Informal meeting of the General Committee

– As delivered –

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

17 April 2019

Excellencies,

Chairs and Bureau members of the Main Committees,

Distinguished Delegates,

I am grateful for your presence at this informal meeting of the General Committee.

At the beginning of the 73^rd session, I made a commitment to Member States – to you – to make a better, and more strategic, use of this Committee to achieve our shared objective of improving the working methods of the General Assembly.

We all agree that to realize the 2030 Agenda and address the challenges we face – from climate change to extremism – “business as usual” is not an option. The same goes for how we do business in the General Assembly. After all, it is in this body – the most democratic and representative in the world – that the hopes and aspirations of “we the peoples” are vested.

So I would like to sincerely express my gratitude to the chairs of the Main Committees and their Bureau members.

Thank you for all your efforts to improve the working methods of your respective bodies. This work is crucial if we are to make progress on rationalizing our work. With your continued leadership, I know that we can make further gains on how we manage our time and how we structure our programme of work.

Excellencies and dear friends,

The General Committee can make an important contribution to these efforts. Indeed, under Rules 38 to 44, this Committee is mandated to make recommendations to the General Assembly on its provisional agenda – and to assist the President and Member States in determining the priority of items, in coordinating the proceedings of all committees and in the general conduct of the work of the Assembly.

In fulfilling these functions, the General Committee must not, of course, duplicate the work of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the revitalization of the General Assembly. It would be as you may understand an irony – although sadly not unique in UN terms – if our efforts to streamline created further repetition.

Instead, our meeting today should complement the Working Group’s recent discussion on working methods. It should build on the discussion we had on 5 December, when we looked at how to address duplication across the General Assembly and ECOSOC in relation to the SDGs. That is also why the alignment process has a critical importance.

Colleagues,

The quest for streamlining our work goes back several decades. But the stakes are much higher today and we all know that. This is not about bureaucratic tinkering. This is about how we manage the growing number of urgent issues we must address, with extremely limited resources.

We must use all available approaches to tackle this challenge: from reviewing the number, frequency and length of resolutions to working more closely with other parts of the UN system. And we must use all available tools to make progress, including this very Committee.

Excellencies,

Member States must remain able to submit new agenda items and resolutions, and to convene meetings and events. That is self-evident. That is their prerogative. And that is essential to maintaining the unique character of the General Assembly where all states, large and small, can exercise their sovereignty on an equal footing.

But as all Member States agree that we must rationalize our work, all Member States should consider how they themselves can contribute to this role.

I strongly encourage you to lead by example. When we discuss streamlining, we must avoid the tendency to push for the list of issues we want to preserve, instead of focusing on the list of things we are prepared to change or eliminate.  Look at our agenda through the eyes of the people who need our help most in our countries and ask this question: what more can we cluster? Are there things we can discuss every two or three years, or even four years, instead of annually? And what can we drop because it is no longer relevant?

Because it is vital that we have sufficient time to discuss issues thoroughly, to compromise and forge consensus, and to avail ourselves of sound data and analysis – instead of rushing through items late into the night, when we are all exhausted, or running from event to event.

And we need to have time for implementation. Ultimately, the world outside is not going to be impressed by the number of resolutions we adopt, but by the impact that these decisions have on their lives.

So let us be creative. Let us consider how we can improve the format of events such as roundtables and panel discussions – so that they are geared towards generating outcomes and allow for greater participation and transparency in our work.

And let us not lose sight of our core business. The High-Level General Debate is a unique contribution that this Assembly makes to the international community. We must ensure it retains its primacy and avoid the proliferation of parallel activities – for example, through a set of guidelines on initiating high-level and side events that would apply to Member States and to the Secretariat.

Next year is the 75^th anniversary of the United Nations. The high-level week of the 74^th session will be a crucial opportunity for world leaders to reaffirm their commitment to multilateralism and consider how we strengthen this Organization.

Colleagues,

There is much to discuss, and I hope we can have a frank and action-oriented exchange on:

• How we can further improve working methods and lead by example, and
• How we can make better use of this Committee’s mandate to support Member States

As we discuss these key issues, we must keep in mind that a well-functioning General Committee will allow us to make substantive progress in the revitalization process as well.

I am confident that, during this session, we can make further progress on making the UN more relevant – and effective – in the eyes of the people we serve.

Thank you.