(Check against delivery)
Statement by H.E. Mr. Hiroshi Minami
Deputy Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations
Agenda item 132: Programme Budget for the biennium 2014-2015
Revised estimates relating to the programme budget for the biennium 2014-2015 under sections 5, Peacekeeping operations, 8, legal affairs, 27, Humanitarian assistance, 29B, Office of Programme Planning, Budget and Accounts, 29C, Office of Human Resources Management, 29D, Office of Central Support Services, 34, Safety and security, and 36, Staff assessment
Main part of the Sixty-ninth Session
Fifth Committee of the General Assembly
18 December 2014
Mr. Chairman,
At the outset, I would like to thank Mr. Chandru Ramanathan, Officer-in-Charge, Office of Programme Planning, Budget and Accounts, 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 for UNMEER.
We deeply appreciate the leadership of the Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon; Dr. David Nabarro, the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on Ebola; Mr. Anthony Banbury, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Mission for Emergency Ebola Response (UNMEER) and the UN Staff for mobilizing and scaling-up support and commitments from the international community to overcome this crisis. We also welcome the appointment of new Special Representative and Head of UNMEER, Mr. Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, who will take his responsibility next January.
Mr. Chairman,
We must stop this outbreak any way we can. Japan is determined to put forth its best in the fight against the Ebola virus disease. In this regard, I would like to briefly share with you our response to this emergency:
Japan has been playing an active role in the effort to combat the current Ebola crisis as a global threat since last April when the outbreak was first recognized. So far Japan has completed the allocation of 55 million USD and pledged an additional contribution up to 100 million USD to this effort. In addition to contributing directly to the treatment of infected individuals and halting the spread of the disease, this assistance has also been used to rebuild the health systems and stabilize the societies of the affected countries from a mid and long term perspective, with enhancing the ownership of the countries themselves. Furthermore, Japan has sent 11 medical experts to the affected countries through WHO mission, and over 30 experts are listed to participate in WHO mission. Japan has also been providing in-kind contributions, including over 700,000 sets of personal protective equipment (PPE) so far, and is working to develop and provide promising medical drugs that may potentially be effective against Ebola virus disease.
Mr. Chairman,
As my delegation stated in our previous statement for this agenda item in October, Japan fully supports the activities of UNMEER and continues playing an active role in combating this global threat. In this agenda item, the ACABQ recommends the authorization of a commitment authority for nine months as well as the establishment of a separate and distinct account for income and expenditures. Although Japan attaches great importance to UNMEER, we will scrutinize the proposed amount of the resource requirements as a whole as well as where the budget should belong in the context of the proposed programme budget including the first performance report of 2014-2015 biennium. Allow me to conclude by saying that my delegation will participate in the discussion positively and constructively.
