General Assembly Session 57 meeting 41

Mr. Dos Santos (Mozambique)

The delegation of the Republic of Mozambique feels honoured to be part of this Assembly, in which United Nations Member States are debating an agenda for further change, with a view to strengthening the United Nations system. We thank the Secretary-General for introducing his report (A/57/387 and Corr.1). My delegation aligns itself with the statements made by Venezuela on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, by South Africa on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement and the African Union, and by Egypt on behalf of the African Group.

My delegation has carefully reviewed the report of the Secretary-General and considers it a very useful tool in the current efforts to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the United Nations system. The report contains good proposals that deserve our full attention. We welcome those proposals for further pursuing the agenda for change and pledge our full support to the Secretary-General in this daunting task, which requires the collective wisdom and responsibility of the United Nations family.

As stated by the Chairman of the Group of 77 and China, the far-reaching proposals advanced in the report of the Secretary-General require more time for consideration, including further, detailed clarification of their nature and scope, as well as an extensive debate within the United Nations family. In that regard, we welcome the President's intention to hold consultations on the report. Nevertheless, my delegation would like to share its preliminary views on the report, in the hope that they will contribute to deepening the debate that we have just initiated on this matter.

My delegation has been following closely the reform process under way since 1997. Reform has contributed towards positioning the United Nations system at the forefront of international action to tackle global challenges. The reforms undertaken thus far, mainly targeting the internal structures and culture of the United Nations, have improved coherence, efficiency, openness and creativity within the United Nations system.

Now, we need to address the ultimate goals of the reform: ensuring that the Organization devotes its attention to the priorities agreed upon by Member States and that the Secretariat delivers better service. That requires a wide-ranging reform process that also needs to target the institutional framework of the United Nations system, including, inter alia, the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council, the Security Council and the programme of work of the Organization.

My delegation believes that aligning the activities of the United Nations system and the priorities defined by Member States should be based on a common policy framework drawn from the Millennium Declaration, the outcome documents of major United Nations conferences and summits -- such as those on financing for development, sustainable development, the least developed countries, HIV/AIDS, children, small arms, racism, women, social development and human settlements -- and other legislative mandates contained in relevant General Assembly and Security Council resolutions.

The common policy framework for the entire United Nations system should provide clear benchmarks related to the full implementation of the Millennium Development Goals, as well as other goals and targets envisaged in the relevant documents used to inform the drafting of the framework. The policy framework should also recognize the special, preferential treatment that Africa and least developed countries should be accorded when we are prioritizing United Nations activities, as agreed upon in various meetings and documents.

The common policy framework to be debated and agreed upon by consensus, as well as the revised programme budget drafted on the basis of that framework, should be forward-looking, action-oriented and results-based. But, ultimately, it should once and for all align activities with agreed priorities, including by allocating the necessary resources for the relevant activities. Resources should be allocated to the areas where they are most needed and where they can make a real difference. We should avoid the current trend of allocating resources based on political agendas alien to the United Nations objectives, which has proved to be cost ineffective and wasteful. The recommendations put forward in the Secretary-General's report attempt to deal with some of those issues.

In this reform process, Africa should indeed be accorded special attention. We welcome the proposal by the Secretary-General to enhance the mandate of the Adviser for Special Assignments in Africa as a step in the right direction. Although at this stage there is no clarity on the specific mandate, we believe that a focus on the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) would be in order, consistent with the recently adopted General Assembly resolution on NEPAD resolution 57/2. We also hope that this arrangement will be of a permanent nature and that the Adviser will report directly to the Secretary-General to ensure the necessary political guidance and impact.

At the same time, it is crucial that the office of the Adviser be adequately staffed and resourced. We further suggest that the Adviser work closely with the Office of the Special Coordinator for Africa and the Least Developed Countries and the Office of the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States as most African countries fall into the category of least developed countries. Mandates could thus be streamlined and cooperation ensured.

Prioritization of activities and resources should also be extended to the United Nations presence at the country level. We believe that the United Nations should focus both on countries emerging from conflicts and on those involved in development activities.

