UN REFORM: U.S. HOSTS LUNCH TO DISCUSS WAYS FORWARD

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 001181

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E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: AORC KUNR UNGA
SUBJECT: UN REFORM: U.S. HOSTS LUNCH TO DISCUSS WAYS FORWARD


1. Summary. In the latest in a series of lunches on reform
in New York, Ambassadors and representatives from fourteen
key countries on June 6 acknowledged that time was getting
short and that it was critical to seek agreement on measures
to strengthen the UN. At the lunch, hosted for the first
time by the United States, many representatives emphasized
that it was more important to focus on the specific reforms
that could be agreed to by the end of June rather than to
dwell on what will happen with the 6-month spending limit
imposed by the General Assembly last December. In commenting
on the U.S. nonpaper (UN Reform: A Path Forward) Pakistan's
Permanent Representative said the Group of 77 and China could
agree to a range of management and oversight reform measures
but would not consent to give the Secretary-General more
budget authority. He also foresaw little progress being made
in the review of UN mandates. He and others stressed the
need to have a resolution on the issue of development. The
Japanese Deputy Permanent Representative expressed concern
that some reforms might be held up by late issuance of
reports on procurement and oversight and he rejected the
proposal from members of the G-77 and China that the initial
review of mandates be limited to those--about 7 percent of
the total--that were more than five years old but that have
not been renewed. Participants expressed appreciation to
host Ambassador Mark Wallace for the U.S.' engagement and
leadership; Amb. Wallace, in turn, urged colleagues to bring
specific reform language and proposals to the next lunch, to
be hosted by the Representative of the Republic of Korea.
End summary.


2. The series of lunches at Le Perigord was started several
months ago by the Deputy Permanent Representative of France
as a way for him and his fellow Deputies to become more
familiar with the UN management reform issues. Wednesday's
lunch, hosted by Amb. Wallace, was attended mainly by
Permanent Representatives and Deputy Permanent
Representatives from Tanzania, Japan, The Netherlands,
Mexico, France, Canada, Republic of Korea, Pakistan, New
Zealand, United Kingdom, Singapore, China, and Austria. Also
in attendance was Lars Wide, the chef de cabinet to President
of the General Assembly Jan Eliasson of Sweden.


3. Amb. Wallace said he was pleased with the positive spirit
that he detected in the U.S.' recent efforts at outreach to
the President of the Group of 77 and China (see separate
reporting cable) and other members. He distributed copies of
the UK and U.S. nonpapers on UN reform and asked colleagues
to comment. As the lunch proceeded, the following comments
and responses were made.


4. Ambassador Akram of Pakistan, who seemed to deliver the
G-77 message in the absence of the South African Permanent
Representative, recommended that Member States refrain from
linking proposed reforms to the spending cap even while
acknowledging that all were aware of the spending cap issue.
He also said that members of the Group wanted to work on a
consensus outcome but were concerned that the U.S. would
inject a surprise in the final stages by including additional
conditions on agreements. Regarding the three "buckets" of
reform outlined in the U.S. nonpaper, Akram said it was clear
that not all buckets could be filled but that movement could
be achieved in several areas. In the first bucket dealing
with "Modernizing the Secretariat", the element of greatest
difficulty for G-77 members was increased flexibility for the
Secretary-General. While the Group would also have a few

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issues with human resources management proposals once they
are fully developed, other reforms including
information/communications technology improvements and better
financial management practices could be agreed. In the
bucket labeled "Improving Oversight, Accountability and
Governance", Akram said that the Group would only take issue
with the issue of improved governance. He saw possibilities
for agreement on proposals to strengthen OIOS, improve
accountability, and create an Independent Audit Advisory
Committee. The third bucket, entitled "Reviewing Mandates",
was the most difficult one to achieve agreement on. It might
be possible, he said, to agree to reviewing mandates older
than five years and that have not been renewed; agreement on
a process for continuing the mandate review into the future
might also be possible. To build confidence among
delegations, Akram suggested that Member States agree on two
things initially: 1. a resolution on development; and 2. to
allocate any savings from development mandates back into
development activities.

Responding to Akram, Amb. Wallace welcomed the opportunity to
build trust and assured him that the U.S. would not inject
new ideas into the negotiations. He said that the U.S.
understood the importance of lifting the spending cap but
emphasized that countries would be judged on the reforms that
are achieved and not on what happens with the spending
authority. While acknowledging that U.S. domestic concerns
were not problems for other Member States, he also stated
that these concerns could cause problems for the UN.



5. France's Deputy Permanent Representative Duclos
acknowledged the importance of building trust and said that
the circulation of the U.S. nonpaper was itself a confidence
building measure because many delegations had wanted to know
"where the Americans are" on these issues. He said that all
were aware of the cap but stressed the need to focus on the
other issues of management reform. Regarding the mandate
review, he said that "we should go as far as possible" but
acknowledged that this was not an area where much progress
could be made. As for the proposal for increased flexibility
for the Secretary General, Duclos said that it was not so
much a transfer of power from the Fifth Committee to the
Secretariat as it was a measure to instill greater efficiency

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in managing the Organization. The way to bridge this, he
suggested, was to balance the flexibility with accountability
requirements. He said that since in the final negotiation
states there are usually only a handful of countries in the
Fifth Committee, perhaps it would help to designate some
smaller groups upfront to work on possible language. Duclos
said that western countries should accept the G-77 proposal
to concentrate initially on the 7 percent of mandates that
had not been renewed. He also signaled that a resolution on
development was possible.


