Statement by Mr. S.P. Muddahanume Gowda, Hon'ble Member of Parliament, on Agenda Item 137:  Pattern of Conferences, at the Fifth Committee of the 70th Session of the United Nations General Assembly on October 21, 2015

 

 

 

1. Thank you for giving me the floor. At the outset, my delegation would like to align itself with the statement made by the representative of South Africa on behalf of the Group of 77 and China on this agenda item. I would like to express the following views in my national capacity. 

 

Mr. Chairman,

 

2. My delegation appreciates and attaches great importance to the agenda item on Pattern of Conferences. I congratulate the Chairman and the members of the Committee on Conferences for their commendable work in the substantive session held last month and for the report presented to the General Assembly. I would also like to commend the Secretary General for his valuable report on this agenda item. 

 

3. I would like to place on record our appreciation for the senior management and staff of the Department of General Assembly and Conference Management whose work is indispensable in the successful conduct of all conferences and meetings in the UN system. Our appreciation extends to, among others, to the interpreters who are interpreting our speeches in all the six UN languages, fulfilling the ideal of multilingualism, the meeting support staff including the sound engineers, verbatim reporters, translators, proof readers, editors, documentation & publishing staff, as well as the staff involved in preparing the UN Journal which is the first point of contact for most of the distinguished delegates here every morning. 

 

4. All these officials here in this room, in other conference halls in the UN in New York and other UN stations in Geneva, Vienna, Nairobi and elsewhere play their part in assisting the Member States by way of effectively delivering quality conference services critical to the functioning of the organization in fulfilling the mandates agreed upon collectively. They deserve our appreciation and thanks while we consider this agenda item for discussion.

 

 

 

5 We emphasize that the major objective of the Department is to provide high-quality documents in a timely manner in all official languages, in accordance with established regulations, as well as high-quality conference services to Member States at all duty stations, and to achieve those aims as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible, in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the General Assembly. 

 

6. My delegation would like to further reiterate that the satisfaction of Member States is a key performance indicator in conference management and conference services. In this regard we join others in urging for continued efforts by the Department in seeking evaluation by Member States.

 

7. We are also happy to note that with the completion of Capital Master Plan, the conference room capacity has been fully restored, and even increased with three additional rooms.

 

Mr. Chairman,

 

8. Last year on the recommendations of this committee the General Assembly took an important decision recognizing the importance of several important days  observed in many member states including  Diwali, Gurpurab, International Day of Vesak, Yom Kippur, Orthodox Good Friday and Orthodox Christmas. We express our appreciation on this decision and note with satisfaction that the Secretariat has taken into account the request made by the General Assembly to all the relevant intergovernmental bodies to avoid holding meetings on these days, while preparing the draft calendar of conferences and meetings for the forthcoming biennium 2016-17.

 

 

9. Turning to some other issues of importance to this committee, I would like to emphasize the need for timely issuance of documents and the quality of documentation to facilitate effective consideration by the intergovernmental bodies, in particular, the Fifth Committee.  We also reiterate the importance of multilingualism and call for continued improvements in translation and interpretation in the six official languages allowing for the smooth deliberations of Member States in the intergovernmental process. 

10. In particular, I would like to stress that efforts must be continued to ensure that all the reports of the organization  include a summary, consolidated conclusions, recommendations and other proposed actions; as well as relevant background information;  

 

 

11. The past records of the organizations are pages of history of this organization and have to be adequately preserved. In this regard we welcome the efforts undertaken by the Department of Public Information and DGACM in digitalizing important United Nations documents. We take note of the progress in the digitization project with around 11 percent of the identified 3 million documents, out of the 17 million paper documents belonging to pre 1993 era, already being digitized. We urge for sustained focus on this project.

 

11. Finally Mr. Chairman, I would like to once again reiterate the critical role that conference management plays in the smooth functioning of the United Nations. My delegation welcomes the recommendations contained in the report of the Committee of Conferences for 2015 which are incorporated in the draft resolution on Pattern of Conferences. The draft provides a good basis for negotiations on this item and I am confident that this committee will be able to conclude its consideration of the agenda item, well in time, successfully.