The common policy framework should also be translated into the United Nations country offices through the mainstreaming into national development strategies of the Millennium Development Goals and other goals and targets that will form part of the policy framework. United Nations country offices should be further improved and strengthened to ensure that they play a major role in advocacy, implementation and policy advice to countries in need. Therefore, United Nations country offices should be adequately resourced, especially financially and in terms of staff, in order to fulfil the important tasks at hand. This requires the additional and predictable resources, particularly core resources, that are so critical to development projects in Africa and in least developed countries in general.

We welcome the proposal by the Secretary-General to prepare a document clarifying roles and responsibilities in the area of technical cooperation. That would definitely address the current duplication, competition and overlaps that are common at the country level, and would thereby contribute to making savings and to minimizing potential waste of resources.

My delegation supports closer interaction between the United Nations and civil society, as well as partnerships with the private sector. We believe that promoting such partnerships would certainly result in added value to the organization. In this process, we must ensure that participation by civil society organizations in the affairs of the United Nations is done in a fair and balanced manner, in which civil society organizations of developing countries have a meaningful role to play. In that connection, we support the Secretary-General's proposal to establish a panel of eminent persons to review the relationship between the United Nations and civil society.

The Republic of Mozambique is broadly supportive of the Secretary-General's proposals to improve the effectiveness of the United Nations and streamline the budgetary and administrative activities of the Organization. We support the Secretary-General's proposal to prepare a revised programme budget for 2004-2005, based on the priorities of the Organization: a common policy framework for the entire United Nations system drawn from the Millennium Declaration, outcome documents of major United Nations conferences and summits, and other legislative mandates adopted by the General Assembly and the Security Council.

We took note of the Secretary-General's proposals on enhancing staff mobility across the United Nations system. In our view, mobility, together with best quality in staffing, should be geared towards ensuring the right staff for the required job. We reaffirm resolution 55/258 as the cornerstone of human resources management at the United Nations. In particular, we reaffirm our principled position on the need to ensure equitable geographical representation and gender balance in the United Nations staff. Therefore, we urge the Secretary-General to fulfil the relevant provisions of resolution 55/258, including presenting a programme with specific targets on the recruitment of nationals from unrepresented and underrepresented countries.

The reform process we are engaged in can be successful only if all members of the United Nations family show the necessary political will and shoulder their collective responsibility. As we reach the most critical part of the reform process, the sense of commitment should be stepped up. The Assembly can rest assured of the commitment and cooperation of the Republic of Mozambique in that regard.

Mr. Jacob (Israel)

Seeing that I have the privilege of being the forty-seventh speaker on this agenda item, I will endeavour to keep my statement brief. The report before us, "Strengthening the United Nations: an agenda for further change" (A/57/387), is nothing less than extraordinary. It is concise, candid and constructive. It is a work that embodies the spirit of the agenda itself, and it calls for "fewer reports that are richer in content and shorter in length" (para. 27).

I would like to comment on four specific aspects of the Secretary-General's report that are of particular interest to my delegation. First, regarding the work of this very body, the General Assembly, the Secretary-General suggests the combining of duplicative discussions and the reduction of recurring agenda items. My delegation has frequently lamented the automatic annual rehash of resolutions without regard for the relevance of their content or the efficiency of their treatment. A reduction in the number of overlapping resolutions can be achieved by simply merging and editing texts, thus creating important savings in time, money and paperwork. The pattern of recurring agenda items is particularly annoying and wasteful. We support the Secretary-General's call for a rigorous review of this practice and his suggestion that many issues no longer be addressed annually.

Secondly, I note the Secretary-General's call for realigned priorities, including a focus on technology-based development solutions, water issues, the promotion of good governance as the foundation for peace, and the strengthening of the United Nations capacity to fight terrorism. Those goals seem to my delegation to be right on target. From our perspective, those four priorities constitute the building blocks for regional reconciliation and provide a promise of cooperation, development and prosperity for all peace-loving peoples.

Thirdly, in his report, the Secretary-General observes that "The Department of Public Information has suffered from a fragmentation of its efforts as a result of too many mandates and missions" (para. 60). Our delegation could not agree more with that statement. The valuable resources of this Organization have been squandered on unnecessary and partial information efforts, perpetuated by partisan political perspectives. The new operating model of the Department proposed by the Secretary-General should resolve that wasteful and counterproductive phenomenon.

