Pursuant to regulation 2.4 of the Financial Regulations and Rules of the United Nations, the Secretary-General, in the second year of a financial period, submits to the General Assembly at its regular session his proposed programme budget for the following financial period. At its fifty-ninth session, the Assembly considered this question under the item entitled "Review of the efficiency of the administrative and financial functioning of the United Nations".

At its fifty-eighth session, the General Assembly decided that the programme narratives of the programme budget fascicles should be identical to the biennial programme plan; also decided to keep the current format of the proposed programme budget and to maintain the level of information contained therein; requested the Secretary-General to include in the introduction of the budget fascicles information on the new and/or revised mandates approved by the Assembly subsequent to the adoption of the biennial programme plan; requested the Secretary-General to ensure that resources were clearly identified in all the sections of the proposed programme budget for the performance of the monitoring and evaluation functions and requested the Secretary-General to entrust the Office of Internal Oversight Services, in collaboration with the Joint Inspection Unit, with submitting to the Assembly for consideration at its sixtieth session proposals on the strengthening and monitoring of programme performance and evaluation (resolution 58/269).

Also at its fifty-eighth session, the General Assembly requested the Secretary-General to report on further progress made to increase the capacity of the Economic Commission for Africa to communicate and transmit data electronically in the context of the proposed programme budget for the biennium 2006-2007; requested the Secretary-General to submit, through the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions, a comprehensive report for consideration by the Assembly at its sixtieth session on the progress of and lessons learned from the experiment for human resources management policies; and emphasized the priority it attached to the necessity of improving and modernizing the conference facilities at the United Nations Office at Nairobi, and requested the Secretary-General to keep under review the issue of the construction of additional facilities at the Office and to report thereon to the General Assembly in the context of the proposed programme budget for the biennium 2006-2007, in the light of experience gained from operating the modernized conference facilities (resolution 58/270).

At its fifty-ninth session, the General Assembly invited the Secretary-General to prepare his proposed programme budget for the biennium 2006-2007 on the basis of a preliminary estimate of $3,621.9 million at revised 2004-2005 rates (resolution 59/278).

At the same session, the General Assembly requested the Secretary-General to propose a relevant indicator of achievement for programme 1, General Assembly and Economic and Social Council affairs and conference management, section A, Conference management, New York, subprogramme 4, Meetings and publishing services, in the context of the proposed programme budget for the biennium 2006-2007 (resolution 59/275).

Also at the fifty-ninth session, the General Assembly requested the Secretary-General to include in the programme budget proposals for progressive increases for contributions from the regular budget to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees with a view to the full implementation of article 20 of the statute of the Office and to report on the progress made to the Assembly at its sixtieth session in the context of the proposed programme budget for the biennium 2006-2007; requested the Secretary-General to include in the proposed programme budget for the biennium 2006-2007 a transparent presentation of the purposes for which regular budget funds for the Office are proposed, including the composition of administrative costs and information on efficiency measures; requested the Secretary-General to make proposals in the context of the proposed programme budget for the biennium 2006-2007 for biennial review and approval by the Assembly of subvention requirements of the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research beginning with the biennium 2006-2007; recalled paragraph 44 of its resolution 58/270 in respect of the Repertory of Practice of United Nations Organs and requested the Secretary-General to keep the matter under review and to report thereon to the Assembly in the context of the proposed programme budget for the biennium 2006-2007; requested the Secretary-General to submit proposals to strengthen the United Nations website in the context of the proposed programme budget for the biennium 2006-2007; requested the Secretary-General to submit as a priority, to the Assembly at the beginning of its sixtieth session and prior to the introduction of the proposed programme budget for the biennium 2006-2007, a comprehensive report on all aspects of the financial situation of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research, including proposals which would address the long-term, sound and predictable funding of rent and maintenance costs, and decided to consider the outcome of its consideration of that report in the context of the proposed programme budget for the biennium 2006-2007 (resolution 59/276).

At its resumed fifty-ninth session, in April 2005, the General Assembly requested a more detailed analysis of the return on investment and the impact of such investment on the quality and timeliness of service delivery and of the resource requirements resulting from information and communication technology projects in the context of the proposed programme budget for the biennium 2006-2007 and future budgets (resolution 59/282).

(a) Proposed programme budget for the biennium 2006-2007 (A/60/6 (Introduction, Sects. 1-35, Sect. 13/Add.1, Income sects. 1-3), and A/60/6/Corr.1-3);

b) First report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions on the proposed programme budget for the biennium 2006-2007: Supplement No. 7. A/60/7 and Corr.1);

     Financial viability of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research. A/60/360

