Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09GENEVA635
2009-07-29 13:59:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Mission Geneva
Cable title:  

UNCTAD Working Party on the Budget

Tags:  ECON UNCTAD USTR 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0006
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUEHGV #0635/01 2101359
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 291359Z JUL 09
FM USMISSION GENEVA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9007
INFO RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 3105
RUEHAB/AMEMBASSY ABIDJAN 0317
UNCLAS GENEVA 000635 

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR IO/T, IO/EDA, IO/MPR:GABRAHAMS
DEPT PASS USTR
USUN FOR JLAWRENCE BRASHKOW CNORMAN

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON UNCTAD USTR
SUBJECT: UNCTAD Working Party on the Budget

UNCLAS GENEVA 000635

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR IO/T, IO/EDA, IO/MPR:GABRAHAMS
DEPT PASS USTR
USUN FOR JLAWRENCE BRASHKOW CNORMAN

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON UNCTAD USTR
SUBJECT: UNCTAD Working Party on the Budget


1. SUMMARY: The United Nations Conference for Trade and Development
(UNCTAD) Working Party met June 8-12 in Geneva to discuss UNCTAD's
draft program budget for the 2010-2011 biennium. The budget
fascicle was presented along with the results of a survey UNCTAD
conducted on the quality of its publications. While several of the
suggested changes in UNCTAD's strategic framework that the Working
Party made when it last met in January were taken into account, the
suggested change from the African countries (a presentation of the
new commodities unit as if it were a subprogram in the strategic
framework) was rejected by the budget office in NY. This incensed
the Africans. The regular budget resource level allocated to UNCTAD
for the 2010-2011 biennium amounted to USD 136 million - a 2.2
percent increase - and 12 new posts were created under the
development pillar. END SUMMARY

PUBLICATIONS SURVEY
--------------


2. The UNCTAD secretariat presented the results of a recent survey
of their publications, which it was required to do by the Accra
Accord. UNCTAD was very happy with both the response rate and the
ratings of the publications.


3. The United States thanked UNCTAD for this first effort to survey
its publications but expressed concern that the response rate was so
low as to be statistically insignificant. The US made several
specific requests to improve future surveys and their usefulness.
The US comments were supported by Japan and the EU, and captured in
the agreed conclusions which mandated: "The working party requests
the secretariat to continue to improve the usefulness and quality of
the readership survey by, inter alia, improving the survey's
questions, expanding the survey to cover more UNCTAD publications,
and adding to the survey results the number of each publication
printed, whether or not the survey results are statistically
significant, as well as the range of responses and the mode."

PROBLEMS WITH THE BUDGET FASCICLE
--------------


4. Delegates unanimously expressed dissatisfaction with the late
release of the budget fascicle, which was only given to delegates
the morning of the first meeting instead of the previous week.
Furthermore, the budget was only available in English, and included

many discrepancies. In paragraph 1 of the agreed conclusions, the
Working Party asked the UNCTAD Secretariat to be aware of this issue
in the future, and to ensure that documents are available in a
timely manner.


5. Delegates were concerned that some suggestions they made at the
January Working Party were not taken into account in the updated
version of the strategic framework, and urged the competent bodies
of the UNGA to reflect those recommendations in paragraph 3. The
UNCTAD secretariat explained that recommendations were usually not
taken into account after the GA accepts a budget in NY, which they
did in December of 2008. Delegates further recommended in paragraph
4 that the UNCTAD secretariat should take into account
budget-related meetings and deadlines when scheduling the Working
Party meetings so the Working Party can contribute more efficiently
to formulation of the budget.

12 NEW POSTS ALLOCATED TO UNCTAD'S DEVELOPMENT PILLAR
-------------- --------------


6. Delegates requested that the SG of UNCTAD distribute the 12 new
posts in a manner that would contribute to south-south cooperation,
and geographic and gender balance in UNCTAD's staffing.


7. The Working Party further requested that the new resources for
the development pillar should be used to strengthen the program of
assistance to the Palestinian people in accordance with paragraph 44
of the Accra Accord. This agreed conclusion was contentious.
Initially Iran refused to accept reference to paragraph 44 of the
Accra Accord. Iran said that while it had joined consensus on the
Accra Accord, it didn't support all the contents of paragraph 44 and
didn't want reference made to that paragraph. The US supported
Israel in refusing to have a paragraph about assistance to the
Palestinian people in the meeting's agreed conclusions without
referring back to the agreed paragraph from the Accra Accord.