Lastly, the Secretary-General calls for the establishment of a panel to review the relationship between the United Nations and civil society and to offer practical recommendations for approved modalities of interaction. The effort to bring about improved engagement with civil society based on procedures and policies that reflect greater coherence, consistency and predictability is indeed welcome. The terms and conditions governing the accreditation and participation of non-governmental organizations in United Nations conferences should indeed be reviewed and improved in order to, among other things, protect the focus of the Organization from being appropriated by hidden agendas.

In conclusion, we both welcome and endorse the report of the Secretary-General. We stand ready to assist in the efforts to turn that vision into a reality.

Mr. Aguilar Zinser (Mexico)

I wish to thank the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, for the submission of his report, "Strengthening of the United Nations: an agenda for further change" (A/57/387 and Corr.1). Mexico welcomes this new effort by the Secretary-General to reform the Organization so that it can face effectively the challenges and the opportunities presented to us by the new millennium. We believe that the report before us today for consideration not only is timely and necessary, but also encompasses spheres that go beyond the field of administration and thus require a renewed commitment by all Member States to multilateralism. This is a matter of strengthening the capacity of the United Nations to act to promote peace and development.

In that context, I should like, first of all, to commit the delegation of Mexico to working together with the Secretary-General and with the President of the General Assembly in the process of building the consensus that this exercise requires. We shall maintain high-level participation in the deliberations and negotiations that are to follow this debate, and we shall always seek to place the general interest above individual considerations.

Five years ago, the United Nations began a process of profound and necessary transformation that has not been completed and that now includes areas unimagined in 1997. We have moved from structural reform of the Secretariat to reviewing the working methods of the Organization and of the intergovernmental organs that constitute it. That requires a set of actions, not only by the Secretary-General but also, and above all, by Member States. It is the duty of all Member States to review the Organization's priorities and to provide the general guidance that enables the United Nations to pursue its principles and purposes in a new international context that is always changing.

We must develop a new strategic vision that incorporates new actors and realities so that our action continues to be relevant and so that we can have a constructive impact on international events. That means abandoning certain obsolete parliamentary practices and reaffirming confidence in the system and in the need for balanced and complementary action among the principal organs of the Organization.

We view the proposals contained in the report as part of a set of actions to be taken not only by the Secretariat but also by the other principal organs of the United Nations in order to make progress in a process of broad and sustained reform. We appreciate the frankness and the clarity with which the report of the Secretary-General presents the current situation with regard to certain aspects of the Organization. That focus helps us to identify strengths and weaknesses.

It is clear that the full implementation of the measures proposed by the Secretary-General will require broad consultation and the political will of Member States. There are various possibilities to put forth in our discussions. Accordingly, we support the proposal to create a high-level open-ended group that would work informally. We must ensure that the process is given genuine impetus from the highest level of our delegations. In any case, we must quickly clarify the nature of the process and the timetable for our future discussions. We must not miss the opportunity to adopt the necessary relevant decisions, and to adopt them now.

There are certain specific aspects on which we should like to comment. With regard to the budget, we believe that the Organization has made important progress with respect to planning, transparency, accountability and financial discipline. In addition, we note with satisfaction a greater rationalization of the work of the Organization and a better use of the available resources.

Mexico agrees with the view of the Secretary-General, expressed in action 1 of his report, that the priorities of the Millennium Declaration should be better reflected in the programme budget. However, my delegation is concerned about the possibility that in that exercise, certain priorities, such as disarmament and drug control, might be put aside even though they are fully reflected in the medium-term plan. Therefore, my delegation is interested in knowing how that proposal will be implemented, since the delicate balance of priorities established in the medium-term plan must not be altered.

My delegation also believes that we must discuss in depth action 21 (d), which would give the Secretary-General a certain level of budgetary discretion. The two criteria that, in our opinion, should guide the discussions on this subject are confidence in the Secretariat and, secondly, the need for oversight mechanisms that clearly specify frames of reference within which the Secretary-General can make use of such capacities.

Mexico accords high priority to the subject of human rights and generally agrees with the report's proposals in that regard. We believe that strengthening the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights is very important. My delegation awaits with great interest the report and the plans to be formulated in order to implement actions 2 to 5 of the Secretary-General's report.

