VZCZCXYZ0004
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUCNDT #0527/01 0752220
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 162220Z MAR 06
FM USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8348
INFO RUEHXX/GENEVA IO MISSIONS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 000527 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: AORC KUNR UNGA
SUBJECT: UN MANAGEMENT REFORM: JUSCANZ AMBASSADORS CONSULT 
ON WAYS FORWARD 
 
REF: A. USUN 442 
     ¶B. USUN 481 
     ¶C. USUN 461 
 
¶1.  Representatives of Japan, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, 
and the United States (JUSCANZ) conferred March 14 to explore 
ways of dealing with the Secretary-General's latest 
initiatives for improving the UN's management and governance 
(reftels).  While none of the Ambassadors had yet received 
comprehensive instructions from their capitals on the report, 
all agreed that the General Assembly should not relinquish 
control of the process to the Fifth Committee or any other 
body, and that strict timelines must be imposed on these 
bodies in order for the General Assembly to reach some early 
decisions.  They also saw the value of creating some early 
momentum by moving forward quickly on a few priority 
measures, acknowledging that many other initiatives were 
complicated and would take more time to reach decisions on. 
Canada's Ambassador Rock, who hosted the lunch on March 14, 
said the President of the General Assembly had planned to 
hold the first meeting on the report on March 27, at which 
time the body would decide to request input from the ACABQ 
and the Fifth Committee.  These two committees would also be 
asked to review a Secretariat-produced "implementation plan" 
during March and April. 
 
¶2.  During much of this same period the General Assembly will 
also be busy with the Secretary-General's report on the 
review of UN mandates, now due to be issued on March 28. 
Ambassador Rock said he and his working group co-chair 
Ambassador Akram of Pakistan will soon be consulting with 
various groups and delegations on how to handle this other 
critical report.  They expect to have a formal Plenary 
session during the third week in April to work out a 
timetable for the review, which would take place in May and 
June.  Rock emphasized that the mandate review would run into 
real problems unless certain politically sensitive mandates 
(e.g., Palestinian mandates) were exempted from the initial 
review.  U.S. Deputy Permanent Representative Wolff said the 
U.S. could not accept conditions for the mandate review 
since we would judge everything on its merits.  Rock also 
said the western group should agree with the Group of 77 and 
China to retain savings derived from the mandate review to 
fund activities in the same thematic areas (e.g., funds saved 
from eliminating mandates in the development area should be 
used for other development activities.)  While Ambassador 
Wolff said that this too caused problems for the U.S., he 
said it might be possible to consider funding meritorius 
development activities. 
 
¶3.  Looming over the discussions of the management reform 
report and the mandate review was the issue of how to deal 
with the $950 million spending ceiling approved by the 
General Assembly last December.  While it was not clear to 
anyone (Ambassadors and experts) at the lunch precisely how 
and when the Secretary-General would bring the spending cap 
item to the General Assembly, the Fifth Committee experts 
believed that the cap would need to be dealt with in their 
Committee under the agenda item for the 2006-2007 budget, 
since it was the budget resolution that contained the 
spending authority provision.   Ambassador Wolff said that 
the U.S. position was simple: without significant progress on 
reform, there will be no lifting of the cap.  Ambassador 
Ozawa of Japan cautioned that JUSCANZ and the EU would be 
outvoted in a confrontation with the G-77 over the spending 
cap.  New Zealand Ambassador Banks said that many G-77 
delegations believed that they were humiliated last December 
when a small group of delegates outside of the Fifth 
Committee negotiated the budget and imposed a spending cap; 
she sensed that they were not about to let it happen again. 
Ambassador Wolff said that it was important for like-minded 
delegations to remind G-77 delegations on March 27 to the 
connection between the reforms and the next budget decision. 
Rather than give such a warning at that point, Ambassador 
Rock suggested that the JUSCANZ ambassadors send a joint 
letter to the Secretary-General that would lay out JUSCANZ 
expectations for progress on reform as a condition for 
allowing the UN to spend more money. 
 
¶4.  Other points made during the lunch--and a similar meeting 
held the day before at the Australian Mission--are as follows: 
 
-- The first review by the ACABQ of the management reform 
report was critical to increasing the likelihood of early 
success.  Representatives agreed to monitor current 
activities in the ACABQ through their Committee members 
(Japan, Canada, U.S.) and share information. 
 
-- The chef de cabinet for the President of the General 
Assembly will be meeting with key groups and delegations over 
the coming days to discuss the process and calendar for 
handling the management reform report.  Ambassadors agreed to 
 
 
send a consistent signal that the General Assembly needed to 
maintain control of the process and also needed to enforce 
strict timelines for other committees to respond to it. 
 
-- Australia agreed to host another meeting on Friday March 
17 to discuss initial guidance provided by capitals and 
possibly agree on a handful of priority measures that could 
be pursued and agreed to at an early stage. 
 
-- The Group of 77 and China continues to resist the 
principle that the General Assembly is supreme on budget and 
other matters.  Group members will persist in advancing their 
view that the Fifth Committee be allowed to take whatever 
time is necessary to reach decisions on the many management 
reform measures. 
 
-- Representatives agreed that the Secretary-General needs to 
be urged to complete the reform measures that he is already 
authorized to carry out. 
 
-- Ambassador Ozawa of Japan expressed concern about the high 
cost of the reform measures contained in the management 
report, likening the situation to the Japanese saying that 
"the pig is getting fat while being roasted." 
 
-- Information from the UN budget office indicated that the 
UN, as expected, would probably run out of money in June. 
 
 
BOLTON