Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations

2000 Statement

H.E. Mr. Hideaki Kobayashi

Deputy Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations

On Item 122, "Scale of Assessments for the Apportionment of the Expenses of the United Nations", Fifth Committee, 55th Session of the United Nations General Assembly

2 October 2000

Mr. Chairman,

At the outset, I wish to extend to you and the other members of the bureau my heartfelt congratulations on your election. I would also like to express my appreciation to Mr. Sessi, distinguished Chairman of the Committee on Contributions, for introducing the report.

Mr. Chairman,

From our point of view, the most urgent task for the Fifth Committee at this session is to reform the scales of assessments for the regular and PKO budgets. As Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori stressed at the Millennium Summit, " it is necessary to urgently secure a more sound financial base in order to strengthen the functioning of the United Nations." And to that end, it is essential that Member States cooperate to realize a fairer and more equitable system for sharing the financial burden while making effective yet efficient use of the financial resources of the Organization. Today's scale of assessments cannot be considered as reflecting the economic strength of the individual Member State or its position and responsibilities within the United Nations.

Mr. Chairman,

Japan’s package proposal for the reform of the scale for the regular budget is now on the table, and is contained in subparagraph 4 (i) of resolution 54/237 D. It is aimed, in particular, at reforming the current low-per-capita-income adjustments, which we believe result in a scale of assessments that is unfair and inequitable.

I hasten to add, however, that we support the concept of low per-capita-income (PCI) adjustments as we fully recognize the need to avoid placing too heavy a financial burden on developing countries. But the current PCI adjustments are, in our eyes, causing to the countries which are not eligible for the adjustments too large discrepancies between their GNP shares and scales. For example, as I stated in this Committee last March, "it is very difficult for the Japanese to understand why the share of the assessed budget for Japan is now more than 20 percent, while its GNP share remains approximately 17 percent." Now that our GNP share is decreasing it is all the more difficult to understand.

Moreover, under the current systems, there is a very unfair divide between large developing economies and smaller ones. For only a limited number of countries with large economies benefit more from the PCI adjustments than a great many developing countries which truly need such relief. In other words, a large proportion of the total discounts offered under the current system goes to a very limited number of counties having large economies. As a result, the capacities to pay of the countries with large economies are underevaluated.

According to the report of the COC, which Mr. Sessi has introduced today, approximately 53.7 percent of total discounts go to countries with GNP shares of over one percent of the world GNP, with 30.3 percent going to a single country with the largest economy among them. On the other hand, as many as one hundred and twenty-eight (128) developing countries with small- or medium-sized economies receive less than half of the total discounts. We consider this to be a serious situation that is contrary to the concept of "capacity to pay".

Our proposal is primarily aimed at correcting these two distortions by slightly lowering the level of the entire PCI adjustments, and more importantly by introducing the so-called "sliding gradients" to the allocation of PCI adjustments. We propose three levels of gradients, namely 10 percent to the country whose GNP share is more than 3 percent, 40 percent to those between 1 and 3 percent, and 70 percent to those less than 1 percent. According to this proposal, impacts on the other 128 countries whose GNP shares are less than 1 percent would be very minimum, while only a limited number of countries having very large economies will be affected. We believe that by adopting the "sliding gradients" system we would be able to make the scale of assessments better reflect Member States’ actual "capacity to pay", so that the mechanism of PCI adjustments will much better serve its original purpose of providing relief to countries in need.

Another element of our proposal is to ask the permanent members of the Security Council to give up the benefits of PCI adjustments. The permanent members clearly have special responsibilities within the United Nations, and such responsibilities should be reflected in their scales of assessments not only for the financing of peacekeeping operations but also regular budget. The privileges of the permanent members extend far beyond matters relating to peace and security.

We believe that our proposal will serve the purpose of making the scale of assessments fair and equitable, and I would appreciate your consideration of our proposal.

Mr. Chairman,

I feel it is by no means a coincidence that in the last year of the current century we have an opportunity to reform the scales of assessments and thereby ensure that the United Nations will have a firm financial base for tackling the challenges of the next century. It is incumbent upon each of us, under your leadership, Mr. Chairman, to make every effort to reach a consensus.

I assure you, Mr. Chairman, that for our part, Japan will spare no effort to cooperate with you and our colleagues to make this session truly productive in terms of reforms.

Thank you very much.