Lastly, my delegation believes that human resources are the most valuable asset of countries and institutions. We understand the concern of the Secretary-General that the United Nations should be an attractive option for those who work here. We are aware that instituting modern working methods will require greater flexibility. We believe, however, that the new culture of work proposed by the Secretary-General should include accountability as one of its central priorities.

We reiterate our appreciation to the Secretary-General for his valuable proposals. They are clearly directed towards ensuring that our Organization is more effective and that it has a clearer approach with respect to priorities. My delegation will work with the President of the General Assembly and with the Secretary-General to attain those objectives.

Mr. Amer (Libya)

We welcome the fact that Secretary-General Kofi Annan has begun his second term of office by submitting proposals aimed at ensuring that the United Nations focuses its efforts on implementing the priorities set out at a number of conferences. My country has already expressed its views regarding the changes and reforms proposed by the Secretary-General in document A/57/387. Before making several further comments, I should like to stress that my country fully supports the statement made by the representative of Venezuela on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, the statement by the representative of South Africa, speaking on behalf of the African Union, and the statement made by the representative of Egypt on behalf of the African Group.

The Charter sets out all the purposes and principles of the United Nations and its principal organs. Those organs have done a great deal of work and achieved much over the years, and the Millennium Declaration represents a further step forward in this respect despite many unexpected challenges. However, we want to ensure that the United Nations is even stronger than in the past, so it is essential and urgent that we make its bodies more effective. The Secretary-General should be commended for having taken this new initiative in response to the wishes expressed two years ago by our heads of State or Government, who made clear their resolve to make our Organization more effective in attaining its declared goals.

We note that there is a need to strengthen the role of the General Assembly; that is the task that we have set ourselves. This year, Member States elected the President and the Vice-Presidents of the Assembly and the chairpersons of the Main Committees three months before the beginning of the regular session. That represents important progress, but we believe that further changes need to be made. A number of United Nations resolutions remain dead letters, which is no longer acceptable. We must endeavour to distinguish between successes and failures and how to deal with the causes of such failures. We must be candid lest we create the impression that the General Assembly is merely a forum in which people lament certain situations or praise certain things, but where nobody really listens.

The Secretary-General was right to call upon the General Assembly to streamline its agenda. We support the idea that a number of items should be studied on a biennial basis. We would also like to endorse the practice employed at this session of clustering certain items and considering them jointly. We do not, however, believe that other items that have been on the agenda for years should be eliminated. We believe that it really depends on the decisions taken under those items: if they have not been implemented, they can be deleted.

The Secretary-General has said that United Nations reform must be accompanied by reform of the Security Council. This is a very important issue. We must demonstrate the necessary political will to resolve the stalemate in that area in order to facilitate the reform of the Security Council so that it can become truly representative of all States.

My delegation supports the Secretary-General's statement that Security Council reform cannot be confined to an increase in the membership but that there must also be an improvement in the Council's working methods. We have made some progress in that area, but not enough. We must improve its working methods and address the shortcomings in that respect. The most recent changes in the Council's work must be institutionalized.

The Secretary-General states that the Security Council must turn to the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council to help it address issues and problems. Member States should also make an effort to promote the work of the Security Council and increase its contacts with other bodies, such as the International Court of Justice, as well as with regional organizations and arrangements. It must be more transparent in its work, more neutral and more objective. It should not operate according to a policy of double standards. We need to make good on these shortcomings, which have a very unfortunate impact on international peace and security.

The Secretary-General has described areas that he wants to be reinforced. Many meetings were held last year, but a number of countries were not able to participate effectively in them. We recognize the need to increase international awareness in this regard, and we call upon all Member States to show discipline and to refrain from calling for the convening of conferences, apart from high-level conferences that discuss new questions.

We fully agree that we should not produce unnecessary reports. Reports should be shorter, their content should be better and they must be transparent and must reflect the outcome of consultations held with the countries concerned. We should eliminate the problems associated with drafting consolidated reports with the countries concerned. Countries should submit their reports in good time, and they should be available in the official languages.

The Secretary-General's report refers to adapting the work programme of the United Nations to tailor it to the Millennium Declaration goals. We support his comments with regard to delving more deeply into the causes of conflict in the face of military threats. This should become a priority for the Organization. We believe that in this respect it is important to increase support for the international campaign to eliminate weapons of mass destruction.

