Statement by Ms. Shoko Fujimoto
Deputy Director, United Nations Planning and Administration Division
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan
Agenda item 134: Proposed Program Budget 2016-2017:
Revised estimates resulting from the decisions contained in the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development and the outcome document of the United Nations summit for the adoption of the post-2015 development agenda, entitled “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”
Main Part of the Seventieth Session,
Fifth Committee of the General Assembly
15 December 2015
Mr. Chairman,
At the outset, I would like to thank Ms. Bettina Tucci Bartsiotas, Assistant Secretary-General and Controller, and Mr. Carlos Ruiz Massieu, Chair of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), for introducing their respective reports on the revised estimates resulting from the decisions contained in the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development and the outcome document of the United Nations summit for the adoption of the post-2015 development agenda, entitled “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda were truly major outcomes achieved by the Member States this year in order to ultimately eradicate poverty from the earth and to transform the world into a sustainable planet by 2030. From this point of view, Japan engaged in the negotiations on these documents actively and constructively, and will put forth its best possible efforts, together with the international community, to implement these agendas.
Mr. Chairman,
These agendas are important milestone for sustainable development; however, we need to apply the Secretary-General's initiative of “do more with less” in implementation of these agendas since our resources are not unlimited. Even at a first glance, we find the revised estimates contained in the f the Secretary-General’s report (A/70/589) include additional resources based on assumptions which are still subject to the consideration of Member States outside of the Fifth Committee, in particular on the follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda which would follow the release of the Secretary-General’s report in 2016 as well as on interpretations that are not in line with the agreements reached and reflected in the two major outcomes.
We are also alarmed by the lack of consultation with Member States in the course of the elaboration of these estimates, and are concerned that these revised estimates do not seem to be redeploying and fully utilizing the existing resources within different parts of the UN, including but not limited to those within the UN Development Group. My delegation would like to scrutinize the revised estimate from these points of view.
Furthermore, my delegation regrets that the revised estimates were not introduced until about a week before the closure of our business, which did not leave enough time for both ACABQ and this Committee to fully discuss them and address such concerns as I have described.
Finally, Mr. Chairman, notwithstanding these aforementioned points, my delegation looks forward to discussing this important agenda item in a constructive manner under your able guidance.
I thank you, Mr. Chairman.
