed by the Economic and Social
Council, but it was also submitted directly to the General Assembly.
52.&htab; (Director, Programme Planning and Budget Division), responding to
the representative of Sweden, said that the views of CPC would not be included in
the Secretariat paper, because the CPC report itself was already before the Fifth
Committee. The paper was not to be a compendium of all the views on the plan
expressed in all quarters of the United Nations. In the light of the discussion
so far, however, it was clear that few of the matters raised by CPC would not
already have been raised in the Fifth Committee before the informal consultations began.
53.&htab; (Chairman of the Committee for Programme and Co-ordination)
said that it might be helpful if the Secretariat paper referred to the
recommendations and conclusions of CPC on general issues and specific programmes.
54.&htab; said that the Committee could hold additional meetings on the
item, constituting a second reading of the proposed medium-term plan, after which
all the views of delegations should be incorporated in the Secretariat paper.
The meeting rose at 6.05 p.m.
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