Mr. Chairman,

        I have the honour to speak on behalf of the Group of 77 and China at this meeting of the Fifth Committee during the first part of the resumed 61st Session of the General Assembly. 

2.     The Group of 77 and China wishes to reiterate its appreciation and support to the excellent efforts made by you and other members of the Bureau for presenting a balanced programme of work and to ensure a smooth functioning of the Committee.  We wish to assure you of our continued cooperation and support during the current and future sessions.  I would like to take this opportunity to welcome the members of the ACABQ and the Secretariat for another interesting session. We look forward to working closely with them during the current and future sessions.

3.     Thanks to the diligence of the Bureau and the combined efforts of the member states as well as the Secretariat, we were able to achieve significant progress during the main part of the 61st session.  The overall environment registered a significant improvement and an atmosphere of cordiality and understanding prevailed in the Committee. We hope to build upon this foundation.  We would like to reiterate our Group’s strong desire to maintain dialogue and constructive engagement with all our partners in order to conclude the consideration of all agenda items before us.

4.     The Group of 77 and China continues to be concerned on the status of the documentation for the session.  Important reports have been issued late and some have yet to be issued.  The failure of the Secretariat to present these reports in accordance with the rules of procedures of the General Assembly often puts the member states and the ACABQ in a difficult position to work under time pressure. The quality of the deliberations is seriously affected as a result of this single factor.  We would like to strongly urge the Secretariat to rectify this recurring problem, which often leads to delay and longer hours in the conclusion of the discussions. We hope that the Bureau will continue to engage with the Secretariat and the ACABQ to ensure that the remaining reports for the present session would be issued soon and the reports for the future session would be available 6 weeks prior to the commencement of the sessions.

5.     The Group of 77 and China thanks the Secretariat for the useful briefings on various issues during the informal meetings. We hope that this practice would continue and the expertise of well prepared Secretariat officials would continue to help the Committee to understand the complex issues before the Committee.  In this context, we would like to stress that expeditious transmission of written responses to the important questions raised by the member states would be very helpful in concluding the informal consultations on the issues before us.

6.     Given the sensitivity and complexity of some of the issues on the agenda, which additionally involve heavy financial costs may call for extra efforts to seek their resolution.  The Group of 77 and China is determined to achieve maximum progress on the key issues such as the administration of justice system, the strengthening of the Office of Internal Oversight Services, operationalization of the Independent Audit Advisory Committee and the peacekeeping budgets. We have an open mind to the other issues and would be ready to engage constructively to find consensual solutions. 

7.       The Group of 77 and China remains committed to strengthening the oversight role of the member states through the negotiating framework provided by the Fifth Committee.  We attach great importance to dialogue to strengthen this framework on the basis of the sovereign equality of the member states. We hope that this spirit would be reciprocated by our partners.

        Thank you, Mr. Chairman.