– As delivered –

Statement by H.E. Mrs. María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, President of the 73rd Session of the UN General Assembly

Delivered by Ambassador Kwabena Osei-Danquah, Chef de Cabinet

26 March 2019

 

Your Excellencies Co-Chairs of the revitalization process,

Excellencies,

Chairs and Bureau members of the Main Committees

Distinguished Delegates

Dear colleagues,

I am pleased to address this thematic discussion of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Revitalization of the work of the General Assembly on behalf of the President of General Assembly, H.E Maria Fernanda Espinosa.

I would like to reiterate my appreciation to the Co-Chairs of the Working Group, Ambassador Bahous of Jordan and Ambassador Mlynar of Slovakia for their leadership of this important process.

I would like also to recognize the presence of chairs of the main Committees and the work undertaken to improve the methods of work of their respective bodies, which will contribute to further rationalize our work and ensure more efficiency and effectiveness. Without collective leadership, it is difficult to see how we address effectively the critical challenge of the working methods of the Assembly.

We all have a responsibility to overcome the institutional cultural biases, the traditions and past practices that tend to limit our potential to make the UN relevant for all people, even when the reasons for those ways of doing things have long been overtaken by history.

The General Assembly is not the only institution in the world that constantly needs to adapt to the needs of its constituents; its centrality to addressing global challenges through multilateral cooperation, however, makes the urgency of change more compelling.

Excellencies,

Friends,

At the beginning of the 73rd session, I promised to utilize the General Committee more frequently to improve the methods of work as well as the effectiveness of the Assembly. In this context, I dedicated a meeting of the General Committee on 5 December to exchange views on the important process to address gaps and duplication in the agenda of the General Assembly as they relate to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in accordance with General Assembly resolution 72/313, in particular its paragraphs 29, 30 and 31.

The next meeting of the General Committee will be convened on 12 April and will be dedicated to the issue of improving the methods of work of the Assembly and the main committees. It will also look at appropriate ways to engage in a genuine dialogue on the implementation of the many resolutions and other outcome documents we adopt every session.  Your deliberations today will therefore be extremely useful to our next meeting of the General Committee.

I also dedicated the first meeting of the Morning Minga (the morning dialogues) as well as the joint briefing I convened with the President of ECOSOC to build support among Member States on the importance of reforming and rationalizing our methods of work, after having successfully delivered on reform processes related to management, the peace architecture and the United Nations Development System.

Excellencies,

I would like to reiterate here my preoccupation with regard to the General Debate of the Assembly, which risks losing its importance and primacy, due to the increasing number of parallel activities.

As we are engaged in the preparation of the high-level week of the 74th session, I am afraid that we will face the same constraints in terms of scheduling, organizational arrangements, speaking opportunities as well as attendance at the debate itself.

Indeed, on the margin of the General Debate, a number of high-level Events and Summits are scheduled: the HLPF and the Climate Summits, the High-Level Dialogue on Financing, the Samoa Pathway, the Universal Health Coverage. Already, we hear of other events being planned by Member States.

In our informal discussion on this important matter, most of Member States agree on the need to address it urgently. I heard some concrete proposals, which I strongly support, to consider a set of guidelines on the initiation of high-level as well as side events, which would apply both on Member States and the Secretariat. I have also discussed with the Secretary General the need to ensure that the entire UN system, with its agencies, programmes and funds, adhere to this collective effort.

Colleagues,

As far as the need to look at possible options to streamline our agendas and the number as well as the length of resolutions we adopt, I believe there are many levels of action we should aim at.

The first level of action is certainly the ongoing process to enhance synergies and coherence and reducing overlap in the agendas of the General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council and their subsidiary bodies, as well as the High-Level Political Forum and other related forums in light of the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The success of this important process would depend on the genuine and constructive engagement of all Member States in order to identify a comprehensive methodology that defines what are possible gaps and duplications as well as a realistic timeframe to achieving this goal.

The second level of action is the work to be undertaken by the Chairs of the main Committees, under the respective agenda items related to improving methods of work. Issues related to time management, programme of work, recurrence (biennial, triennial or even quadrennial review) and clustering of agenda items and resolutions could be addressed at this level for the issues under consideration of these Committees, while taking into consideration their specificities.

The criteria must always be to support countries to implement their commitments to realize sustainable development and this requires spacing to collect data and evidence and have sound analyses to guide further implementation. What use would our resolutions be if our own authorities ignore them?

In addition, we also need to look at the formatting of events such as round tables and panel discussions. There are models worth adopting that lend themselves to action-oriented outcomes and I encourage openness and innovation as we seek to serve people around the world and leave no one behind.

The third level of action could be considered at the General Committee, whose mandate is to discuss issues related to the agenda of the General Assembly. Its dimension, representativity and openness could constitute good assets to engage in concrete discussions related to streamlining our agenda.

Last but not least is the level of individual Member States and group of countries, who could lead in this collective effort through reconsidering the recurrence and clustering of resolutions and agenda items but also through dropping those that are not anymore relevant for the current context. This means exercising maximum self-discipline in initiating new actions and events, without serious added value.

In this context, Guyana’s leadership should be applauded in taking the decision to remove item 16 of the 73rd session as a standalone item. This should inspire us all and generate momentum towards further streamlining of our work.

Friends,

Before concluding, let me reiterate my strong call to Member States to act boldly on the critical issue of moving the date of the beginning of the regular session of the General Assembly, without prejudice to the date of the General Debate.

This issue is at the heart of methods of work of the GA, as it impacts directly the way the elected President delivers during the busiest week of our work at the United Nations, and in the months after.

Delivering on this issue would certainly constitute an important outcome of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the revitalization of the General Assembly during the ongoing session.

Delivering on the revitalization agenda will demonstrate our determination to renew the United Nations for a fast-changing world and its new challenges.

Thank you.