A resolution entitled “Pattern of conferences” was adopted by the General Assembly at its twelfth session, in 1957, under the agenda item entitled “Budget estimates for the financial year 1958” (resolution 1202 (XII) - A|C|F|R|S). Since 1962 the item has been included in the agenda of the Assembly at its seventeenth, eighteenth, twentieth to twenty-seventh and twenty-ninth to fifty-ninth sessions.
At its twenty-ninth session, in 1974, the General Assembly established the Committee on Conferences, composed of 22 Member States (resolution 3351 (XXIX) - A|C|F|R|S).
At its forty-third session, the General Assembly decided to retain the Committee on Conferences as a permanent subsidiary organ composed of 21 members to be appointed by the President of the Assembly, after consultations with the chairmen of the regional groups, for a period of three years (resolution 43/222B - A|C|F|R|S) (see also item 103 (f)).
Since its forty-third session, the General Assembly has considered the item annually (resolutions 44/196 - A|C|F|R|S, 45/238 - A|C|F|R|S, 46/190 - A|C|F|R|S, 47/202 - A|C|F|R|S, 48/222 - A|C|F|R|S, 49/221 - A|C|F|R|S, 50/206 - A|C|F|R|S, 51/211 - A|C|F|R|S, 52/214 - A|C|F|R|S, 53/208 - A|C|F|R|S, 54/248 - A|C|F|R|S, 55/222 - A|C|F|R|S, 56/242 - A|C|F|R|S, 57/283B - A|C|F|R|S, 58/250 - A|C|F|R|S & 59/265 - A|C|F|R|S).
At its sixtieth session, the General Assembly requested the Secretary-General to explore innovative ways to address the issue of how improvements in the utilization of conference-servicing resources might entail a reduction in the availability of conference services for meetings of regional groups (sect. II.A, para. 8); requested the Secretary-General to continue his efforts to ensure that the conference centre at the Economic Commission for Africa established and developed linkages with other centres (sect. II.A, para. 13); recognized the upgrading of the information technology capacity at the United Nations Office at Nairobi and requested the Secretary-General to keep the General Assembly apprised of progress made in that regard (sect. II.B, para. 3); noted the ongoing efforts towards the establishment of the integrated global management system, and requested the Secretary-General to report to the Assembly at its sixty-first session on the outcome of the work of the task forces (sect. II.B, para. 6); requested the Secretary-General to report to the Assembly at its sixty-first session on impediments, if any, to achieving full compliance with the ten-week and six-week rules for the issuance of pre-session documents, including, where appropriate, proposed measures to address such impediments (sect. III, para. 2); requested the Secretary-General to develop a clear accountability mechanism within the Secretariat for the submission, processing and issuance of documentation in order to provide concrete recommendations to the Assembly at its sixty-first session (sect. III, para. 6); reiterated its request to the Secretary-General to address the question of the appropriate level of self-revision that was consistent with quality in all official languages and to report thereon to the Assembly at its sixty-first session (sect. IV, para. 5); requested the Secretary-General to continue to take appropriate measures to ameliorate the delay in the issuance of verbatim and summary records, with a view to issuing them in a timely manner; and reiterated its request to the Secretary-General to further elaborate on all options, and to report on their practical and financial implications (sect. III, paras. 12 and 13) to the Assembly at its sixty-first session (resolution 60/236B - A|C|F|R|S).
