Dean K. CROWTHER (Assistant Director-General, Administration and Finance Department): There are several documents that we will be referring to on this item. The first is the audited accounts themselves. The audited accounts are contained in documents C 87/5, C 87/6 and C 87/7. They involve the Financial Report and Statements. Volume I -the Regular Programme, Volume II- the United Nations Development Programme, and Volume III - the World Food Programme. These are the audited accounts as presented by the External Auditor in his report for the 1984-85 biennium.
In addition the delegates should have the LIM document C 87/LIM/3 which contains the resolution for the adoption of the audited accounts, and C 87/LIM/31 which shows the Resolutions Committee's review of that resolution.
The accounts that are presented for review have been reviewed in depth by the Finance Committee at its Fifty-eighth Session, and by the Council at its Ninetieth Session. The comments of both meetings are to be found in document CL/90/REP, paras. 154 - 161, as well as the resolution contained in the document C 87/LIM/3. The Council endorsed the external auditor's recommendations and_noted. the Director-General's actions on the possible improvements mentioned by the External Auditor in his report. In accordance with financial regulation 11 and 12.10, these accounts are to be approved by the Conference and there is a draft resolution in LIM/3 which is now before the Conference for its consideration and adoption.
I will be happy to answer any questions concerning these audited accounts.
Ronald DEARE (United Kingdom): Let me say straight away that I have no difficulty or problem with the resolution which is before us, but I would like to make one comment and to ask one or two questions.
There is a comment in para 10 (iii) of the report of the External Auditor on the Regular Programme Accounts for 1984-85 to which in fact the delegation of Australia has already drawn attention in the debate on the budget in Commission II last week. This was the reference by the External Auditor to the absence of any monitoring of programme out-turn by object-of-expenditure, despite the fact that the programme for the biennium is to a large extent built up on the basis of such estimates of expenditure by object-of-expenditure.
I note the comment by the Secretariat which is recorded by the External Auditor in para 11 of his report, but my delegation still remains a little surprised that the Organization does not feel it necessary to introduce this form of monitoring. The disadvantages of the present system were touched on by the Australian delegation in the budget debate and I will not take time by repeating them here; they are on the record. But I wonder whether the full implementation of the FINSYS System would enable this deficiency to be remedied, and whether the Secretariat in fact, does have any plans to do so.
While on the subject of FINSYS I would like to ask if the Secretariat could tell us briefly how the introduction of FINSYS/PERSYS is proceeding. I note from the para 3.113 of the report of the last
meeting of the Finance Committee that the System was due to be opened to users this autumn. Was it in fact opened and how is it performing? Have the staffing cuts resulting from the financial crisis affected the staffing of the computer unit, or has, as we hope, this area been protected?
One final question. If the system is, as I believe, up and running, are management satisfied in particular with the response times. I ask this question Mr Chairman because we in my delegation have had reports that there have been some serious time lags, and I wonder if Mr Crowther could perhaps give us some assurance on this point.
Dean K. CROWTHER (Assistant Director-General, Administration and Finance Department): There is not a great deal I can add on PLANSYS. Unfortunately, as you know, Commission II is operating at precisely the same time, and Mr Shah necessarily must be there, and the PLANSYS System comes entirely under his purview so that I cannot answer the question on PLANSYS itself. If it would be acceptable to the Committee, I would be happy to ask Mr Shah to either respond directly to the delegate of the UK, or if it is important, to report back to the Commission as quickly as we can free Mr Shah from Commission II.
With respect to the FINSYS/PERSYS question, I can address each of those. The first question is, I believe, how is FINSYS/PERSYS proceeding. FINSYS/PERSYS, for the benefit of any of those of you who may not be familiar, is a development of a system of accounting and personnel. The systems that we have had in the past have been ostensibly manual systems, and we have entered into a contract, as a result of an international tender, with a contractor to develop and do the detail implementation of an automated accounting and personnel system. It is, I am very happy to say, progressing quite well. We are both within the budget and fully expect that the in-time frames will be respected as well. Currently we are entering the phase of parallel testing of the payroll system which is the Phase I. There are three phases and Phase I is by far the largest, and parallel testing means we are running the old system and the new system jointly at the same time, and that involves the users throughout the house. All the Organizations that are involved must participate in this operational test.
