Statement by Mr. Hiroshi Onuma
First Secretary, Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations
On agenda item 133: Pattern of Conferences
Main Part of the Sixty-Seventh Session
United Nations General Assembly
23 October 2012
Thank you Mr. Chairman,
At the outset, I wish to thank Ms. Carolina Popovici, Chair of the Committee on Conferences, Mr. Jean-Jacques Graisse, Acting Head of the Department for General Assembly and Conference Management, and Mr. Collen Kelapile, Chair of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), for introducing their respective reports on this agenda item. In the following statement, I wish to share my delegation’s views on these reports.
Mr. Chairman,
My delegation recognizes that maintaining appropriate quality of conference services in the United Nations is essential for proper decision making by the Member States. Yet we believe the services should be provided in the most efficient and effective manner. The Secretariat should not stop seeking efficiencies in delivering conference services through the introduction of new cost-saving measures. At the same time, Member States should refrain from adding unnecessary conference resources when deciding the modalities of new meetings in General Assembly resolutions.
Mr. Chairman,
My delegation believes that we had meaningful discussions on various subjects, including the utilization of conference-servicing resources and facilities, integrated global management and the paper-smart concept, during the Committee on Conferences (CoC) for 2012 in September.
In particular regard to the paper-smart concept, Japan attaches great importance to the study of lessons learned from the preliminary application of this concept during the Rio+20 conference and thereafter to defining a direction for it. Therefore, my delegation wishes to deepen the discussion on this concept with more information about the lessons learned from the Secretariat, which was not yet sufficient at the time of the CoC.
Japan supports the introduction of the paper-smart concept to the Secretariat and its promotion therein as far as it doesn’t jeopardize existing transparency and accountability. However, we are concerned that this concept may increase the total cost of documentation and publications because of the duplication of human resources.
In this regard, Japan is ready to engage in discussions on various subjects including the paper-smart concept, taking into account further information provided by the Secretariat.
Mr. Chairman,
In closing my statement, I would like to reiterate that my delegation will participate constructively in the discussions during the informal consultations on all aspects of this agenda item.
I thank you Mr. Chairman.