But we should not simply provide advice to countries so that they can strengthen their legislative and administrative frameworks in order to combat terrorism. There is a need to study the causes of terrorism, too, to define it and to remedy the situation in the context of a global vision, bearing in mind the interests, concerns and security of all.

There are now so many United Nations bodies established under human rights conventions that periodic reports also have proliferated and cast heavy burdens on all countries, especially developing countries. We believe, however, that each State needs to submit a consolidated report within the context of the various United Nations bodies. We need to eliminate duplication in order to relieve the resultant financial and human burden. We hope that this goal can be achieved, in keeping with the recommendations submitted by the High Commissioner for Human Rights. We believe that the issue of human rights is a very important and sensitive one, and we need to show impartiality, objectivity and non-selectivity, as well as respect for the various cultures and their beliefs.

We very much support the role of the United Nations in helping Africa to face the numerous challenges confronting it. We are pleased that the Secretary-General has reiterated that Africa is one of the prime concerns of the United Nations. The Organization must continue to work to ensure that the African continent is given its rightful place, so that African countries can reap the fruit of their national efforts.

The cooperation between the United Nations and the international community has developed over the years, but we see in the report of the Secretary-General that it leaves something to be desired. We support the intergovernmental nature of the United Nations, but some aspects need to be dealt with by the high-level panel that the Secretary-General is seeking to establish. We hope that rules will be established guaranteeing the participation of all, in particular the non-governmental organizations of the developing countries. As the Secretary-General has said, the number of these organizations is very small compared to those in the industrialized countries.

The Secretary-General is also proposing a number of actions to try to simplify the submission of the budget and the budget outline. We believe that a medium-term plan spanning only two years would cover too short a period, so we do not think that it should be reduced.

We believe that United Nations officials, who hail from so many regions, have vast potential to offer. We support the Secretary-General's quest to recruit nationals of countries that are under-represented or not represented at all. We believe that officials should be recruited who are willing to devote their lives to this Organization and work anywhere in the world. Of course, this should not affect the recruitment of new staff members who might meet the needs of the Organization.

In conclusion, the Secretary-General should take steps that are in keeping with the suggestions contained in the report. Reforms have been suggested by the Secretary-General, but it is up to Member States to decide on them. We wish to reiterate that the delegation of my country will participate positively in this process, and we assure the President of our cooperation.

Mr. Neil (Jamaica)

My delegation supports the statement made by the representative of Venezuela on behalf of the Group of 77 and China earlier in this debate. The Jamaican delegation would like to add a few comments of its own, having studied the report of the Secretary-General on "Strengthening of the United Nations: an agenda for further change". We regard the proposals contained therein as important initiatives for reform, and we support their objectives.

The report builds on a process begun in 1997 and proposes adjustments to increase efficiency in the Secretariat's operations. We congratulate the Secretary-General on his vision of modernization, which is aimed at increasing efficiency in administrative arrangements in order to deliver improved service to Member States.

The Millennium Development Goals, as well as the outcomes of the global conferences held over the past decade, have set new priorities aimed, inter alia, at achieving economic and social development as well as the peaceful resolution of conflicts, and at confronting emerging new threats to international security. We agree that it is obviously necessary for the United Nations to align its programmes to meet the needs and priorities of the time. Jamaica therefore supports the proposal for action 1, which intends to bring the programme budget in line with the priorities agreed in the Millennium Declaration.

We are also favourably disposed towards the proposal for a shorter, more strategic medium-term plan covering two years rather than four. We believe that this would be better geared towards allowing pragmatic adjustments within a shorter budget cycle.

With regard to human rights, Jamaica concurs that the United Nations has an important role to play in strengthening human rights. We note the progress made in promoting human rights norms and practices and in supporting human rights at the country level. We therefore support the proposal to streamline the machinery within the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. This should result in better and more cooperative arrangements between the Office and Governments and in a reduction in the current onerous levels of reporting requirements.

We also support the strengthening of the delivery of public information on United Nations activities. We generally welcome the proposals for the repositioning of the Department of Public Information.