How is it performing ? It is performing certainly up to our expectations and in some instance's beyond. We are very pleased with the performance thus far. Obviously, as in any new system that is being developed, you identify bugs in other areas that warrant improvement. Those changes are being made as they are identified, but overall we think it is moving along quite well. We have just recently had an assessment by an independent management consultant firm to advise us on the progress and development by our contractor, and the report was quite positive that the system would perform in accordance with the objectives and that it was moving along well. It was a very positive report.
With respect to the question on the staffing cuts and whether or not it has affected the development of FINSYS/PERSYS, I must certainly say that because of the critical financial situation, nothing in the house has escaped some impingement. We have tried to protect FINSYS/PERSYS development as much as possible in order to meet our deadlines as closely as possible, but nonetheless there certainly is an impact. Our development has been reduced because of the number of people that we have not been able to replace. As you know, Mr Chairman, the Director-General has been required to not fill positions that are vacated. Some of those positions come up in FINSYS/PERSYS, and we have just had to ask our people to work harder and longer in order to keep abreast of the situation as best we can, and they have done, I think, extremely well in that regard. So there is no serious impact but certainly, in all honesty, there has been some impact.
With the exception of the first question on PLANSYS, Mr Chairman, I think I have covered the distinguished delegate of US's questions. If there are any others I will be pleased to answer those.
A. Daniel WEYGANDT (United States of America): I do not have a question; it is really more of a comment to follow up on what Mr Crowther has just said, and that is to underline the fact that I would like to have a presentation made on PLANSYS as well. This is something which has been of interest to my delegation for some time, and we should like to get the benefit of Mr Shah's insights into it. I notice that the red light indicating that Commission II should be starting is not on. I know that you cannot just summon Mr Shah out of the blue, but I would just like to underline, before we get off onto completely different subjects, that I would appreciate it if we could have a discussion on PLANSYS.
Ms Janet Lesley TOMI (Australia): I only wanted to add that Australia would welcome a formal presentation by Mr Shah on this subject.
Dean K. CROWTHER (Assistant Director-General, Administration and Finance Department): We have checked with Commission II and unfortunately Mr Shah cannot be released at this point in time, so with the indulgence of the Committee at its next Session, if that would be acceptable, we would like very much to arrange to have Mr Shah come and answer that question then. It depends specifically on the timing, but certainly as quickly as Mr Shah can be made available. The problem is that the budget item is being discussed in Commission II and he must be there for that item. As quickly as he can be made available, we will address that if it will be acceptable to you, Mr Chairman, and the members of the Commission.
CHAIRMAN: I think that will be in order. As soon as Mr Shah is available, he will appear before this Commission to answer the queries that were raised earlier by the Member States. If there are no further questions, remarks or comments, there is a proposition by the Chair to adopt this draft resolution if there are no objections to it. I do not see any objections, so the draft resolution has been adopted.
It was so decided.
Il en est ainsi décidé.
Asf se acuerda.
Dean K. CROWTHER (Assistant Director-General, Administration and Finance Department): Again we have a resolution before the Commission for consideration in document C 87/LIM/4. This item deals with the scale of contributions for the biennium 1988 and 1989. Document C 87/LIM/4 includes an extract from the report of the June 1987 Council Session. The matter of the scale of contributions was discussed by the Finance Committee in May as well as at the June 1987 Council Session. Subsequently, the matter was briefly discussed at the Finance Committee Meeting in September. Most members of both bodies agreed that the proposed scale of contributions for 1988/89 should be derived again directly from the United Nations scale of assessments in force for the three-year period 1986 through 1988.
There was considerable discussion of the scale of contributions during the Council in June, and the report of Council on this item stated:
"Some members expressed reservations with regard to the use of the UN Scale, since it did not reflect the most recent economic positions of Member Nations, and requested that FAO refer these observations to the UN Committee on Contributions and that the Finance Committee examine this matter again at its next session. Another member noted that this Scale did not adequately take into account equitable burden sharing. Notwithstanding these reservations, most members of the Council acknowledged that the UN Committee on Contributions was the most qualified body for assessing Member Nations' real ability to pay.
