第77回国連総会第5委員会主要会期閉会にあたっての藤沼参事官ステートメント

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Statement by Mr. FUJINUMA Atsuyuki 

Counsellor, Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations 

At the Conclusion of the Main Part of the 77th Session 

of the Fifth Committee of the General Assembly 

Mr. Chair, 

At the conclusion of the session, on behalf of my delegation, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to you, Chair and your team, and all the bureau members for your leadership and guidance. 

I would like to take this opportunity to also express my special thanks to the Secretariat for their patience and tireless efforts for the Fifth Committee. We would not be here without the support, assistance and strong push towards conclusion from your excellent team. I would also like to thank all the facilitators for their tremendous contribution in guiding and expediting the negotiations, and congratulate each and one of you for your accomplishments.  

Although we were not able to conclude the session before the Christmas holiday as planned, we were able to achieve important outcomes before the end of the year by exercising flexibility to ensure that the United Nations can efficiently, effectively, and nimbly deliver its mandate starting from day 1 of 2023.  

Mr. Chair, 

One of the biggest achievements of this session was the lifting of the trial period of the annual budget cycle. This would enable the Organization to continue to effectively address the changing needs of the international community with a more responsive and nimble programme budget. We look forward to seeing continuous improvement of the process and content of the budget, as the annual budget cycle enables the budget to be more predictable, transparent, and based on a more accurate budget assumption  

The Fifth Committee is a unique place in the United Nations system. The working methods and working languages are unique. Conducting negotiations while the city of New York is celebrating the holiday season is unique. Working together with the Secretariat, the ACABQ, and all the UN offices and bodies here in NY and across the world from Geneva, Nairobi, Vienna, to Bangkok, is unique. And the long-established practice of achieving agreement by consensus is unique and special. This has been the spirit of the Fifth Committee, and while it may take longer, it may require tough decisions, and it may enforce hard-fought push and shoves and sacrifices, we never exhaust our efforts to reach an agreement that is agreeable to all the Member States. Let us cherish and continue to uphold that. 

As we look forward to welcoming the year 2023, I hope that we can celebrate what we achieved today, but also learn from the lessons of this session, renew our commitment to negotiating constructively and in good faith, and continue to improve the working methods of the Committee.  

Mr. Chair,  

Finally, I wish you, the bureau members, the representatives of the Secretariat, and all our dear colleagues, a Happy New Year.