Statement by Thomas A. Repasch, Deputy
Counselor and Senior United States Advisor, on the
Secretary-General's Proposed Budget Outline for 2004-2005 (A/57/85),
before the Committee for Program and Coordination, June 25,
2002 Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
It is a pleasure to present my delegation’s views on the
extremely important issue of the budget outline for
2004-2005. As always, the United States appreciates the
hard work of those in the Secretariat, especially those in
the Budget Office, who not only helped put the outline
together but who work throughout the year to ensure that the
budget rules, regulations, and processes are followed
closely. We would like to thank Under-Secretary-General
Connor for presenting the report to this Committee, and we
thank Controller Halbwachs and Budget Chief Sach for their
presence too.
In the last several years the Member States and the
Secretariat have worked in partnership to revitalize the
United Nations and make it a more streamlined and responsive
organization. A critical step in this direction was taken
last year when the General Assembly mandated a series of
comprehensive reviews of key activities. The
Secretary-General wisely incorporated these reviews into a
larger reform package, which we understand will be made
public later this summer. Like most Member States, we are
eager to hear the specifics of this package, which will
inform in a substantial way the discussion about the UN’s
budget for the next biennium. Let me pledge our support at
the outset for the continuation of the partnership that has
advanced the Organization in so many ways.
The Committee's consideration of the budget outline this
week is a critical component of an orderly and predictable
process created to advance the cause of responsible
budgeting. The outline provides us with the
Secretary-General's first indication of the resources that
he believes will be needed to carry out all of the priority
activities of the organization. Since by mandate the CPC is
the first intergovernmental body to formally consider the
outline, its responsibility is an important one. The
Secretariat also has the important responsibility to produce
an outline that is complete and in full compliance with the
governing rules and resolutions.
In reviewing and commenting on the proposed outline, my
delegation feels it is important to keep in mind that the
CPC is not tasked with pronouncing final judgment on its
overall level. This is bound to change anyway over the next
few months through recosting and other adjustments. Rather,
the Committee's responsibility lies mainly in determining
whether the estimate is one that faithfully satisfies the
requirements contained in
Resolution 41/213. We must verify that the outline
reflects the Organization's priorities and adequately
addresses the resource needs for the proposed program of
activities.
While my delegation supports the Secretary-General's
proposed priorities for the next biennium, our overall
impression of this outline is that it requires further
definition. The outline as presented makes it difficult to
determine whether the estimate fully reflects the program of
work, in particular in the priority areas of the
Organization. It also makes us wonder about the
Secretariat’s continued commitment to budget discipline and
performance management, which have been the foundation of
our deliberations on budget issues over the last several
years.
Let me turn to specifics:
- Some of the proposals
put forward in the outline suggest a return to an era when
the program budget was stuck on a seemingly ever-upward
path, an era when budget decision-making was focused on
how much to add to the last budget. Nonetheless, we are
confident that the Organization has moved beyond this
outmoded approach and we will work hard with others to
ensure a more rational, results-oriented method for
budgeting.
- Sustained reform and
continuous improvement can, and we believe will, have a
significant impact on the resource requirements of the
UN. But to make this happen, Member States and the
Secretariat need to collectively reaffirm the commitment
to these important concepts.
- First and perhaps
foremost is the need to robustly implement the regulations
and rules for program planning, and in particular
regulation 5.6, which requires heads of departments and
program managers to identify activities that are obsolete
or have marginal usefulness. Regrettably, the budget
outline makes no reference to this, and so we must insist
that it be fully respected when the full budget for
2004-2005 is prepared.
- We support the
continued investment in security enhancements, in
particular those planned for UN facilities in Geneva.
- While we note the
Secretary-General’s concern about the unpredictability of
budgeting for Special Political Missions, we would point
out that these missions are related to one of the UN’s
priority areas. We would also point out that the
extraordinary events of the last year should not be
considered indicative of past or future patterns for these
missions. Consequently, it is our judgment that the
special missions should be funded from the regular budget,
despite their sometimes variable nature. In fact, our
view is consistent with past recommendations of this
Committee as well as with General Assembly
resolution 53/206.
- In our view, the
proposed outline seems to understate the magnitude of the
increases for 2004-2005. In deriving the calculation of
the overall net increase, the outline incorporates an
offset or decrease in the one-time costs for facility
security enhancements approved for 2002-2003. While this
presentation may be technically accurate, we understood
that most of the funds for security improvements
represented a one-time investment that should not have
become part of the base for future budgets. When the
decrease for these expenses is set aside, the net program
increase is actually more than the $40 million indicated.
- The outline includes
$29.8 million for restoration of funds cut from the
2002-2003 budget proposal. We cannot support such an
increase. If there is a need to provide the services
indicated, we call on the Secretariat to identify obsolete
activities that could be terminated and efficiencies that
could be implemented to offset their cost.
- While we support the
goals of the
Millennium Summit, we cannot advocate the blanket
increase for these activities put forward in the outline.
Each proposed new activity needs to be judged
independently, based on the soundness of its strategy and
the ability of the UN to achieve meaningful results.
- The proposed outline
refers in paragraph six to added resources for
“conference-servicing and the UN Office at Nairobi.” We
would like to know what is meant by this.
In summary, we believe that the budget outline for
2004-2005 fails to capitalize on the efforts by the
Organization and Member States to streamline, prioritize,
and reinvigorate UN operations. We are eager to learn about
the Secretary-General’s new reform proposals and expect that
they will be fully reflected in the full budget proposal to
be issued next spring. As far as this Committee is
concerned, we would recommend that CPC take note of the
proposal and recommend that the General Assembly give
further consideration to a number of issues, including the
allocation for political missions and the soon-to-be-issued
reform proposals.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
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