With regard to United Nations Information Centres, my delegation recognizes the important role played by these centres in disseminating information at the country level. For developing countries, these Centres are a useful instrument for sensitizing people to the vital role of the United Nations and how it works for them. We note that the report proposes the rationalization of these Centres around regional hubs, beginning with Europe. We are mindful of the need to minimize the costs associated with maintaining the Centres, but we would caution that further plans to regionalize them should take into consideration the special needs of the regions affected.

The integration of United Nations libraries through the use of information technology is obviously useful in improving access to information. My delegation supports measures that will bring about more efficient systems. The creation of a multilingual electronic gateway for accessing collections, documents and information is a positive step, but due consideration must be given to countries which may not have the technological capacity to access this information. We therefore believe that the delivery of information should be so constructed as to allow developing countries with varying technological capacities to be able to receive the service.

The streamlining of reports and the management of conferences and meetings are areas in which reform is needed. My delegation shares the view that there is too much duplication in the area of reports. Every effort should be made to reduce that duplication. We also agree with the need to streamline reports in order to make them more consolidated and focused, as well as with the need to achieving some reduction in the volume and frequency of reports, without sacrificing quality or comprehensiveness.

Improving coordination among the component parts of the United Nations has proven to be an effective means of confronting challenges, especially those faced by developing countries. Jamaica supports the proposal to develop an implementation plan that includes joint programming and the pooling of common resources in United Nations country offices. We regard the delivery of technical cooperation to developing countries as being of particular importance. In that connection, we must express some concern about the proposals mentioned in paragraphs 50 and 51, concerning incorporating human rights into operational activities at the country level. Our concern is with the possible diversion of resources from traditional areas of technical cooperation. We therefore look forward to the report to be presented in September 2003 and to a clarification of roles and responsibilities in the area of technical cooperation.

An important aspect of the new reforms is the system for allocating resources to priorities. The Secretary-General's proposal for simplifying and shortening the planning and budget cycle appears to be practical and workable. A medium-term plan covering two years instead of four is better geared towards allowing for pragmatic adjustments to meet new requirements and the needs of the times. There would also obviously be a need for some modification of the role of the Committee for Programme and Coordination, which would need some further discussion.

Jamaica supports the view that the impact and vitality of the Organization rests upon having a core of international civil servants who have dedicated their careers to the service of the United Nations. The development of a comprehensive human resource policy is therefore an essential part of ensuring that the United Nations attracts and maintains top-quality staff. It is in this regard that we welcome the ongoing reform measures pertaining to human resource management aimed at encouraging mobility, enlarging opportunities for General Service staff, boosting staff morale and rejuvenating the Organization's Secretariat.

Finally, we look forward to participating in a process that will allow all Member States to be involved in reaching a consensus position on initiatives proposed in the Secretary-General's report. The strengthening of the United Nations is a process that matters to all of us, and it should be organized and reformed so as to serve our common purposes. Jamaica, as always, is ready to play its part.

Mr. Hussein (Ethiopia)

At the outset, allow me once again to express our pleasure at seeing you, Madam, presiding over this important agenda item before the General Assembly.

I would also wish to thank Secretary-General Kofi Annan for his report entitled "Strengthening of the United Nations: an agenda for further change" (A/57/387).

My delegation associates itself with the statement delivered by the representative of the Arab Republic of Egypt elaborating Africa's non-paper on behalf of the African Group.

We believe that the Secretary-General's report is timely. I say that because two years ago we adopted the Millennium Declaration and its Millennium Development Goals. We believe that those Goals constitute not only what should define the key objective of the international community, but that they will also serve as the standard by which our collective endeavours will be judged in a decade or so. Previous reviews of internationally agreed development goals have left much to be desired, a problem that has been particularly pronounced on the African continent. I would also say that the report is timely in as far as the present agenda to strengthen the United Nations needs to be properly managed to improve the effectiveness of the Organization with a view to more fully achieving the Millennium Development Goals. In that context, we welcome the Secretary-General's intention to submit a thoroughly revised programme budget to the General Assembly in 2003 that better reflects the priorities agreed at the Millennium Assembly.

The General Assembly is now considering the Secretary-General's agenda for further change, at a time when the Assembly has welcomed, and Member States have expressed full support for, the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD). In that regard, we welcome the Secretary-General's decision to better coordinate the Secretariat's support for the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council in their consideration of Africa-related issues.

