Mr. Chairman, the United States welcomes the commencement of the second resumed session of the Fifth Committee. We join other delegations in welcoming back you and other members of the Bureau as well as the committee Secretariat, and the Chair of the ACABQ.

Mr. Chairman,.

This session is traditionally very important because of the focus on the budgets of peacekeeping missions. During the next four weeks, we will review and decide on the financial requirements needed to sustain the Organization's peacekeeping missions involving more military and civilian peacekeepers than have ever been previously authorized for service in the field.

The commitment of the Organization and its individual Member States to addressing ongoing threats to international peace and security comes at a high price, both in human and financial terms. During this session, the members of this committee will examine and adopt proposed budgets for current peacekeeping missions totaling $7.4 billion – almost twice the level of the 2008/2009 biennium regular budget. Given such expected record costs and our responsibilities to our respective governments to ensure that the resources we provide are used in an efficient, effective and transparent manner, we must have adequate time to carefully review the management and organization of each mission.

Mr. Chairman.

With the above considerations in mind, my delegation would like to comment on the ongoing problem of late issuance of reports. As indicated in our current program of work, the proposed budgets of several large and expensive peacekeeping operations, including UNAMID and MINURCAT, totaling almost $3 billion, will not be introduced and examined by this committee until late in the four-week session. While my delegation understands the challenges faced by those at Headquarters and in the field who are tasked with preparing these budgets, my delegation fully endorses the concern expressed by you, as Chairman of the Fifth Committee, regarding the submission of reports, in your letter of April 22, 2008.

Mr. Chairman.

We must find ways to ensure that the members of this committee, as well as the members of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), will have the time required to deliberately and closely examine these important budgets. Surely we can all agree that the members of this committee should not be asked to conduct a responsible review and approve proposed budgets, such as those for UNAMID and MINURCAT, in a matter of a few days.

My delegation believes that ultimate responsibility for ensuring timely performance by the Secretariat rests with the Secretary General. We urge the Secretary General to work with the heads of the relevant Departments to ensure that the recurrent problem of late reports is effectively addressed.

We look forward to working with our colleagues in this committee and in the Secretariat to ensure that, in the future and despite the challenges involved, the members of this Committee receive these important reports well in advance of the beginning of the sessions of the Fifth Committee in accordance with the requirements laid down by the General Assembly.

Thank you.