TECHNICAL SERVICES UNIT
--------------


8. The US proposed that within the draft budget, resources be
reallocated to provide regular budget funding for the technical
assistance unit within UNCTAD. The G-77 was unwilling to make such
a clear statement, but did recognize the validity of the US concern
that fundraising for technical assistance and transparency in
utilization of those resources is a core UNCTAD function. The
Working Party highlighted that the SG should ensure that the
technical assistance unit remains fully staffed and has adequate
resources.

RESOURCES FOR AFRICA, LDC'S, AND SPECIAL PROGRAMS
-------------- --------------


9. In accordance with paragraph 41 of the Accra Accord, the Working
Party sought to ensure adequate funding for the 2010-2011 biennium
for the Division for Africa, LDC's and Special Programs , as
currently the Division must rely on voluntary contributions to
produce even its two flagship publications (namely, the annual
Africa and LDC reports).


10. The delegates requested that the SG of UNCTAD ensure greater
coordination between subprograms 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, and the Africa,
LDCs and Special Programs subprogram, and that the SG produce a
report enumerating the regular budget and extra-budget activities of
each subprogram in favor of Africa.


11. (Background: The Africa et al subprogram receives a smaller
budget than the other subprograms since the other subprograms are
supposed to do work on Africa and LDCs in their areas of expertise
and coordinate their work with the Division for Africa, LDCs and
Special Programs. In practice this rarely happens. The Africans,
LDC and special program countries complain that they do not feel
their countries are given priority, but there are no statistics
showing regular budget expenditures by country to confirm their
feelings. The UN Budget does not break down expenditures by
geographical regions, such as expenditures on Africa-related issues,
but rather by type of expenditure, such as travel. The U.S. has
both initiated and supported African efforts to get more of UNCTAD's
budget allocated to Africa and LDC-related work. End Background)

FINANCING FOR EXPERTS FROM LDC'S
--------------


12. Currently only Turkey, Switzerland, and India have donated
funds to finance the participation of experts from developing
countries. While expressing their appreciation to these donors,
delegates from G-77 requested additional donor countries to
similarly contribute funds.

COMMENT
--------------


13. The UNCTAD Working Party provides a unique opportunity for
member states to influence formation of part of the UN's regular
budget. However, for the Working Party to exercise that influence,
the UNCTAD Secretariat must schedule Working Party meetings before
budget decision meetings in NY. Delegations from all geographical
regions agreed that it is valuable for member states to provide
advice on the formation of the UN budget and chastised the UNCTAD
Secretariat for not doing a better job scheduling the Working Party
meetings.


14. Despite delegates clear desire to make the Working Party more
effective and relevant, the Working Party has trouble prioritizing,
so often its agreed conclusions are so watered down as to provide
only minimal guidance. For example, although all countries have
agreed that Africa and LDCs need more aid, UNCTAD delegates from
Asia and Latin America are unwilling to reallocate resources within
the budget to satisfy that need. Instead, the G-77 proposes strong
language asking for additional resources for everything, which the
U.S. opposes. The agreed conclusion requiring the UNCTAD SG to
enumerate regular budget activities of each subprogram in favor of
Africa represents a break-through, since it should provide the
necessary data to convince delegates and the UNCTAD Secretariat to
allocate more resources for the neediest countries.


15. Were the Working Party to become more effective at prioritizing
its work, the Working Party could guide greater member state input
to the UN regular budget from subject experts. The UNCTAD effort to
track regular budget expenditures by country potentially could be a
model for great transparency in the UN regular budget. In this
light, the U.S. should continue to participate actively in the
Working Party meetings and continue to coordinate with budget
experts at USUN in NY.


16. Allocation of resources in UNCTAD creates tension in the G-77
block, where the wealthier developing countries and particularly
Asia heavily influence the UNCTAD agenda. Since it is a contentious
issue, G-77 often tries to avoid it. The U.S. has been, and should
continue to be, outspoken in advocating for the neediest countries
and fulfillment of the UNCTAD mandate to make those countries a
priority. This effort is not only useful on its own merits but has
inspired delegates from Africa and LDCs to speak out more on issues
that concern them, including expressing some support for good
governance, an issue the Asian block tends to oppose in UNCTAD.

GRIFFITHS #