Statement from the President of the General Assembly, H.E. Mogens Lykketoft, on the Report of the Secretary-General’s Task Force: Functioning of the Office of the President of the General Assembly
Yesterday afternoon (28 March) we received the final report of the Secretary-General’s task force on the functioning of the Office of the President of the General Assembly (OPGA) and are studying it in detail. I commend both the Secretary-General and the Task Force on their work. It is good to see that the report points to the future of how to strengthen the OPGA.
I have written to all Member States drawing their attention to this report and encouraging the active support, participation and contribution of Member States in this important process. The first opportunity for the General Assembly to consider this report will be at the next meeting of the Ad hoc Working Group on the Revitalization of the Work of the General Assembly scheduled for 7 April 2016.
I am resolutely committed to transparency and accountability and I am happy to see that the Task Force has recognised the initiatives that I have taken in this respect to improve the functioning of the OPGA. This report represents an opportunity for the General Assembly to give a strong mandate for continued efforts in this regard.
It is clear from the report that the regulations related to the Office are not commensurate with the increasing number, and importance, of the tasks and functions of the OPGA and that there is still much that Member States can do to improve this. Indeed a number of the recommendations in the report overlap with those I and my team have raised in discussions with the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Revitalization of the Work of the General Assembly.
It is also clear from the report that the resources for supporting the office primarily come directly from a few Member States and not from the UN budget. That balance may need to be looked at.
It is now up to Member States to discuss the recommendations and decide if they want to make some of the initiatives we have taken permanent and if they want to add additional resources to this office to handle these and other tasks.
I and my office stand ready to support this process as necessary.