They also recognized that departure from the practice of deriving the FAO Scale directly from the UN Scale would involve additional costs for FAO, duplication of the work of the UN Com-mittee on Contributions , and would have undesirable repercussions throughout the UN System. In addition, it would lead the Governing Bodies of FAO to dedicate an inordinate amount of time on this administrative matter in efforts to develop a viable alternative."
Following discussion in Council, the Director-General sent a letter to the Secretary-General of the United Nations on this matter. In his letter he stated the desirability of a methodology being developed which would enable the scale of assessment adopted by FAO to be based upon more up-to-date economic information. The Director-General suggested that the Secretary-General bring these observations to the notice of the United Nations Committee on Contributions. The Director-General's letter in fact was brought to the attention of the Finance Committee in September. After discussing the matter, the Committee took note and looked forward to the reply from the Secretary-General.
The Director-General received a reply from the Secretary-General on the 9th of October. In his letter, he stated that the concern of FAO had been brought to the attention of the Chairman of the United Nations Committee on Contributions. The reply stated that - and I quote a brief section of the letter:
"The Committee brought to the attention of the Fifth Committee - page 6 of this statement -the view expressed in the legislative bodies and several specialized agencies which derive their scales of contributions from the United Nations scales that the decline in the economies of many Member States in recent years will not be reflected in their rates of assessment under the next scale 1989/91. If the ten-year base period continues to be in force judging from this statement I believe he fully shares the concerns expressed by FAO members that the United Nations scale could be improved to better reflect recent developments in the economic situation of contributing countries. The methodology of the scale for assessment has been the subject of lively debate for many years in the Fifth Committee and establishing a fair, equitable and universally acceptable scale has proved to be a very complex task"
The Secretary-General also agreed to keep the Director-General advised of the progress in the Committee on contributions. The Director-General was also assured by the response that his observations, together with extracts from the report of the 60th Session of the FAO Finance Committee dealing with the Scale of Contributions for 1988 and 1989, and the report of the FAO Council on its 91st Session in June 1987, would be brought to the attention of the Committee on Contributions at its 48th Session in June 1988. After full deliberation and discussion, the Council in general recommended the draft resolution shown on page 2 of the LIM document before you for adoption by the Conference. I will be pleased to answer any questions that may arise.
Raúl LOPEZ LIRA (México): Mi delegación, como lo apuntó durante su participación en el 91 Periodo de Sesiones del Consejo, desea reiterar que la propuesta escala de cuotas basada en la escala de Naciones Unidas, aprobada en diciembre de 1985, no refleja la situación económica actual y el peso de la deuda externa de muchos de los países en desarrollo.
Por tal razón, mi delegación se opone a dicha escala de cuotas para el bienio 1988-89.
Sra. Silvia CARBALLO VIVES (Cuba): En primer lugar deseamos, en nombre de la delegación de Cuba, felicitar a usted por su elección como Presidente de esta Comisión III.
La delegación de Cuba considera que la FAO debe continuar aplicando su escala de cuotas basándose en la escala de cuotas de las Naciones Unidas. Es cierto que algunos Estados miembros atraviesan una situación financiera crítica, producto en parte del injusto orden económico, pero creemos que el órgano más calificado para determinar la capacidad efectiva de pago de los Estados miembros es la Comisión de Cuotas de las Naciones Unidas. Cualquier cambio de esta práctica, aprobada en el octavo periodo de sesiones de la Conferencia en 1955, entrañaría la duplicación de la labor de la Comisión de Cuotas y Costos Adicionales de la FAO.
Ansoumane SAGNO (Guinée): La délégation guinéenne, par ma voix, s'associe aux délégations qui l'ont précédée pour vous féliciter, Monsieur le Président, pour votre élection à la présidence de la Commission III. Ces félicitations s'adressent également aux Vice-Présidents, qui, je l'espère, ne ménageront aucun effort pour vous aider à mener à bon port les débats de nos travaux.
Compte tenu du calendrier qui nous est soumis, nos travaux à mon avis ne devraient pas être très difficiles, n'eût été la situation financière très inquiétante à laquelle est confrontée notre Organisation. Mais, comme on a coutume de le dire, l'homme ne vit que d'espoir. J'espère donc que les uns et les autres feront preuve d'esprit de solidarité et de compréhension pour que nos débats aboutissent au consensus qui a toujours caractérisé les travaux de notre Organisation.
