STATEMENT BY AMBASSADOR AMJAD HUSSAIN B. SIAL DEPUTY PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF PAKISTAN TO THE UNITED NATIONS, ON THE ORGANIZATION OF THE WORK OF THE FIFTH COMMITTEE OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY AT ITS MAIN SESSION (NEW YORK, Thursday 1 October, 2009)

Mr. Chairman,

  1. The Pakistan delegation aligns itself with the statement made by the distinguished representative of Sudan on behalf of Group of 77 and China.
  2. My delegation would like to warmly congratulate you Mr. Chairman, and other members of the Bureau on your election. We are confident that your vast diplomatic experience would be of great value to the Committee in this budget and scale of assessments year. We assure you of our full cooperation and support to make this important session a great success.
  3. We express our deep appreciation to the commendable work done by the Secretariat, Secretariat of the Fifth Committee, CPC and ACABQ. We would like to thank the Bureau and the Secretariat for presenting a balanced programme of work. It is a difficult undertaking in a budget and the scale year, while taking into consideration the importance of many other items. We also welcome the designation of Coordinators to facilitate negotiations on various issues. Now all of us have to show necessary political will to reach consensus on important issues before this Committee.

    Mr. Chairman,

  4. There are several resolutions that call for issuance of all documents, in all working languages, six weeks before. We appreciate the improvement in issue of documents. However, we note that a number of important documents are being issued very late. These delays adversly impact the quality of our deliberations.

    Mr. Chairman,

  5. We would like to see early results of the measures that the Secretary-General envisages to address the underlying reasons for this practice and for the improvement in the planning of documentation needs of the Fifth Committee .
  6. My delegation would also like underscore the need for compliance with relevant resolutions on the format of the documents, summary of conclusions and recommendations and actionable parts in bold print.
  7. We underscore the need for frugal use of resources. In this context, we the Member States, may call for additional supplementary information only when it is absolutely essential. We may rely more on discussions in the informal consultations. Thus we will not only reduce the burden of unnecessary documentation, especially for smaller delegations, but also avoid extra workload for the Secretariat and reduce the cost on documentation.

    Mr. Chairman,

  8. During the 63rd session, the Fifth Committee was constrained to deal with some important issues at the last minute under tremendous pressure. That was also the case during the second resumed session of the 63rd session, particularly on PKO’s budget. In this regard, we underline the need for concluding the programme of work within allocated time through the process of constructive informal negotiations, in the spirit of cooperation and mutual understanding.
  9. We have several systemic and reform related items before us during the current session. Considering the strategic value of the programme budget for the biennium 2010-2011 and scale of assessments, we would like to emphasize that adequate time should be allocated for consideration of these items.

    Mr. Chairman,

  10. The competence of the Committee rests on its ability to take timely decisions rather than the tactic of deferring the consideration of certain items to the next session. This does not reflect well on us. In this connection the Chair of the Committee has an important role in apportioning adequate time to each item taking into account its complexity and providing leadership to the Committee.

    Mr. Chairman,

  11. As the Chairman of G-77 and China has said, we stress that the spirit of transparency and inclusiveness must be maintained in the negotiations on all items before us. We would like to reiterate our opposition to the decision making in small group configuration, especially on the budget, scales and the reform issues, as well as to imposing any conditionality in the negotiations.
  12. The heavy agenda that we have to dispense with, calls for flexibility, compromise and understanding of the of delegations concerns on various issues.
  13. Once again we assure you of our full cooperation and constructive approach during the 64th session under your able chairmanship.

Thank you