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Mr. Chairman,
It is a pleasure to see you preside over our debate on this important agenda
item.
2. Since 1995, attempts have been made to secure follow-up to and implementation
of the commitments and action plans in various areas in an integrated and
coordinated way. Like an annual ritual, this agenda item comes up before this
Committee as well as the ECOSOC. The Secretary General regularly prepares his
reports. The ECOSOC recommends that the General Assembly examine how best to
address the reviews. The General Assembly, in turn, requests the ECOSOC to
review progress in the implementation of issues common to all conferences. The
ping pong goes on. A concrete follow-up and implementation mechanism remains
elusive.
3. We thank the Secretary General for his report which analyses how the 3-tiered
system for the conference follow-up has functioned and looks into the specific
roles of the Assembly, the Council and the functional commissions. In the past
seven years, the Secretary General has put forward several options for effective
follow-up, including a single 10-year event, clustering of closely related
programmes of action at a special session, staggering of conference reviews,
5-yearly reviews by the functional commissions, and so on. We appreciate his
inputs, but regret the inability of the Assembly to provide any guidance to him
on such a crucially important matter.
4. It was in this backdrop that Pakistan delegation, during the general debate
of the Second Committee earlier this month, submitted a concrete proposal to
secure adequate follow up to and implementation of the policy commitments and
action plans of various conferences and summits in an integrated, comprehensive
and balanced manner. We believe that the follow-up must be integrated to ensure
coherence and complementarity at the policy and programme levels, at the
national and international levels and between actions by various stakeholders.
It should be coordinated to avoid duplication and waste of resources and human
potential. And above all, the follow-up should be balanced to ensure equitable
benefits for all.
5. We have proposed that an Integrated, Comprehensive, and Coordinated Follow-up
and Implementation Mechanism be established to review and monitor the
implementation of the outcomes of major UN conferences and summits in the
economic and social field and to help in making progress in the implementation
process. The United Nations, given its universality and overarching
responsibilities under the Charter, should be at the center of the proposed
Mechanism.
6. We envisage that the proposed Follow-up and Implementation Mechanism should
function at three levels – functional commissions, ECOSOC, and the General
Assembly. In accordance with the Charter, the overall responsibility for
follow-up and implementation should be with the UN’s Economic and Social
Council. The substantive review process should be conducted by sectoral
Commissions, working under the auspices of ECOSOC. Each Commission should be
entrusted with the follow up of one of the major areas and/or conference. In
this regard, we envisage three functional commissions to play a key role: a
commission on trade and development being proposed for follow-up to the Doha
Development Agenda, a commission on finance and development being proposed for
follow-up to the Monterrey Conference, and the commission on sustainable
development for follow-up to the Johannesburg Summit and the Rio Conference.
Other functional commissions will continue to play their primary role within
their respective mandates. In our proposal, we have outlined detailed modalities
of the proposed Mechanism.
7. Each functional commission, in the course of the follow-up and implementation
process, should take into account the commitments and goals adopted at the
Millennium Summit relating to its area of work. Each commission will also
appropriately consider goals and commitments on cross-cutting issues in the
follow-up and implementation process.The functional commissions and other
relevant bodies of the UN system would thus play the primary role in reviewing
and assessing progress achieved, lesson learnt and problems encountered in the
implementation of the outcomes of major UN conferences and submit proposals to
the ECOSOC.
8. While there are functional commissions or other relevant bodies of the UN
system in almost every field or subject on which the UN conferences have been
held, there is a discernible absence of a follow-up mechanism at expert level to
pursue commitments made in the fields of trade and finance. The Pakistani
proposal has attempted to address this particular shortcoming. We envisaged two
functional commissions - one on finance and development to contribute to the
follow-up of the Monterrey Conference and the other on trade and development to
contribute to the follow-up of Doha commitments relating to trade and
development. The two commissions being proposed will provide a more focused
discussion in the fields of trade and finance with the participation of other
stakeholders. This is not possible in the Second Committee or other existing
arrangements.
9. The idea of rotating meetings between Geneva and New York in the case of the
proposed Commission on Trade and Development and between New York and Washington
in the case of the proposed Commission on Finance and Development is to enhance
interactions between the UN and other stakeholders. The functional commission on
trade and development will not encroach upon the mandate of UNCTAD but would
rather reinforce UNCTAD’s message. The UNCTAD Secretariat will service the
meetings of the commission when it meets in Geneva. The proposed commission
would be guided, inter-alia, by the decisions of Trade and Development Board.
10 There is a viewpoint that new structures should not be created, mainly
because of budgetary implications. Experience shows that for every UN
conference, structures were created to ensure effective follow-up. The
Commission on Status of Women, Commission for Social Development, Commission for
Sustainable Development and so on, but nothing on trade and finance. However, in
the interest of consensus, Pakistan delegation is ready to explore with all
delegations the other possible cost-effective alternatives - permanent or ad hoc
mechanism within ECOSOC, such as ad hoc working groups on finance and
development and trade and development.
11. In order not to have any budgetary implications, we could find ways, or ask
the Secretariat to explore ways, to meet the expenses involved from within the
existing resources. For instance, some of the functional commissions could meet
biennially, like Statistics Commission. This will generate enough savings and
conference services to meet the cost of these two proposed commissions/working
groups, which, in any case, are envisaged to meet only for two weeks per year.
12. The Economic and Social Council should consider at its annual high-level
segment, the reports and recommendations of these commissions and adopt
appropriate decisions and recommendations for action or implementation. To
discharge this responsibility in an impactful manner, the Council may also
consider organizing a dedicated session of the Council, and formulate concrete
recommendations to facilitate integrated and coordinated follow-up and
implementation.
13. The General Assembly should review the reports and recommendations of the
ECOSOC and the functional commissions annually and appropriately complement or
modify the decisions and recommendations emanating therefrom. The General
Assembly could either discuss this question as an agenda item of the plenary or
hold a high-level intergovernmental dialogue biennially. This could be done on
alternate years - other than the years in which high level dialogue will discuss
the Monterrey Follow-up.
Mr. Chairman,
14. This item has been allocated to the Second Committee, which is not the
appropriate forum to integrate economic and social issues. If the General
Assembly is to play the role expected of it, and in recognition of the
importance and wide ranging canvas of this subject, this item should be handled
in the plenary of the General Assembly. The President of the General Assembly
may consider establishing, for six months or one year, an open-ended working
group to examine the modalities of the proposed follow-up and implementation
mechanism.
15. Finally, Mr. Chairman, we believe that Pakistan’s proposal is in the larger
interest of all Member States and shows a way forward to lead us out of the
current logjam blocking any meaningful follow-up and implementation of the great
work done during the past decade. We are open to ideas and look forward to
participating in discussions with a view to evolving a concrete Integrated and
Coordinated Follow-up and Implementation Mechanism.
I thank you, Mr. Chairman.