Qu'il me soit aussi permis de remercier le Secrétariat pour la précision et la clarté avec lesquelles il nous a présenté le document C 87/LIM/7.
Ma délégation reconnaît entièrement que le Comité des contributions des Nations Unies est l'Organisme le plus qualifié pour évaluer la capacité financière réelle des pays. L'expérience qu'il a acquise dans ce domaine est fort appréciable. Abandonner le système pratiqué par cet Organisme aurait des conséquences fâcheuses sur la situation financière de la FAO que nous cherchons à relever à tout prix. D'ailleurs le document qui nous est soumis nous dit au para. 285: ".. l'abandon de la pratique consistant à dériver directement le barème de la FAO du barème des Nations Unies entraînerait des frais supplémentaires pour la FAO, ferait double emploi avec le travail du Comité des contributions des Nations Unies et aurait des répercussions néfastes sur tout le système.".
Je pense que la question ne se situe pas au niveau de l'utilisation du barème des Nations Unies. Quelle que soit la qualité de l’ évaluation de la situation économique récente des Etats Membres, il y aura toujours des gros, des moyens et des petits contributeurs, si le critère fondamental reste la capacité financière réelle des Etats Membres. Il ne peut en être autrement.
Pour ne pas m'apesantir sur des commentaires connus de tous et gaspiller notre précieux temps, ma délégation approuve le projet de résolution relatif au barème des contributions, et en appelle, comme je l'ai dit tantôt, à l'esprit de solidarité et à la bonne compréhension des uns et des autres pour en faire autant.
A. Daniel WEYGANDT (United States of America): As with some of the previous speakers, my delegation has some concern over the scale of assessment presented in document C 87/LIM/4, but I venture to say probably for different reasons.
At the previous Council session, my delegation pointed out that in New York we have argued there should be more equitable burden-sharing among members -in other words, that more countries should contribute perhaps somewhat more than they are doing now.
That having been said, I took very much too heart the comment just made by the representative of Guinea: that we do have to have a sense of solidarity about this. For my part, therefore, I would like to join those who urge the Commission to adopt the resolution as it is presented before us.
Charles MBOUROU (Gabon): J'ai une remarque à faire: ma délégation estime que notre pays vit une situation financière difficile: or,quand on regarde le document que nous est présenté la contribution de mon pays se trouve doublée. Il me serait difficile d'appuyer cette résolution.
Ms Janet Lesley TOMI (Australia): I would also like to associate myself with the remarks made by the delegate of Guinea and other delegates who have endorsed the idea that the scale of contributions which is used by the FAO be based on the UN scale. This is because we believe that it would be inefficient and certainly cost ineffective for any individual agency to develop its own scale.
Having made that point, Australia's contribution will be increasing from 1.9% to 1.99% in the new biennium and, while we believe this does not take account of the significant reduction that has occurred in Australia's ability to pay, we believe that any problems that may be involved with the methodology must be taken up in New York in the Committee on Contributions.
John LYNCH (Canada): Just to inform the Commission that we support the scale of contributions being suggested but more particularly the reason why we support it. We understand that if the Gross National Product/population mix, which is used by the UN, were to be changed but nevertheless somehow modified in this Organization, that the cost of actually doing the work involved would be in the neighbourhood of $US 500 000 to $US 1 million if we were to duplicate the type of methodology and work which was devoted by the UN Committee on Contributions. I believe there are a number of alternatives to the combination of Gross National Product and population. However, I think that those in themselves create problems. I believe that the classic alternative is what is called the unit system which is used by two of the older UN Organizations - the World Intellectual Property Organization and the International Telecommunications Union. A feature of those is that they are cost effective but they are self selective — that is that the countries choose which class and unit they belong to, which is in some way a voluntary selection of how much you would like to contribute.
Therefore, taking all these factors into account, we believe that despite the individual burdens which the UN system may impose on countries it would be preferable for this body to adopt the scale of contributions as proposed.
Reza ASKARIYEH (Iran, Islamic Republic of): Mr Chairman, first on behalf of my delegation I congratuláte you on your election.
We cannot accept this scale of assessment burden sharing because there is a change. I would draw your attention to the draft report of Commission II. In Item 20 there is a question about this. There has also been much debate on this point. It was suggested that those countries that had national currencies which were depressed by the devaluation of the dollar should be burdened by a lesser share and that their ceiling should be that which had existed in 1986-87. Therefore, I believe that something should be changed in this proposal.
