Mr. Chairman,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the Group of 77 and China on the organisation of work for the second part of the resumed 60th session of the Fifth Committee.

The Group wishes to reiterate our support for the work that you, Mr. Chairman, and the other Members of the Bureau are doing to ensure the smooth functioning of the Committee. We also wish to express our appreciation for the work done by the ACABQ and the Secretariat to facilitate the negotiations of the Fifth Committee and look forward to being able to count on them again in this session. The Group, furthermore, looks forward to a constructive engagement and frank dialogue with our partners during this session.

Mr. Chairman,

The Fifth Committee has a very heavy workload before it. Member States have to consider more than one hundred and fifty reports in the coming weeks. It is therefore regrettable that we once again have to register our concern with the late submission of a substantial number of reports by the Secretariat. This unfortunate situation impacts on the ability of Member States to consider the reports in detail and prepare in advance for the session. It has also forced the Committee to delay the start of its second resumed session by as much as three weeks. It has further prevented the ACABQ from preparing a comprehensive report on peacekeeping policy matters, which, in turn, will undermine the ability of Member States to have a detailed and informed consideration of the cross-cutting peacekeeping policy issues and the extent to which the Secretariat has implemented General Assembly resolution 59/296.

The Group of 77 and China is concerned with the tendency whereby budgets of peacekeeping operations are submitted late and in breach of the six-week rule set by the General Assembly. The size of the peacekeeping budgets of the United Nations has increased significantly over the past few years. Member States, however, are put in a position where we have less and less time each year to complete our consideration of the resource requirements and policy aspects of peacekeeping operations. This undermines the oversight role of the General Assembly and does not provide us with the necessary assurances that the resources are used in the most effective manner. We expect that the Secretariat will make a greater effort in future to comply with the provisions of General Assembly resolutions, which ultimately should be part and parcel of the efforts to increase the accountability of the Secretariat to the Assembly.

Mr. Chairman,

Turning to the provisional programme of work, the Group of 77 and China wishes to stress the tentative nature of the programme of work and our expectation that the Bureau will amend it throughout the session to reflect the progress made in the negotiations. We regret that the Committee will not be able to adopt a comprehensive resolution on peacekeeping issues in this session due to the deferral of the cross-cutting issues. We, however, intend to carefully examine the budgets of the peacekeeping operations and ensure that they are adopted in Plenary so as to enable the Secretariat to issue assessment letters in time for the start of the new financial period. We realize that the budgets are time-bound but expect that the programme of work will provide Member States with adequate time to complete a thorough consideration thereof.

The Fifth Committee in this session will receive the reports on Secretariat and Management Reform that the General Assembly has requested from the Secretary-General. The Group of 77 and China wishes to stress that it is imperative that the Secretariat implement the provisions of General Assembly resolution 60/260 and that the reports should be prepared strictly in accordance with the provision of that resolution. It is also imperative to ensure that adequate time and conference services are provided to the Committee to consider the reports. Every effort should be made to avoid a repetition of the situation in April 2006 when no formal decision was taken to extend the session. It is essential that the rules of procedure of the General Assembly be respected.

I thank you, Mr. Chairman.