STATEMENT ON BEHALF OF THE GROUP OF 77 AND CHINA BY MR. GARFIELD BARNWELL, GUYANA DELEGATION, AT THE PLENARY MEETING OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY ON THE ISSUE OF THE DEVELOPMENT ACCOUNT

New York, 8 June 1999

Mr. President,

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

The Group of 77 and China welcomes the conclusion of the deliberations on the utilization of the development dividend for an amount of $13 million which will allow the Secretariat to implement the seven approved projects.

Recognizing the ad hoc nature of this exercise, the Group emphasizes that all projects in future should be formulated and submitted for approval in accordance with existing budgetary procedures. The Group is of the view that for full implementation of these projects the General Assembly will have to agree on a multi-year mechanism for the development account.

The Group made great efforts and showed a significant degree of flexibility to facilitate the work of the Fifth Committee on the issue of the modalities and sustainability of the development account. Unfortunately, the initiative of the Group on this issue was not met by the same spirit by some of our negotiating partners. This led the Fifth Committee to defer consideration of this issue to the main part of the fifty-fourth session of the General Assembly.

Mr. President,

The Group would like to reaffirm its position that the operation of the development account should be in accordance with the relevant regulations and rules of the Organization since it is a part of the regular budget. Furthermore, it must neither be a budget nor a staff reduction exercise.

The Group stresses the need to conclude consideration on the issue of modalities and sustainability of the development account before we begin our deliberations on the budget at the fifty-fourth session.

Finally, the Group is ready to work constructively and actively in concluding work on this important agenda item in the fifty-fourth session and expects a similar willingness and flexibility from our partners in this regard.

Thank you, Mr. President.