Clifton E. MAYNARD (Barbados): Mr Chairman, I too would like to congratulate you and the other members of the Bureau on your election.
With regard to the question that we are now considering, I would like to say that my delegation does not see any reason why any other organization in the family of international organizations connected with the United Nations should go through the tortuous process of developing a system or a criterion for the assessment of contributions seeing that the United Nations had over 40 years of experience in assessing the scale of contributions of member countries.
We therefore would wish that this Organization would continue to use the scale developed by the United Nations for the reasons which I have given. Let me say, however, that during the same 40 years the principle of capacity to pay has always been foremost in the consideration of the scale of assessment. Indeed, when one used GNP and population some countries like mine might well be paying in excess of their capacity to pay because GNP and population do not take into consideration, for argument's sake, the level of the manufacturing capacity of a country. It does not take into consideration the level of industrial development of a country and other considerations which suggest that a country might well be penalized because of high invisible earnings which could disappear because of some phenomenon over which it has no control.
Therefore, as I see it, over 40 years the Committee on Contributions in the United Nations has used the criterion which everybody has accepted. I see no reason why there should be any change in this Organization utilizing that criterion.
Mohammed BENNIS (Maroc): Nous voulons noter tout d'abord que le barème qui nous est proposé pour la période 1988-89 a fait l'objet d'un examen et d'un débat à deux niveaux: celui du Comité financier et celui du Conseil. Ces deux organismes nous recommandent toute notre attention. Quant au fond, ma délégation observe que ce barème est directement dérivé de la répartition adoptée par l’ Organisation des Nations Unies. Donc le Comité spécialisé des contributions nous paraît être l'organisme le plus qualifié pour évaluer la capacité financière des Etats Membres.
La FAO étant membre de la famille du système des Nations Unies, nous estimons qu'elle doit s'aligner sur ce système, sur l'ensemble des membres de ce système, et sur son barème, généralement suivi par les organismes de ce système. Nous pensons en fait que ce barème est réaliste, juste, objectif, dès lors qu'il correspond à la dernière capacité financière, évaluée et connue des Etats Membres. C'est la toute dernière que nous connaissons, nous ne disposons pas d'une autre évaluation. A défaut d'une autre appréciation de la situation, ma délégation ne peut que soutenir pleinement la résolution qui nous a été présentée.
T.F.F. MALUZA (Zambia): The FAO should continue to use the UN scale of contributions. Whilst it is realized that this does not reflect the current financial and economic problems in many countries, we are of the opinion that this should not hinder us from moving ahead. For now, the UN scale of contributions is the most valid, fair, realistic and equitable one.
In this context, my delegation fully supports the resolution on the FAO scale of contributions 1988-89 as given in document C 87/LIM/4.
Srta.Mery Cecilia HURTADO SALAMANCA (Colombia): La Delegacion de Colombia lo felicita por su designación y a los demás miembros de Mesa Directiva.
Hemos escuchado atentamente cada una de las propuestas hechas por las distintas delegaciones, y apoyamos especialmente las de México y Cuba, en el sentido que se tengan en cuenta las recomendaciones formuladas por el consejo en el 91 período de sesiones para que la FAO se ciña a la escala de cuotas que ha sido fijada por las Naciones Unidas.
Mrs Marasee SURAKUL (Thailand): First of all, I would like to congratulate you as Chairman of this Commission. My delegation supports the scale of contributions based on the UN system and endorses the resolution presented to us.
Mohd. Mazlan JUSOH (Malaysia): The Malaysian delegation wishes to associate itself with those countries which have supported the scale of contributions as presented to us. The reason is simply that it would be a sheer waste of effort for FAO to work out its own scale independent of the United Nations.
Assefa YILALA (Ethiopia): Let me first of all congratulate you, Mr Chairman, and your Vice-Chairmen, on your election to Chair this Commission.
I would like to add my voice to those who support the scale of contributions contained in LIM/4, and also support the draft resolutions contained in the same document. My reason for so doing is that this is a scale of contributions adopted by the UN General Assembly.
Japheth Kipkemoi Arap ROB (Kenya): Mr Chairman, please allow me first to congratulate you on your election to your high office and also your two Vice-Chairmen.
