2. At the outset, the Group thanks Mr. Chandru Ramanathan, Assistant Secretary-General, Controller, as well as Ms. Juliana Gaspar Ruas, Chair of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), for introducing their respective reports.

Madam Chair,

3. The Group of 77 and China strongly supports peacekeeping operations, by contributing financially to the budgets for peacekeeping missions and being the largest troop and police contributors to their operations, most of the currently active operations are hosted by members of this Group. As such, we continue to emphasize the importance of providing sufficient backstopping to all missions during all phases, to enable them to effectively and efficiently execute their mandates.

4. We note that the proposed support account budget for the period from 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026 amounts to $427.1 million, covering $ 1,534 posts across 17 entities.

5. In this regard, the Group emphasizes the importance of continued provision of adequate resources to ensure the effective and efficient functioning of the support structures that underpin field missions.

6. The Group notes that the proposed budget of $ 427.1 million reflects an increase of approximately $43 million compared to the previous period. We take note that this increase is primarily driven by standard cost adjustments, evolving operational requirements, and the need to reinforce support capacities in critical areas, including environmental management, ERP systems, and mission transitions. We emphasize that the provision of backstopping capacity must be predictable, needs-based, and aligned with the mandates approved by the Security Council and the General Assembly.

7. The Group acknowledges ACABQ's recommendation to conduct a comprehensive functional analysis and staffing review and supports the call for a more structured, evidence-based methodology for workload distribution across support entities. However, we stress that such efforts must not result in a staffing reduction or compromise the quality and timeliness of support to peacekeeping operations.

8. The Group underscores the need for the support account to remain responsive and scalable to reflect the evolving size, complexity, and geographical spread of peacekeeping mandates. In this regard, we welcome efforts to improve transparency in resource allocation and encourage greater clarity in linking budget proposals to actual operational requirements in the field.

9. The Group also takes note of the ongoing implementation of management reforms and recalls the importance of maintaining clear accountability and oversight mechanisms. We reiterate that reforms must be implemented in a manner that strengthens, rather than undermines, the enabling role of the Secretariat in support of field operations.

10. Moreover, the support provided by Headquarters to peacekeeping missions must be well-appointed in the most integrated manner to ensure efficiency, effectiveness and avoidance of duplication. The Group remains convinced that all efforts in this regard should be aimed at qualitative improvements in service delivery to all in the field.

11. The Group maintains its position on underscoring the importance of the broad representation of troop- and police-contributing countries, particularly at senior levels, within the peacekeeping support structure, both in the field and at Headquarters, to enable greater coherence in fulfilling mandates.

12. The Group reiterates that there is a persistent need for significant improvement in this regard and recalls that the General Assembly has consistently given the Secretary-General the mandate to make concrete efforts to improve this situation. We will therefore seek updates on the measures taken by the Secretariat on this matter.

Madam Chair,

13. In conclusion, the Group of 77 and China reiterates its commitment to constructive engagement during the deliberations on this agenda item, with a view to ensuring that the support account continues to provide effective backing to peacekeeping operations and contributes to the broader goal of maintaining international peace and security.

Thank you!

2. We would like to thank the Secretariat and the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions for issuing their respective reports in a timely manner.

Madam Chair,

3. The Group takes note of the Secretary-General's report A/79/633 which provides an updated financial situation of 32 closed peacekeeping missions as of 30 June 2024.

4. The Group notes with great concern that the 13 of the closed missions reported have a cash deficit of $156.3 million dollars, which is mainly a result of outstanding payments of assessed contributions from Member States.

5. The cash deficit situation prevents these missions from fulfilling their obligations not only vis-à vis vendors, third-party claims, and Member States, but also vis-à-vis troop- and police- contributing countries (TTCs and PCCs). Some of these liabilities have been outstanding for many years.

6. In this regard, the Group reiterates that all outstanding liabilities, including outstanding claims of troop- and police-contributing countries, in operationally closed peacekeeping missions should be settled as a matter of priority.

7. The Group reiterates its call on all Members States to fulfill their obligations on assessed contributions to PKO budgets on time, in full and without conditions. The Croup further underscores that troop- and police-contributing countries, are already largely contributing and should not, for any reason, be asked to bear additional costs.

8. The Group of 77 and China also notes that 19 closed missions have a positive net cash balance amounting to $5.75 million dollars. This increase is primarily attributable to the inclusion of residual cash assets from the United Nations Operations in Côte d'Ivoire (UNOCI), and the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL). The Group, however, would urge the Secretary-General to keep close monitoring of the different borrowing transactions and settle in a timely manner all claims and liabilities to enable the final liquidation of closed PKOs.

9. The Group also notes the reclassification of the United Nations Operation in Mozambique (ONUMOZ) and the United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) from deficit to surplus status, primarily during the period 2023-2024, due to an increase in the cash asset balance and mainly related to interest income accrued during the period, as the Advisory Committee has reported.

10. The Group notes with satisfaction that the Advisory Committee notes that no loans from closed peacekeeping operations to the regular budget occurred during the reporting period.

