EU Presidency Statement - The "Programme of Work"

Mr. Chairman,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. The acceding countries, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Slovakia, Slovenia, and the countries associated with the EU - Bulgaria, Romania, and Turkey - as well as the EFTA country of Iceland align themselves with this statement.

At the outset, I wish to welcome back the Chairman and all the other members of the Bureau, as well as the Committee secretariat, to this First Resumed Session of the Fifth Committee. The European Union is looking forward to working closely with you and all delegations in order to reach our shared goal of achieving the best possible outcome of our deliberations.

Mr. Chairman,

The European Union expresses satisfaction on the positive outcome of the consultations on the pattern of conferences. Let me now turn to items that will occupy us during this first resumed session.

Given that this is a General Assembly Session dedicated to issues related to personnel, we believe it is essential that we concentrate our efforts to address in our resolution issues and concerns related to the report of the Secretary General on the reform of the Office of Human Resources Management, as well as to the relevant OIOS reports.

We will consider issues related to the administration of justice in the Secretariat, mindful of the need to protect the concerns and the rights of both the members of the personnel and the administration.

We will also need to address a variety of issues ranging from the development strategy of the Information and Communication Technology to the reports of the Office of Internal Oversight Services as well as the measures aimed at improving the financial situation of the United Nations due to the existence of arrears.

Finally, we will be examining the report of the Joint Inspection Unit entitled "The results approach in the United Nations: implementing the Millennium Declaration".

Mr. Chairman,

In the last 12 month period, the 5th Committee has achieved considerable results in rationalising and streamlining its work methods, by abolishing night and weekend meetings, thus proving that the Committee entrusted with the oversight of effective and efficient functioning of our Organization can set the example of optimum use of available resources.

Our resumed session has started under good auspices; this, combined with the record-setting timeliness of the conclusion of our work at the regular session, gives us reason to be convinced that we will be able to finish our deliberations by the set date of March 21. The European Union will certainly do its part in contributing to this end.

Thank you Mr. Chairman.

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