Statement by Mr. Hiroshi Onuma
First Secretary, Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations
On agenda item 135: Programme Planning
Main Session of the Sixty-Eighth Session
Of the United Nations General Assembly
9 October 2013
Thank you, Mr. Chairman,
At the outset, my delegation would like to thank Mr. Rashid Bayat Mokhtari, Chair of the fifty-third session of the Committee for Programme and Coordination (CPC) for introducing the Report of the CPC.
Mr. Chairman,
Japan recognizes the significant role the CPC plays in the process of setting the regular budget of the United Nations. My delegation believes that we had fruitful discussions on each of the various items during the fifty-third session of the CPC, and wish to continue to actively participate in the deliberations of the CPC. My delegation also believes that strengthening the role and functions of the CPC will ultimately facilitate the regular budget process.
On the other hand, due to the conflicting schedules of the CPC and the second resumed session of the Fifth Committee, which was extended until June both last year and this year, Member States and the Secretariat were obliged to address those meetings simultaneously, which imposed a heavy burden on them and affected the progress of both meetings in spite of the tremendous efforts of relevant participants and the Secretariat. Since each programme included in the proposed strategic framework for the period 2016-2017 is to be discussed during the upcoming fifty-fourth session of the CPC, and since even more intensive discussion is expected therein, my delegation deems it important to consider establishing realistic dates for the meetings of the both the CPC and the Fifth Committee in order to avoid or at least minimize to the greatest extent possible any potential overlap between them.
Mr. Chairman,
Japan is ready to engage constructively in discussions on this agenda, reviewing the report of the CPC from the viewpoint of the Fifth Committee.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