My delegation welcomes the development of an implementation plan by the United Nations Development Group to strengthen the effectiveness of the Organization's presence in developing countries. At the same time, we would wish to encourage the Group to develop a plan for effective and increased mobilization of resources devoted to United Nations operational activities for development. My delegation is also open to consideration of the Secretary-General's request for flexibility in reallocating resources between programmes, once, of course, issues of accountability and monitoring are clarified.

With regard to human resources issues, we fully support the Secretary-General's proposal for enhancing staff mobility across the United Nations system. As one of several duty stations, Ethiopia stands ready to extend its full cooperation in this respect. We are also happy to note the intentions of the Secretary-General to increase opportunities for General Service staff. In this context, we support the request to raise the annual quota of professional posts available for successful General Service examination candidates to 25 per cent.

In the area of public information we welcome Mr. Annan's measures for attempting to turn a fragmented and ineffective Department of Public Information into one that is not defensive about the many positive activities that the United Nations has carried out and is currently involved in. To have an impact, the Department should vigorously advocate for multilateralism. What we see in many of the 71 information centres around the world is that very little information is given out, to say nothing about the Department really making a case for the United Nations. The Department is, in fact, today being attacked in many quarters. The Secretary General proposes

"to rationalize the network of United Nations information centres around regional hubs, starting with the creation of a Western European hub." (A/57/387, action 8, para. 72)

At least in Europe, that would bring the 13 current information centres into one hub. Doing so would be quite good, and we support it.

My delegation would also support giving special attention to specific countries -- and I mean here certain developed ones -- where what the United Nations stands for is under constant attack by some quarters in those countries. In those countries -- I do not need to mention any names, we know who they are -- the United Nations has to come forward, through its Department of Public Information, and stand up for all the things this Organization has been advocating since the end of the Second World War. This being the only global multilateral organization, we should not shy away from defending it. The mouthpiece of the United Nations for doing that job is the Department of Public Information. It is in that context that my delegation supports the intention of the Secretary-General to reform that Department, which, in our view, has been dormant and has not been doing its job, and that has not been for lack of staff, centres, directives, missions and mandates. So we support the proposed attempts to change the situation.

As the Secretary-General notes in his report, change is a process. The United Nations needs to change and adapt itself to meet the challenges confronting humanity: poverty eradication, sustainable development and the fight against ignorance, disease and injustice. We are not short of what needs to be done. We are not short of decisions and recommendations that have been adopted in this Assembly at the highest level. So I am not going to suggest any now. The question is not, therefore, whether there is a need for change.

The question, simply put, is whether the changes can be managed in such a way that they make the United Nations an effective instrument for averting the risk of marginalizing the majority from the process of globalization that is taking place before our very eyes. If that is averted, then we will have a healthy world. If that is not averted, then, I am afraid, the United Nations will be a forum, as some have referred to it, that is just a debating society. I am sure that none of us would like it to be referred to as such. Coming from the country where the previous multilateral organization before the United Nations, the League of Nations, failed to act. The then-head of State of Ethiopia, Emperor Haile Selassie, made a plea and his plea was not listened to, and we know, of course, what happened to that organization. I am quite confident that the same will not happen to this Organization, as long as we all stand up for what it stands for.

Mr. Sharma (Nepal)

I wish to thank the President for convening this debate on an issue of cardinal importance to Nepal and the global community. I also commend the Secretary-General for his report on this agenda item and for introducing it to the plenary, that report furnishes the substance for our discussion.

My delegation welcomes the Secretary-General's proposal for reform of the United Nations. We believe it is a good proposal with tremendous prospects for improving the work of the world body. That broad spectrum of recommendations is a big next step in the continuum of reforms the Secretary-General has undertaken thus far. As the proposal has far-reaching implications, it calls for most careful consideration on the part of Member States.

Reforms are to an organization what oxygen is to our body. The oxygen of reforms must therefore continue to flow to keep the United Nations alive and robust so that it can stand up to its emerging challenges. Otherwise, institutional atrophy will set in. Bearing that in mind, the heads of State or Government have, through the Millennium Declaration, told us what to do in a shared quest for a more peaceful and prosperous world in which human rights, justice and the rule of law are respected and promoted. The Monterrey, Doha and Johannesburg conferences have told us how to do it, and in order to do it all we need a stronger United Nations.

