Mr. Chairman,
I have the honour to take the floor on behalf of the Rio Group on
agenda item 118, Programme planning, and in
particular on the proposed medium-term plan for the period 2002-2005.
I should like, first of all, to thank the Controller, Mr. Jean-Pierre
Halbwachs, for his introduction of the item and
Ambassador Tommo Monthe, Chairman of the Committee for Programme and
Coordination (CPC) for
introducing the report of the Committee contained in document A/55/16.
Mr. Chairman,
The Rio Group attaches great importance to the planning of the Organization's
programmes and activities. The
medium-term plan is the general framework not only for our work but
also for Member States to be able to
impart an overall vision to the programmes and activities of the United
Nations. In short, it contains the main
normative guidelines for the Organization and is the basis for the elaboration
of its biennial budgets.
We are pleased to note that CPC has presented consensus recommendations
on the proposed plan that has
been prepared by the Secretariat. We in the Rio Group join in this consensus
and we support the adoption of
the report, with the relevant additional comments agreed upon by the
other Committees of the General
Assembly.
The exception, as you know, is programme 19, Human rights, which is
not accompanied by the necessary
recommendations. In this connection, we renew our appeal to the Third
Committee to review the programme
and to submit consensus recommendations on this chapter to the Assembly.
If this does not prove possible, the
Group will be prepared to consider the possibility and usefulness of
incorporating the recommendations for the
programme that are still valid for the current medium-term plan.
The Group also wishes to place on record its satisfaction at the format
of the medium-term plan, which meets
the requirements of the Regulations and Rules Governing Programme Planning.
It also welcomes the inclusion of
expected accomplishments and progress indicators in the subprogrammes,
which should be further refined in the
future.
Thank you very much.
