New York, 10 May 1999

Mr. Chairman,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the Group of 77 and China.

First, I would like to thank Mr. Halbwachs, Mr. Adza and Ambassador Mselle for the reports presented which will assist our deliberations on the matters before us.

In response to the remarks in the statement by the distinguished delegate of Germany on behalf of the European Union on the matter of scale of assessment, allow me to say the following:

The Group would like to reaffirm the elements relating to this matter of the 22^nd Annual Meeting of the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Group held in New York on September 25, 1998.

The Ministers underscored the principle of the "capacity to pay" as the fundamental criterion in the apportionment of expenses of the United Nations. Herein, the Ministers stressed that "… the scale for financing these operations must clearly reflect the special responsibilities of the permanent members of the Security Council and economic situation faced by the countries or groups of countries, particularly the developing countries."

In this context, the Ministers further stressed that the establishment of a ceiling and a floor for the permanent members of the Security Council is unacceptable. Further the Ministers reiterated that the continuing financial cutbacks to an already severely limited programme budget of the United Nations which has continued to threaten the very functioning of the United Nations and could adversely affect the Organization's capability to implement fully the programmes and activities which member states have entrusted to it, in accordance with the medium-term plan for 1998-2001.

Mr. Chairman,

The Ministers stressed that "the economically less developed countries have limited capacity to contribute towards the budgets of peacekeeping operations" which must be considered in any process and/or deliberations on the scale of assessment."

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.