I would also like to take this opportunity to commend the Secretariat for having worked so hard to produce these numerous documents.
I wish at the outset to endorse the sentiments that have been expressed by Guinea, the United States, Canada and other delegations which have supported this draft resolution, the first operative paragraph of which states that our scale of contributions for 1988-89 should be derived directly from the United Nations scale of assessments in force during 1987.
My country, therefore, in a spirit of solidarity, will endeavour to contribute its share to this important Organization as is laid down here.
Manuel DE GUZMAN PEREZ (Ecuador): Mi país, durante el presente año, ha sufrido muy serias dificultades, que son conocidas por todos los asistentes a esta Comisión. En el proyecto de documento que se nos ha puesto a resolución, al Ecuador se le ha aumentado su cuota en el 100" por ciento.
Desgraciadamente, por las condiciones económicas actuales, no estamos en posibilidades de hacerle frente, por cual lamentamos tener que oponernos al proyecto de resolución planteado.
Se ha hablado acá de que debería aplicarse el principio de la equidad, y nosotros apoyamos esa tesis. Y, bajo ese principio de equidad, es que nosotros planteamos la necesidad de que se revea el sistema de cuotas para ajustarlo a un procedimiento tal, que el aumento que signifique en el Presupuesto sea asumido por los países que, por efectos de la devaluación del dólar, ven favorecida su moneda y, en consecuencia, sus aportes vienen siendo inferiores a lo que en la realidad están realizando. Esa es la tesis ecuatoriana.
DONG QING SONG (China): As this is my first time to speak in this Commission, I would like to congratulate you on your election to the Chair.
As for the Draft Resolution on the Scale of Contributions, 1 believe that as FAO is a specialized agency in the United Nations family therefore it is reasonable and appropriate to adopt the United Nations Scale of Assessments. The Chinese delegation therefore wishes to support this document and we hope that the Conference will approve this Draft Resolution on the 1988/89 Scale of Contributions to FAO.
Wojciech JASINSKI (Poland): As my delegation is speaking for the first time in this Commission, we would like to associate ourselves with previous speakers who have congratulated you and your Vice-chairmen on your election to these important posts. At the same time, 1 would like to thank Mr Crowther for,the very interesting and important information which he has provided on the process now taking Dlace of exchanging correspondence and establishing of contacts between the Director-General and the Secretary-General of the United Nations on this very important matter of the Scale of Contributions. We believe, as do so many other speakers who have just spoken, that the United Nations is indeed the best qualified body to establish the proper Scale of Contributions. It has a specialized Committee which is doing this job.
We also hope that in the future there may perhaps be some changes in the methodology of establishing those Scales of Contribution. We would like therefore, in supporting the Resolution as presented in Document 87/LIM/4, to say that we believe that, should there be changes, these should be discussed in the proper place in the United Nations, and perhaps in the future some changes will be introduced which will take into account the very difficult economic situation in which some countries, including Poland, because of external debt, find themselves.
Mrs Kate ABANKWA (Ghana): First of all I wish to congratulate you Mr Chairman on your election, and also to thank Mr Crowther for the explanation which he has given, indicating that the Scale of Contributions did not take into consideration the economic problems facing some countries.
In this connection my delegation believes that efforts should continue towards lessening the burden on countries which are faced with economic problems, so that they will be able to honour their constitutional obligations.
Having made these comments, my delegation wishes to give its support to the Draft Resolution before us, because we believe that the Scale of Contributions should always be based on that of the United Nations.
Omar Ali JUMA (Tanzania): My delegation would like to associate itself with all other delegations which have supported and endorsed the Resolution before us, as contained in document C 87/LIM/4. In doing so, I would like to fully support the Moroccan delegation, which said that the proposed Scale of Contributions has been carefully scrutinized by both the Council and the Finance Committee, and that a number of observations have been made. I know that all of us have economic problems of one kind or another, but, in order to enable this Organization to fulfil its noble task, my delegation would fully support the Resolution before us.
Hidayat Ganda ATMADJA (Indonesia): I would like first to congratulate you on your election to this important post. My delegation would also like to associate itself with others in supporting the Scale of Contributions proposed for the biennium 1988/89 and the Draft Resolution related to it, in the interests of the continuity of the functions of FAO.