Nepal broadly agrees with the Secretary-General's diagnosis of the maladies from which the United Nations suffers and with many of his prescriptions to remedy the situation. For instance, we concur with him that the General Assembly needs to rationalize its agenda further and the Assembly, the Economic and Social Council and its functional commissions need to define and coordinate their tasks better. At the same time, we also believe that no reform of the United Nations would be complete without Security Council reforms, which are stalled now.

More specifically, we believe that the Secretary-General's recommendations to reform the United Nations will add tremendous value to our work and to the service the world body provides to the citizens of this planet. However, we need more technical detail on most, if not all, of his recommendations before arriving at a more informed judgment. Therefore, my delegation urges the Secretary-General to provide the essential details quickly that substantiate his recommendations. Still, let me make a few general comments at this stage on some of the specific proposals of the Secretary-General.

There is a clear necessity to align the budget with the United Nations priorities and to review the linkage between the budget and the medium-term plan, so that both of them remain relevant. There is also an imperative to review the budget formulation and processing mechanisms with a view to streamlining them both. In that respect, the Secretary-General has made serious and far-reaching recommendations, which, my delegation believes, deserve a serious and thorough examination by Member States before they arrive at a conclusion. Member States should consider the issue of flexibility for budget reallocations in the context of the necessity to maintain their legislative control over the budget.

Improving human rights management and streamlining the reporting requirements is vital for us all, so that small and poor nations can also meet their obligations. We also broadly recognize that there is a need to reposition the Department of Public Information and to reform the United Nations Library so as to provide better service to Member States, particularly to developing countries.

Restructuring United Nations Information Centres would be detrimental to the interests of information-poor developing countries if it were to lead to the weakening or closing of Information Centres in those countries.

While welcoming the measures to make reports more analytical, sharply focused and consolidated, Nepal underscores the need to exercise caution so that this process does not lead to compromise in the quality or availability of documents Member States desire.

We cannot concur more with the Secretary-General that there is a palpable need to better plan official meetings and conferences. As a small delegation trying to come to grips with the astonishing scope of the work of the United Nations, we know how strenuous and painful it can be to cover numerous parallel meetings of critical importance to us. However, better planning of meetings and conferences should not give way to selectivity in consultations.

Although the efforts to pool system-wide resources to improve the coherence, synergy and effectiveness of the United Nations system are welcome, we need to know how this proposal is going to be implemented. Our concern is that this should not dilute the priority and focus of the relevant constituent parts of the United Nations, or deprive them of dynamism in their activities.

The initiative to clarify roles and responsibilities across a broad spectrum of the issues and operations dealt with by the United Nations is long overdue. We would, however, want to see more detailed information on this issue. Meanwhile, we are convinced that the departments that are expected to help to implement the Monterrey and Johannesburg outcomes must not be curtailed or have their capacities impaired in the process. In that context, we fully support the strengthening of the office of the Adviser for Special Assignments in Africa.

Nepal espouses most of the measures that have been outlined by the Secretary-General to improve human resources management at the United Nations. However, we would have appreciated the inclusion of measures to respond to such important questions as to how efficiency could be enhanced, redundancy eliminated and perquisites strongly linked with performance. Likewise, the steps to eliminate waste, improve the efficiency of the Organization and remove the serious geographical imbalance that exists in the United Nations civil service would have attenuated our long-standing concerns.

From my long experience in administrative reforms, I have come to the following conclusion: those who want to maintain the status quo should strive for gradual reform. Those who want gradual reform should strive for ambitious reform. Those who want radical reform are not reformers at all. Reform we must, however, if we want to maintain relevance and vitality.

The Secretary-General's second wave of reforms is a big step forward in the right direction. We should encourage him to implement those recommendations that already fall within his mandate. On the other hand, Member States should urgently and carefully examine recommendations that require fresh mandates for the Secretary-General. That is something we must do once detailed information becomes available. We believe that would be the right approach in moving forward.

I wish to assure the President that my delegation will extend its full support to his effort to facilitate the earliest possible implementation of the proposed reforms.

Mr. Stanislaus (Grenada)

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