第74回国連総会第5委員会主要会期における議題137「国連財政状況の改善」に関する山口書記官ステートメント

 
Mr. Chair,
 
At the outset, I would like to thank Ms. Catherine Pollard, Under-Secretary-General for Management, Strategy, Policy and Compliance, for providing last week a comprehensive overview of the financial situation of the United Nations.
 
My delegation notes that the repeated communications issued by the Secretary-General, as well as last week’s report provided by Ms. Pollard, indicate that the United Nations is facing a liquidity problem. We also note that, under the current situation, the Secretariat has been taking austerity measures with respect to the program budget.
 
Mr. Chair,
 
Japan would like to emphasize that the simplest and best solution to address the liquidity problem is for all Member States to pay their assessments in full and in a timely manner. For our part, Japan has been faithfully fulfilling its obligation and will continue to do so.
 
At the same time, my delegation is concerned that the programme budget in its entirety, tends to expand over time. The overall level of the programme budget, including subsequent add-ons, needs to be constrained duly and effectively. We, the Member States, need to remain always aware of the fact that our resources are not unlimited, and that the total budget needs to be accommodated within limited resources.
 
In addition, to ensure sound financial situation of the UN, it is essential to review duplicated mandates, to prioritize mandates and to implement them within limited resources as effectively and efficiently as possible.
 
 
 
With respect to the PKO budget, my delegation welcomes the improvement of its liquidity after the General Assembly approved to permit cross-borrowing across active missions and to assess for a full year, which has enabled prompt payments for troop and formed police units.
 
Mr. Chair,
 
I would like to close my statement by reiterating the importance of fiscal discipline in formulation and deliberation of budgets in order to allocate necessary and sufficient resources for the delivery of the given mandates. We expect that further efforts in this direction will continue to be made.
 
Thank you.