Mme Anna-Teresa FRITELLI (Italie): Ma delegation tient simplement à dire que nous considérons que les barèmes des contributions sont étudiés par les Nations Unies. A ce stade, nous nous rallions aux barèmes qui figurent dans cette section de la résolution telle qu'elle nous est présentée.
Amilcar Spencer LOPES (Cap-Vert): Avant tout je voudrais vous féliciter de votre élection à la présidence de notre Commission. Je saisis également cette occasion pour remercier le Secrétariat pour la présentation des documents qui nous sont soumis.
A ce stade du débat je serai très bref, ma délégation approuve le projet de résolution tel qu'il est présenté dans le document C 87/LIM/4.
Likunde LI-BOTAYI (ZAIRE): La délégation du Zaïre s'associe aux autres délégations qui l'ont précédée pour féliciter vous-même, Monsieur le Président, ainsi que les membres de votre bureau à l'occasion de votre élection.
La délégation du Zaïre reconnaît que dans la grande famille des Nations Unies, chaque organisme a ses problèmes spécifiques. Elle reconnaît que la crise économique mondiale a sérieusement affecté la situation de trésorerie de beaucoup de pays surtout les pays en développement. Il ne serait pas acceptable que chaque organisme cherche à fonctionner en dehors des principes considérés comme viables. Ces principes sont élaborés par notre grande famille qui est celle des Nations Unies. Cela entraînerait, ainsi qu'il est souligné dans le document C 87/LIM/4, de grandes répercutions dans l'ensemble du système. Donc ma délégation pense bien que la résolution puisse être acceptée ainsi qu'elle est présentée dans le document.
Juan NILO VALLEDOR (Chile): Solamente para sumarme, como Delegación, a aquellas que han apoyado la escala de cuotas sugerida en el documentoC 87/LIM/4, y asimismo que ésta sea basada en la escala de Cuotas que utilizan las Naciones Unidas. Gracias, señor Presidente.
Isam Eldin Mohamed ELSAYED (Sudan) (original language Arabic): I wish to congratulate you Sir, and your Vice-Chairmen, on your election. The delegation of my country cooperates with the United Nations, and we believe that the most appropriate method is that now in force, which is directly derived from the United Nations scale. We therefore support that method.
Dean KL. CROWTHER,(Assistant Director-General, Administration and Finance Department): I deeply appreciate the various comments and suggestions that have been made, and certainly I appreciate the overwhelming support that has been given for this very complex and difficult study on the Scale. I think there are really no specific questions that need to be addressed. However, I think it would also be important to assure the Commission that the Organization will continue, through the Finance Committee, to study and bring the specific comments to the attention of those people who are involved with the development of the Scale and constantly monitor and track the development so that the comments and the guidance that have been given to us can be brought to the attention of those who will develop the Scale. The Secretary-General, as I mentioned, has agreed to keep us informed of the progress, and we shall certainly make certain that it is reviewed very carefully. With that assurance, I just wish to thank the Commission for their support.
Vaasatia Poloma Komiti, Vice-Chairman of Commission III took the chair
Vaasatia Poloma Komiti, Vice-Président de la Commission III assume la présidence
Vaasatia Poloma Komiti, Vicepresidente de la Comisión III
CHAIRMAN: Thank you very much, Mr Crowther. At this stage it would appear to the Chair that a cursory check reveals that, I thing, about 30-odd countries are affected in an upward revision of the contributions. About 21 would have theirs decreased, and the majority, according to my list about 105, will have no effect, no change. Of the speakers who have taken the stand this morning, a few have indicated difficulties in supporting this Resolution. A majority that have spoken have indicated full support.
Now as a procedural matter I believe that since it appears that the majority are in favour, this proposed Resolution would now go to Plenary, to the Conference, for adoption, unless there are strong objections from the four countries that would have problems in supporting the Draft Resolution. Do I take it, then, that we are in favour, that we will adopt this proposed Resolution on the Scale of Contributions for 1988-89 as contained in Appendix F of Document C 87/LIM/4, that it will go forward to Plenary as a proposal from this Commission? Is that the consensus?
It was so decided
Il en est ainsi décidé
Así se acuerda
The meeting rose at 11.30 hours
La séance est levée à 11 h 30
Se levanta la sesión a las 11.30 horas