6. Singapore's Permanent Representative Vanu Menon expressed
appreciation to the U.S. for its leadership on the issue of
UN reform. He said that the elements in the nonpaper seemed
quite sensible on the surface but remarked that the "devil
was in the details." The proposal to grant the
Secretary-General more authority to transfer resources raised

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special concerns that development activities would be
short-changed but he suggested that some accountability
mechanisms could be created to address this. Menon said that
things should not be rushed, that it was important to look
carefully at the reports and see what would be possible by
the end of June. Like others, he advocated that the mandate
review start with the 7 percent of mandates not renewed and
work on the rest later.

Canadian Ambassador Allan Rock asked whether the G-77 would
agree to review the other 93 percent of mandates later.
Menon said he thought it possible to do the first set during
the 61st GA and to continue in the next session. He also
warned against "tying the hands" of the next
Secretary-General by imposing requirements and changes that

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might not suit him or her.


7. The Deputy Permanent Representative of the United
Republic of Tanzania, Tuvako Manongi, said that the disparate
positions of members states could be bridged only through a
process of reaching out and identifying areas of possible
agreement. He said that while he understood that the U.S.
has pressing domestic issue, other countries do too.


8. Ambassador Rosemary Banks of New Zealand told her
colleagues that she was relieved now that they were able to
talk about UN reform more specifically. She said that she
looked forward to proposals and positions from both the
European Union and the G-77. While the UK and U.S. nonpapers
seemed to have common elements, in other ways they were not
matched because the U.S. paper was less specific. She
disagreed with those who believed that certain reform
proposals should wait until the new Secretary-General was
installed and said that there was a need to find a balance
between flexibility and accountability.


9. The newly arrived Deputy Permanent Representative from
the UK, Karen Pierce, explained that her Ambassador's
nonpaper did not contain hard and fast proposals but was
merely an enumeration of possible elements. She also
recalled the well-known management principle that it was
important to make difficult changes when there is an outgoing
leader.


10. The Dutch Deputy Permanent Representative, Arjan
Hamburger, remarked about the growing distrust between groups
and countries, saying that it needed to be addressed. He
emphasized that reforms were not needed to cut the budget but
rather to ensure that the budget was used properly.
Hamburger said that all countries should agree to lift the
budget cap but also to implement substantial reform. The
development resolution, which is a separate issue, should
also be agreed to soon.


11. Korea's Permanent Representative, Young-jin Choi,
welcomed the U.S. engagement on management reform, which he
said was not the case with the human rights council
discussions. Like others, Choi said it was more important to
focus on the specific reform proposals than on the spending
cap. He said that he was not very optimistic about the
chances for success and disagreed with others about the issue
of distrust. Instead, Choi indicated that the primary issues
were ones of substance and had to do with increased

flexibility for the Secretary-General, the role of the Fifth
Committee, and the need for the mandate review. He said that
the UN will face a crisis unless solutions are found.


12. Austria's expert representative, Enno Drofenik, said
that there was little point in focusing on the spending cap
because it would be lifted one way or the other. He informed
the group that EU was working on position papers that should
be ready next week. Regarding two reform issues: Drofenik
said that the General Assembly had already given the
Secretary-General limited budget discretion that now needs to

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be implemented; he also said that the Fifth Committee will
take up the issue of accountability in a big way this fall
when it considers the Secretary-General's proposals for
improving the administration of justice in the Secretariat.


13. Mexico's Deputy Permanent Representative, Juan Manuel
Robledo, expressed appreciation for the U.S. engagement on
management reform issues and said that he agreed with Amb.
Menon of Singapore about the value of the overarching goals
as well as the need to study the details. He added his
support to those who advocated using the 7 percent of
nonrenewed mandates as the starting point for the review.
Robledo said that, while he had no recipe for eliminating the
distrust, Member States would get nowhere without agreements
on development and ECOSOC reform.


14. Japan's Ambassador Ozawa said he was very encouraged by
the more moderate tone struck by South Africa and Egypt
earlier in the week during the mandate review meeting. He
expressed concern that late submission of reports on
procurement reform and oversight would adversely affect
Member States' ability to agree on a comprehensive package.
On the issue of budgetary flexibility for the
Secretary-General, Ozawa indicated that the proposed

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discretion of 10 percent was too high and that such a measure
could start with a rate of 1 or 2 percent as an experiment.
He disagreed with France and others who advocate the 7
percent of nonrenewed mandates as a starting point for the
mandate review, indicating that there was little to be
achieved in reviewing these mandates. He also said that it
was extremely important to show tangible examples of success
at the end of June and then beyond.


15. Chinese Deputy Permanent Representative Yishan Zhang
cautioned against adhering to strict time limits for
achieving reform, saying that the UN's 60 years of practices
could not be changed in a few months. He expressed support
for the use of the 7 percent of nonrenewed mandates to start
the mandate review and warned that there would not be a
consensus on the spending cap in June like there was last
December. He acknowledged that the largest contributor paid
22 percent of the budget but stressed that those who pay the
other 78 percent need to be considered too.


16. Ambassador Lars Wide of the PGA's office provided a
brief status report on reform items and stressed that
everything needed to be pulled together in a few weeks. He
said President Eliasson stood ready to help.


17. In closing, Amb. Wallace said that there would not be a
UN crisis due to the spending cap because it would be lifted
one way or another. He emphasized the need for a commitment
to making progress on reform and urged colleagues to come to
the next lunch, hosted by Korea, with specific proposals.

MILLER