11. In this regard, we underscore the importance of regular updates on the financial status of closed missions as requested in A/78/791, paragraph 6.

12. The Group takes note of the Secretary-General's revised proposal for a mechanism for the return of surplus cash balances to Member States, based on the principles contained in General Assembly resolution 76/280. While the Group supports efforts to improve the efficiency of financial closure processes, it emphasizes that the payment of outstanding contributions remains the only viable long-term solution to the timely settlement and requests the Secretary- General to provide an update on his efforts in this regard to the General Assembly during its consideration of the present report and in the next report.

13. To conclude, Madam Chair, the Group of 77 and China, as usual, will spare no effort to work with all partners to reach a successful conclusion of this very important agenda item.

I thank you!

2. At the outset, the Group of 77 and China thanks Mr. Chandru Ramanathan, Assistant Secretary-General, and Controller, and Ms. Julian Gasper Ruas, Chair of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions for introducing their respective reports.

With respect to the Regional Service Centre in Entebbe (RSCE)

3. The Group wishes to recall that the General Assembly in its resolution 64/269 established the Regional Service Center in Entebbe as the first Shared Service Center for Missions in the region under the Global Field Support Strategy and that the General Assembly in its resolution 69/307, gave the Center operational and managerial independence.

4. The Group acknowledges the important work of the Center in providing services to 16 clients including six (6) Peacekeeping Missions and support offices and nine (9) Special Political Missions, as well as other Missions in the region, including residual liquidation functions to the closing and closed peacekeeping Missions.

5. The Group notes that the Center provides support to over 46 percent of the United Nations Secretariat Staff worldwide and serves over 16,449 personnel, including international and national staff as well as uniformed personnel. The workload, complexity and volume of transactions carried out by the Centre have greatly increased and therefore it is important that adequate financial and human resources are provided to the Centre to enable it to fulfil its mandate.

Madam Chair,

6. The Group notes with appreciation the continued refinement of the scalability model for the RSCE and acknowledges that the scalability model informs the administrative and budgetary requirements of the RSCE. With this in mind, it is important that a period of stabilization of the Centre's scalability is allowed to enable for the optimum realization of efficiencies and that the further review of this scalability will not impact its mandate delivery and resource requirements.

7. The Group notes that, with respect to the culture of efficiency, the RSCE has achieved over $200 million in savings and cost avoidance for the Organization, including $166 million from its establishment, $45.8 million in cost avoidance at client missions, and $17.3 million from prompt payment discounts, with additional savings from nationalization efforts.

Madam Chair,

8. With respect to the staff of the Centre, the Group recalls that the General Assembly requested the Secretary-General to ensure that national staff of the Centre are granted continuing contracts in line with the relevant provisions of General Assembly resolutions, and therefore urges the Secretary-General to expedite the issuance of continuing contracts for national staff that meet the eligibility requirements, in compliance with the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations.

9. With respect to the evolving landscape of peacekeeping operations and the role of RSCE within the context of the global support architecture, the Group wishes to highlight the importance of RSCE and the need to leverage the expertise that the Centre in Entebbe has acquired throughout its years of functioning and looks forward to the review that is currently underway with regard to expanding transactional services and all capabilities of the RSCE to other UN entities and the Secretariat and the African Union on a cost recovery basis.

Madam Chair,

Turning to the United Nations Logistics Base (UNLB)

10. The Group recalls that the United Nations Logistics Base at Brindisi, Italy, has been operational since 1994 and functioning as a unified entity comprising the Global Service Centre at Brindisi and the United Nations Information and Communications Technology Facility in Valencia, both of which were established to provide global geospatial, information and telecommunications technologies, logistics and supply chain operational management, as well as enabling support services throughout the life cycle of field missions, from start-up planning and preparation to liquidation.

11. The Group will examine the total resource requirements for the period 2025/2026 during the informal consultations.

12. The Group notes that the expected income from cost recovery is USD 16.9 million and will be interested in receiving more detailed, comprehensive and transparent information on the services provided to various entities, the resources required to provide those services, the related posts and positions, the different financing and the related recording of the cost-recovery arrangements and expenditure. We will be interested as well in obtaining information about the criteria that are followed at the time of recruiting the posts that are funded through cost-recovery resources.

Madam Chair,

13. The Group also recalls that the General Assembly has emphasized further refinement of the scalability model for the UNLB and looks forward to receiving the results of the development of the methodology for identifying scalable and non-scalable elements of the scalability model for UNLB.

14. Transparency is a cornerstone of the United Nation procurement system. In this regard, the Group agrees with the Advisory Committee that the concept of sustainable procurement has not been approved by the General Assembly, and emphasizes the need for consistent application of the procurement principles in accordance with the United Nations financial regulations and rules.

15. The Group has also noted the data on gender parity and geographical representation and encourages further efforts to achieve equitable representation and gender balance in staffing, including at senior levels.

16. In conclusion, Madam Chair, I assure you of our commitment to engage constructively on this important agenda item to ensure a timely conclusion.

I thank you.