VZCZCXRO5253
PP RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHJO RUEHMA RUEHMR RUEHPA RUEHRN RUEHTRO
DE RUCNDT #2140/01 3132349
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 092349Z NOV 06
FM USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0723
INFO RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNMGH/MAGHREB COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHZO/OAU COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 USUN NEW YORK 002140 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: AORC UNGA KUNR
SUBJECT: UN BUDGET: SUBREGIONAL OFFICES OF THE ECONOMIC 
COMMISSION FOR AFRICA 
 
REF: A. 2005 USUN 2189 
     ¶B. USUN 0050 
 
¶1.  SUMMARY: In reponse to General Assembly (GA) resolution 
60/235, the Secretary-General has presented a comprehensive 
action plan with regard to the subregional offices of the 
Economic Commission for Africa (A/61/471).  The report 
explains how the Secretary-General is implementing the 
recommendations made by the Office of Internal Oversight 
Services (A/60/120 and reftels), as well as the results of 
the Commission's own review of its work.  The 
Secretary-General proposes to increase the staffing of the 
 
SIPDIS 
subregional offices by 16 posts, seven to be redeployed 
through existing resources and an additional 9 to be 
requested in the context of the 2008-2009 budget  The reports 
are currently under discussion in the Fifth Committee.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  The OIOS review of the management of the subregional 
offices (SROs) at the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) 
led to 14 recommendations, including the need to clarify the 
mandates and roles of the SROs, enhance the impact of the 
SROs, align staff expertise and skills with subregional 
priorities, and ensure reliable mechanisms of coordination 
between SROs and ECA headquarters.  In addition, the new 
Executive Secretary of the Commission, also conducted a 
review of ECA, with a view to repositioning the organization 
to better respond to the challenges facing Africa.  The 
current action plan presented to the GA reflects the findings 
of both reviews. 
 
¶3.  The report states the Secretariat's intent to refocus the 
mission for the SROs.  The new mission will include: taking 
the lead in shaping the Commission's agenda and implementing 
it at the subregional level; promoting and supporting 
specific subregional priorities and programs; operating as 
subregional nodes for knowledge management and networking; 
and coordinating United Nations system activities for 
subregional integration.  In addition, there will be 
increased clarity with regard to services provided and the 
SROs will now play a more active role in: advisory services 
and technical cooperation; knowledge-sharing and networking; 
and advocacy and consensus-building. 
 
¶4. The ECA has also changed its planning and programming 
framework, whereby planning will begin at the subregional 
office level and then build up.  As requested by the GA in 
resolution 60/235, the strategic framework for this program 
includes indicators at the subregional level.  The report 
also states that the subregional offices will work to improve 
partnerships with other subregional actors by: acting as 
privileged partners of the regional economic communities; 
partnering with subregional intergovernmental organizations, 
including regional and subregional technical cooperation 
institutions; engaging Member States through UN country 
teams; participating in a joint African Union/African 
Development Bank/Economic Commission for Africa program on 
regional integration; strategic use of regional advisory 
services; and other key partnerships.  The partnership with 
the regional economic communities will include the signing of 
partnership agreements with those entities. 
 
¶5. In order to implement these changes, the ECA proposes to 
redeploy 5 professional and 2 local level posts to SROs.  The 
plan is to ultimately deploy up to 30 percent of ECA staff to 
the SROs; currently the percentage is 22.2%.  ECA will also 
request 9 additional P-4 posts in the 2008-2009 budget. 
Eight posts will be at SROs, with one post at headquarters to 
coordinate subregional office activity.  The 
Secretary-General requests the GA to take note of the 
 
SIPDIS 
measures mentioned in this report. 
 
¶6.  The report (A/61/544) of the Advisory Committee on 
Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) notes that the 
changes being proposed in the Secretary-General's report 
raise fundamental questions about the respective roles of the 
ECA headquarters and subregional offices, as well as their 
relationship with other UN entitities in the subregion. 
ACABQ urges ECA to "continue to review and define the role of 
the SROs with a view to achieving synergies and optimizing 
the use of existing resources, with a greater balance between 
ECA headquarters and SROs."  ACABQ also asks that the number 
and level of posts for ECA (including the subregional 
offices) be justified in the proposed program budget for the 
biennium 2008-2009, including an indication of how existing 
capacity is being utilized and the impact of extrabudgetary 
funds.  The ACABQ notes that the GA may wish to take note of 
steps taken to implement OIOS recommendations, without 
prejudice to recommendations that ACABQ may make on future 
 
USUN NEW Y 00002140  002 OF 002 
 
 
proposals for resources and reorganization. 
 
¶7. On November 6, the reports of the Secretary-General and 
ACABQ were introduced in the Fifth Committee.  During opening 
statements, Nigeria (on behalf of the African Group) said the 
ECA could only promote economic and social development 
throughout the Africa continent if it had well-equipped, 
effective and functioning subregional offices to deliver on 
GA expectations and mandates.  She said the responsibility 
conferred on ECA was not matched with corresponding resources 
and expressed concern that, in spite of the interim measures 
taken, actual measures to address the very serious issues 
faced by ECA were being deferred to 2008-2009, contrary to 
the wishes of the GA. 
 
¶8.  South Africa (on behalf of the Group of 77 and China) 
also stressed the need to provide adequate resources for 
critical areas.  The G77, like the African Group, was not 
clear on the rationale for postponing critical decisions on 
resource allocation to the ECA in the 2008-2009 proposed 
budget.  She said that was not the approach previously taken 
with other critical reforms resulting from the World Summit. 
The G77 said mandated activities should be financed from 
assessed contributions and the ECA should not be expected to 
increase its reliance on voluntary financing for the 
implementation of reform measures and other core activities. 
The G77 believed it was imperative to ensure that the 
development of Africa -- one of the eight main priorities of 
the UN -- received not only political support, but also more 
concrete and visible action from the Secretariat and GA. 
Also supporting the African Group and G77 were Brazil and the 
United Republic of Tanzania. 
 
¶9.  Finland (on behalf of the European Union) noted the ECA 
had achieved practical results from the OIOS recommendations. 
 The EU acknowledged the need for continuous review and 
follow-up to restructure the work of the ECA and its 
subregional offices.  She concluded by saying the ECA needed 
to continue to define the role of the subregional offices, 
and expected some of the issues to be considered next year in 
the context of the budget for 2008-2009. 
 
¶10. COMMENT:  The OIOS report considered in the 60th session 
commented on a wide range of management problems, most of 
which could be implemented without additional resources. 
Although the OIOS report stated that there was a lack of 
adequate resources for subregional offices, it did not 
specify that additional regular budget resources for ECA were 
the solution.  During negotiations on resolution 60/235, the 
U.S. and other like-minded delegations fought to bring 
attention to the other issues identified by OIOS and the need 
to address these issues before issues of resources are 
discussed.  The current discussions will likely pick up where 
last year's discussions left off, with Western delegations 
continuing to seek to understand how OIOS recommendations are 
being implemented and how existing resources are being 
utilized.  In light of the comments made by the G77 and the 
African Group during the introduction of the reports, it is 
clear that they will be pushing for additional resources for 
ECA for this biennium.  Unless otherwise instructed, USUN 
will seek an endorsement of the ACABQ recommendations. END 
COMMENT. 
BOLTON