General Assembly Session 59 meeting 98

The Acting President

Members will recall that at its 2nd plenary meeting, on 17 September 2004, the General Assembly decided to allocate agenda item 84, "Follow-up to and implementation of the outcome of the International Conference on Financing for Development", to the Second Committee under heading B, "Promotion of sustained economic growth and sustainable development in accordance with the resolutions of the General Assembly and recent United Nations conferences".

Members will also recall that agenda item 84 remained open for consideration during the fifty-ninth session.

In order for the General Assembly to proceed expeditiously with the consideration of the draft resolution issued under the item as document A/59/L.61, may I take it that the General Assembly wishes to consider agenda item 84 directly in plenary meeting under heading B, "Promotion of sustained economic growth and sustainable development in accordance with the resolutions of the General Assembly and recent United Nations conferences"?

The Acting President

May I further take it that the Assembly agrees to proceed immediately to the consideration of agenda item 84?

I see no objection. We shall now proceed accordingly.

Owing to difficulties with the audio system in this conference room, I propose to suspend the meeting and to reconvene it in Conference Room 1.

The Acting President

I give the floor to the representative of Mexico to introduce draft resolution A/59/L.61.

Mr. Berruga (Mexico)

Draft resolution A/59/L.61, submitted by the President of the General Assembly, is the outcome of consultations among Member States, which at the request of the President I conducted as facilitator. The draft resolution is intended to lay the organizational basis and set out the modalities for June's High-level Dialogue on Financing for Development.

I would recall that, as reaffirmed in the draft resolution, the High-level Dialogue is the intergovernmental focal point for the general follow-up to the International Conference on Financing for Development. Ensuring its success is thus vitally important for progress on the meeting the commitments adopted at Monterrey. We feel that the draft resolution provides a solid basis to enable the international community, at the June event, to make solid progress on the issue of financing for development. We are certain that the modalities set out in the text will enable the June High-level Dialogue to make an important contribution to the negotiating process for the September high-level plenary meeting of the General Assembly, as the Assembly requested.

As facilitator, I wish to thank and pay tribute to all delegations for their work and for the positive and constructive attitude they demonstrated throughout the consultations, which I think is a sign that we will be able to achieve excellent results at the June event.

Let me conclude by mentioning the support we have received from the Secretariat and from the Office of the President of the General Assembly.

The Acting President

We shall now proceed to consider draft resolution A/59/L.61. I give the floor to the representative of the Secretariat.

Ms. Kelley (Representative of the Secretariat)

With regard to draft resolution A/59/L.61, I should like to inform members that by operative paragraph 4 the General Assembly would

"[decide] also that the High-level Dialogue will consist of a series of formal and informal meetings to constitute a policy dialogue and six interactive multi-stakeholder round tables".

By operative paragraph 12, the Assembly would

"[request] the Secretary-General to seek from the regional commissions their inputs on the regional and interregional aspects of the follow-up to the International Conference on Financing for Development and to report thereon to the High-level Dialogue".

The Secretariat would like to inform the General Assembly that no additional conference service requirements would arise under the programme budget for the biennium 2004-2005, as the requirements of operative paragraph 4 have already been included in the calendar of conferences for 2005, based on resolution 57/250. In that resolution, the General Assembly decided to hold the High-level Dialogue biennally at the ministerial level. It was specified that the duration of the High-level Dialogue would be two days, and that it would consist of an innovative series of plenary and informal meetings to constitute a policy dialogue and eight interactive round tables with the participation of all relevant stakeholders.

As concerns non-conferencing costs related to the provision of operative paragraph 12, requesting inputs from the regional commissions, the requirements for the follow-up to the International Conference on Financing for Development have already been included in the programmes of work of the Commissions in the current biennium.

Therefore, should the General Assembly adopt draft resolution A/59/L.61, no additional requirements would arise under the programme budget for the biennium 2004-2005.

The Acting President

The Assembly will now take a decision on draft resolution A/59/L.61, entitled "Modalities for the High-level Dialogue on Financing for Development".

May I take it that the Assembly decides to adopt draft resolution A/59/L.61?

The Acting President

Before giving the floor to the representative of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, who wishes to speak in explanation of position on the resolution just adopted, may I remind delegations that explanations of vote or position are limited to 10 minutes and should be made by delegations from their seats.