EU Presidency Statement - Pattern of Conferences

Statement by Mr. Tapio Pyysalo, Adviser, Permanent Mission of Finland to the United Nations, on behalf of the European Union, UN 61st Session; V Committee, Agenda Item 121: Pattern of Conferences, New York

Mr. Chairman,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union.

The Acceding Countries Bulgaria and Romania, the Candidate Countries Turkey, Croatia* and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia*, the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, and the EFTA countries Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, as well as Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova align themselves with this declaration.

The European Union would like to thank Mr. Chen Jian, the Under-Secretary General for General Assembly and Conference Management, and Mr. Rajat Saha, the Chairman of the ACABQ, for introducing their respective reports. We further thank Mr. Chen Jian for his summary of accomplishments of the DGACM and wish him all the best in his future endeavours.

Mr. Chairman,

The provision of effective conference services, through timely issuance of documentation, high standards of language services and adequate meeting facilities is essential to the success of the work of inter-governmental organs and expert bodies of the United Nations. At the same time, we are aware of the share of the regular budget represented by conference management. It is for all these reasons that the European Union places great value on effectiveness, efficiency, accuracy and quality of conference services with consistency in all official languages.

The European Union welcomes the progress achieved across all duty stations in many areas of reform in the Department for General Assembly and Conference Management. Progress in proactive document management, capacity calculations, terminology coordination, computer-assisted translation and in the information technology global initiative are answering the mandates given by the Member States with a view to improving the working methods and tools of the Department for General Assembly and Conference Management for enhanced conference servicing. We encourage the Department for General Assembly and Conference Management to actively take forward all these and other reform initiatives and make all efforts to further enhance the coordinated approach to conference servicing.

We further welcome the advance in areas of timely submission of documents and improvement of the global utilization factor. The European Union agrees with the ACABQ that a precise identification of lost time in conference-servicing is important and a detailed explanation of all factors contributing to a loss of time should be provided in order to further advance the efficient use of conference services.

The European Union places great importance on the availability and quality of conference services during the implementation of the Capital Master Plan and welcomes the Secretary-General's plan and recommendations to this end. We note the recommendation that meetings should be held within regular meeting hours in order to allow for uninterrupted construction work and emphasize that the maximum use of allocated time should be ensured.

Mr. Chairman,

Allow me to thank the Chairperson of the Committee on Conferences, Ms. Nonye Udo, for introducing the report of the Committee contained in document A/61/32. The European Union warmly welcomes the report and is encouraged to note that the Committee on Conferences has been able to agree on the annexed draft resolution. The European Union welcomes the draft resolution proposed by the Committee on Conferences and is willing to endorse it as a package. However, the EU is ready to revisit the elements contained therein and remains concerned on some issues outside the draft resolution. Finally, the European Union hopes that negotiations on Pattern of Conferences will reach a balanced and timely conclusion.

Thank you.


* Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.

| Haut |

• EU Presidency Statement - Human Resources Management (30/10/2006)
• EU Presidency Statement - Procurement Reform (23/10/2006)
• EU Presidency Statement - Programme budget for biennium 2006-07 (16/10/2006)
• EU Presidency Statement - Charter of the UN and Strengthening the Role of the Organisation (16/10/2006)
• EU Presidency Statement - Questions relating to information (16/10/2006)
• EU Presidency Statement - Review of Mandates (11/10/2006)
• EU Presidency Statement - UN Fifth Committee: Organization of Work (29/9/2006)