Vienna Chapter
Mr. Chairman,
On behalf of the Group of 77 and China I would like to thank the
Director-General for his very useful introductory statement. I am also
grateful to the DDG of the Department of Technical Cooperation for
introducing the documents on the issue of Technical Cooperation. In
addition the Group records its appreciation for the preparation and
submission of the documents GOV/2000/50, GOV/2000/50/Add.1,
GOV/INF/2000/24 and GOV/INF/2000/25.
The area of technical cooperation is of greatest importance to the
Group of 77 and China. We appreciate the support provided by the
Department in various areas of nuclear power and non-power applications,
which contributes to the socio-economic development of members of the
Group.
The Group notes with appreciation the upstream work, consisting of
intensive interaction with Member States including 40 country review
missions to arrive at Country Programme Frameworks (CPFs) and 140
pre-project missions undertaken by the Department to arrive at the
proposed programme for 2001-2002.
The Group has carefully gone through the programmes discussed in the
documents and agrees with the technical aspects of the programme
2001-2002. In particular, the Group is satisfied, inter-alia, with the
emphasis on the programme on water resources management using the
techniques of isotope hydrology.
Notwithstanding the outcome of the COP-VI (Conference of the Parties
to the UNFCCC), the Group would also like to underscore the potential
contribution that nuclear energy can make in reducing green house gas
emissions.
Mr. Chairman,
The Group would like to stress the importance of adequate funding for
the effective implementation of the technical cooperation programme. While
having reluctantly agreed to keep the target figure constant and to
endorse the new mechanism of rate of attainment, it was with the
understanding that this would lead to a substantial increase in actual
contributions. The rate of attainment was agreed in the last General
Conference Resolution to be 80% for the year 2001 and 85% for 2002. The
figure of 82% used for this rate for the year 2002 in the TC documents is
therefore not in conformity with the figure agreed by all Member States at
the General Conference.
Another concern reflected in the TC documents, specially that on the
technical cooperation strategy, is the lack of adequate management
resources within the Department. The Group therefore endorses the proposal
of the approval of US$ 1 million to support management resources. We
expect this would be a temporary arrangement and funds would subsequently
be made available from the Regular Budget to meet the shortfall. The Group
would like to emphasize that, in the meanwhile, this should not in any way
negatively affect the allocation from the regular budget for the
management of technical cooperation programme.
Another important issue discussed in the document on technical
cooperation strategy is the provision of equipment for the TC programme.
The Group fully supports the position that the supply of equipment should
be related to the requirements of the TC projects to meet the needs of
developing Member States. The Group therefore underlines that there should
be no blanket policy limiting the spending on equipment.
In this regard the Department of Technical Cooperation is commended
for their efforts in non-traditional fund raising, particularly in
parallel financing from other donors and joint financing or cost-sharing
from recipient countries. The Group further encourages this "match-making"
role the Agency is playing, to ensure funding of TC projects by
non-traditional donors.
The Group also wishes to recall that in the recently adopted
resolution GC(44)/RES/18 the Director General was requested to facilitate
all forms of Partnerships in Development by reviewing, amending or
simplifying as appropriate, the relevant financial and legal procedures.
It would, therefore, like to propose the modification of rule II: 2b (i)
and (ii) contained in document GOV/2395/Mod.2 by waiving the approval of
the Board for receipt of amounts above US$ 100,000 from intergovernmental
organizations and non-government sources with which the Agency has not
concluded a relationship agreement. This will promote the expeditious
acceptance and use of such funds by the Technical Cooperation Department.
Finally, Mr. Chairman,
The Group is happy to note that most of the targets laid down for the
technical cooperation strategy would be met by the end of the year. It
would also like to commend the evaluation carried out by the department of
some of the important projects over the last few years which would help in
improvement of the project design in future.
With these comments taken into account, the Group recommends the
action proposed as contained in paragraph 42 in document GOV/2000/50.
Thank you.
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