Talking points for the informal consultations of the Group of 77 and China with the Co-Chairs of the Working Group on financing the Agency’s activities, including ways and means to render the resources for the Technical Cooperation Fund sufficient, assured and predictable, H.E. Ambassador Aliyar Lebbe Abdul AZEEZ, Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka on 1 April 2014
Madame Co-Chair, Mr. Co-Chair:
We welcome this opportunity to exchange with you, distinguished Co-Chairs, views on different issues pertaining to the Working Group in this informal setting. As we said during the fourth meeting of the Working Group, we are of the view that deliberations should not be rushed. What is important is the result, the end product.
This is why at that meeting we proposed that the Co-Chairs of the Working Group deliver an interim report during the June Board of Governors, since the Chair of the Board of Governors requested this Working Group to report at that instance. To this end, we think that it might be useful to have a separate agenda item, so that the Co-Chairs can report on the progress made by the Working Group thus far, as well as on other aspects that they may consider relevant.
The Co-Chairs’ indicative list of topics and timetable uploaded in Govatom on March 19th states that, during the next meeting, which is planned for April 9th, particular emphasis will be placed on issues related to point III on Oversight, Auditing and Accountability. We want to stress the importance that presentations that might be arranged by the distinguished Co-Chairs on these topics cover both the Technical Cooperation Fund as well as the Regular Budget. We welcome the fact that the description of the issues in the list of the Co-Chairs makes reference to both.
We would like to see the issues proposed by our Group in its last intervention to be added to the indicative list of the Co-Chairs. Once the Co-Chairs have an aggregate list of topics, we suggest that they be arranged in clusters, scheduling meetings in such a way that all topics and proposals can be given thorough consideration.
In this regard, we would also expect the Secretariat to prepare and compile, as necessary, background documentation and briefings on specific topics, as appropriate, to facilitate the preparation of recommendations by this Working Group.
Finally, we would like to how the Co-Chairs see the way forward. We expect a clear outcome from this Working Group, in terms of concrete, actionable proposals that should be then taken to the Board of Governors for decision, instead of an unconducive theoretical undertaking ending up in a descriptive compendium of alternatives reflecting an array of principled positions. As we all know, unfortunately this has proven to be the case in the past. We trust that you, distinguished Co-Chairs, will do your utmost to bridge gaps and find areas of convergence among Member States. From our part, we are committed to attaining a different result this time around through a committed and constructive engagement of the members of our Group in this important process.
