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Statement by Mr. Sho Ono,
Counsellor, Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations
Agenda Item 134:
Proposed programme budget: biennium 2014-2015 on the Capital master plan
First Resumed Part of the Sixty-eighth Session of the United Nations General Assembly
March 20, 2014
Mr. Chairman,
At the outset, my delegation would like to thank H.E. Mr. Yukio Takasu, Under-Secretary-General for Management and Mr. Carlos Ruiz Massieu, Chair of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions, for introducing their respective reports on CMP. I wish to briefly outline my delegation’s views on this issue.
Before expressing my delegation’s view on this agenda item, my delegation would like to express its regret over the late issuance of the documents on this agenda item. This Committee is supposed to be closed by Friday, one week from today. The late issuance of the documents on this agenda item will unduly reduce the time available to thoroughly consider this critically important item.
Furthermore, the late introduction of “Study on the long-term accommodation needs at United Nations Headquarters for the period from 2014 to 2034”, which is expected to be introduced to this committee only two days before the end of this session, according to the current programme of work, makes it impossible to finalize our consideration on the treatment of the Dag Hammarskjöld Library and South Annex Buildings.
Although the current Secretary-General report has presented ‘additional alternative options for interim solutions’, which is independent from long-term accommodation, my delegation believes that the options on the treatment of the Library and the South Annex should be thoroughly examined in the context of the Secretary-General’s proposals regarding the long-term accommodation needs of the United Nations Headquarters as I stated in the main part of the 68th session. My delegation reiterates its strong urge to the Secretariat to submit all required documentation in a timely manner, so that this committee can have sufficient time to consider agenda items.
Mr. Chairman,
My delegation welcomes the progress achieved since the last CMP briefing and commends the strenuous efforts made by those involved in this project. My delegation deeply appreciates that the work on the renovation of the General Assembly Building has proceeded on schedule and is projected to be completed in time for the General Debate of 2014. Japan also highly values the frequent briefings held for the Member States by Mr. Takasu, Under-Secretary-General for Management, and Mr. Adlerstein, in response to the request in last year’s General Assembly resolution on the CMP.
As to this agenda item, the main focus of this session is on how we might deal with the unfunded portion of the CMP; namely the so-called ‘associated costs and secondary data center costs’. For the next several days, this committee will have thorough discussions on how and when to fund these cumulative costs. There of course is a need to address the cash flow issue, since it is expected to be fully utilized towards the end of June this year. During this session, therefore, we need to at least have a decision which leads to solving this cash flow issue.
At the same time, we should also strive to merge our views regarding the financing of the unfunded portion of the CMP. On this point, it is imperative for the Secretary-General to make his utmost efforts to see if there is still room to make further efforts to contain and absorb these costs. In addition to that, we should have a thorough discussion on what could be done for the financing of the unfunded part of this project.
Finally Mr. Chairman, I would like to assure you that my delegation will participate actively in the consultations on this agenda item under your able guidance.
Thank you
