UN BUDGET: RECOMMENDATION TO DEMARCHE KEY CAPITALS

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 001180 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: AORC UNGA SUBJECT: UN BUDGET: RECOMMENDATION TO DEMARCHE KEY CAPITALS REF: A. USUN 1172 ¶B. USUN 1135 (AND PREVIOUS) ¶1. This is an action request - see para 5. ¶2. Discussions in the Fifth Committee on the proposed 2008-2009 UN regular budget are coming to a head without any significant action to counter the unacceptably large increase in the projected budget. The Secretary-General has proposed an "initial" budget of $4.19 billion for the biennium 2008-2009, but simultaneously has identified various "add-ons" to the base budget that would bring the projected 2008-09 budget up to approximately $4.8 billion. This would make the 2008-09 budget the largest regular budget in UN history. ¶3. Even this $4.8 billion figure is not likely to be the final budget number because it does not take into account additional proposals recently identified that are likely to bring the final total budget of the 2008-2009 biennium in excess of $5.2 billion. This would represent an increase of 25 per cent or greater over the budget for the 2006-2007 biennium. If this enormous increase is not effectively addressed, we likely will face significant resistance from Congress on funding. ¶4. USUN believes it is imperative to demarche key capitals to promote support to resist the large increase, especially from key members of the Group of 77 and China (G-77),many of whom are the recipients of significant U.S. assistance. Unfortunately, a number of key heads of delegation in the G-77 are absent from New York for a variety of reasons, leaving their respective missions on "auto-pilot," for example Pakistan and South Africa, thus making it difficult to achieve progress and obtain clear commitments in support of our objectives. ¶5. ACTION REQUEST: USUN strongly urges the Department to demarche urgently by 12/19 at the highest possible political level the following governments in capital to underscore the urgency of reaching a decision on an approach that effectively deals with the unacceptable increase in the UN budget: Pakistan, South Africa, and Egypt. The demarche would seek support for either of two options: A) Member States would act now to allow the UN to continue its activities on the same basis and at the same level as provided under the final 2006-2007 budget, but postpone final action until we can consider the full 2008-009 budget in a holistic manner in the spring of 2008, or as the Secretariat is prepared to propose such a budget; or, B) If we are unable to authorize a rollover, we could adopt the budget with a very modest increase now and grant the Secretary-General the budget-cutting/prioritizing authority SIPDIS to fund the add-ons from within the budget total already approved. Under this approach, we would propose limiting budget growth to roughly 7 per cent - roughly in line with Member State government budgets. Khalilzad