At its fifty-ninth session, the General Assembly decided to establish a Department of Safety and Security; requested the Secretary-General to report on the implementation of recommendations contained in the report of the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) (A/59/396) and also to entrust the Office to report on the utilization and management of funds approved by the Assembly for security-strengthening projects for submission to the Assembly at its sixtieth session; also requested the Secretary-General to submit to the Assembly at its sixtieth session an accountability framework for the United Nations security management system as a whole; further requested the Secretary-General, in order to strengthen security compliance, to apply available measures for disciplinary action to be taken at all levels, especially at the managerial level, in all departments for non-compliance with security standards, norms and procedures, and to report thereon to the Assembly at its sixtieth session; to elaborate further on his proposals concerning career development, a new profile for security officers and the further professionalization of security personnel, to submit detailed proposals on retirement policy given the special requirements for security staff and to report thereon to the Assembly at its sixtieth session; decided to establish a D-2 post of deputy to the Under-Secretary-General for Safety and Security and to review the post in the context of the implementation report to be submitted by the Secretary-General to the Assembly at its sixtieth session; decided to establish the post of the head of the Division of Safety and Security Services at the D-2 level and to review the post in the context of the implementation report to be submitted by the Secretary-General to the Assembly at its sixtieth session; further decided to review the newly approved posts in the light of a comprehensive report to be submitted by the Secretary-General to the Assembly at its sixtieth session addressing all elements contributing to the security planning of the Organization; requested the Secretary-General to provide, in the context of the implementation report, information on strengthening the cooperation between the Department of Safety and Security and the Department of Peacekeeping Operations with respect to security decisions that might affect the conduct of peacekeeping operations, in the framework of the unified security management system, which would be led by the Department of Safety and Security under the provisions of the present resolution; requested the Secretary-General, as Chairman of the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination, to address the issue of staff in the United Nations system who were working in the field and were not covered by the malicious acts insurance policy or a comparable scheme, in the context of the Board and to report to the Assembly thereon at its sixtieth session with a view to ensuring that all staff were covered; also requested the Secretary-General to submit to the Assembly at its sixtieth session the results of the technical study on information and communication technology security, business continuity and disaster recovery, with detailed costing and a timetable; requested the Secretary-General, as Chairman of the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination, to inform the Assembly at its sixtieth session on the issue of addressing the need for a clearer presentation of security spending by each organization of the United Nations system; and further requested the Secretary-General to submit to the Assembly at its sixtieth session a report on the implementation of the resolution (resolution 59/276, sect. XI).

     Strengthened and unified security management system for the United Nations (resolution 59/276, sect. XI, paras. 10, 13, 15, 21, 24, 25, 27, 40 and 57);

     Information and communication technology, security, business continuity and disaster recovery (resolution 59/276, sect. XI, para. 47);

     In his capacity as Chairman of the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination, on coverage of staff by the malicious acts insurance policy, and on security spending by organizations of the United Nations system (resolution 59/276, sect. XI, para. 43), A/60/317

     In his capacity as Chairman of the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination, on security spending by each organization of the United Nations system (resolution 59/276, sect. XI, para. 55);

     Global audit of field security management (A/59/702)

     Utilization and management of funds approved by the General Assembly in resolutions 58/295 and 59/276 for strengthening the security and safety of United Nations premises (resolution 59/276, sect. XI, para. 10), A/60/291 and Add.1

At its fifty-eighth session, the General Assembly requested the Secretary-General to report to the Assembly on the experience gained from operating the modernized conference facilities of the United Nations Office at Nairobi during the biennium 2006-2007 and requested the Secretary-General to explore the possibility of establishing a reserve fund to utilize currency gains and to report thereon, through the Advisory Committee, to the Assembly at its sixtieth session (resolution 58/272).

At the same session, the General Assembly requested the Secretary-General to provide a full presentation of the financial implications of identified options for the possible implementation of a cost accounting system for its consideration at its sixtieth session (decision 59/549).

Construction of additional office facilities at the Economic Commission for Africa, Addis Ababa (resolution 56/270) A/60/

At its resumed fifth-ninth, in April 2005, the General Assembly encouraged the Panel of Counsel to increase outreach activities and requested the Secretary-General to consider the inclusion of travel costs in section 28A, Office of the Under-Secretary-General for Management, of the proposed programme budget for the biennium 2006-2007, for that purpose and decided that activities requested in the resolution that would give rise to additional resource requirements during the biennium 2004-2005 should be included in the proposed programme budget for the biennium 2006-2007 (resolution 59/283).

Report of the Secretary-General:

At its resumed fifty-ninth session, in June 2005, the General Assembly requested the Secretary-General to report to the Assembly at the main part of its sixtieth session on all aspects of the capital master plan (resolution 59/295 and Dec 59/__)

Report of the Secretary-General on:

At its fifty-eighth session, the General Assembly requested the Secretary-General to report on further progress made to increase the capacity of the Economic Commission for Africa to communicate and transmit data electronically in the context of the proposed programme budget for the biennium 2006-2007 (resolution 58/270).

At its resumed fifty-ninth session, in April 2005, the General Assembly endorsed the recommendations contained in the report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (A/59/572), in particular, that information regarding priority-oriented planning and efficient and realistic allocation of space between the various United Nations agencies, funds and programmes and other entities should be included in the next report of the Secretary-General (decision 59/555).

Construction of additional office facilities at the Economic Comm,ission for Africa, Addis Ababa (resolution 56/270. A/60/_

Summary records