9 October 2014: The UN General Assembly’s Second Committee (Economic and Financial) held a discussion on its working methods, in keeping with the mandate set out in UNGA resolution 68/307 on the revitalization of the Assembly.

Sebastiano Cardi, Permanent Representative of Italy and Chair of the Second Committee, recalled the reflection paper on working methods prepared by the Committee’s bureau for the 67th session and the non-paper from the 68th session bureau, and said some suggestions have been implemented already. He noted that agenda items that are likely to be “resource intensive” have been scheduled for early in the session, such as sustainable development and macroeconomic policy questions. In addition, he highlighted the procedures for submitting draft resolutions on time.

The EU proposed that, in order to avoid duplicating or pre-empting intergovernmental negotiations taking place outside the Committee, the Committee take up procedural resolutions on processes related to defining the post-2015 development agenda. He anticipated that the post-2015 development agenda will become, to a large extent, the agenda of the Second Committee, and said this should guide efforts to rationalize and streamline the Committee’s agenda. He also called for a discussion on ensuring that the Second Committee, UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), and the High-level Political Forum for Sustainable Development (HLPF) “effectively and efficiently” follow up on the outcomes of the July 2015 conference on financing for development (FfD) and the September 2015 summit, aiming to rationalize and streamline the respective agendas to be agreed during the 70th session. He expressed the EU’s support for biannualizing or triannualizing specific resolutions, and merging or combining resolutions into omnibus resolutions. He suggested the macroeconomic resolutions, those on the three Rio Conventions, and the resolutions on tourism.

Barbados, for the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), said that the Committee must retain its status as a global deliberative and norm-setting body on development. She stressed Member States’ prerogative to bring issues to the Committee’s consideration. Proposals for streamlining resolutions should have a “substantive basis,” she said, and she expressed concern about biannualizing or triannualizing, to ensure the Committee’s outcomes can be relevant and timely. She added that, as Egypt has proposed in previous sessions, the Committee may wish to consider reallocation of agenda items, to reflect decisions on the three dimensions of sustainable development. With the post-2015 agenda likely having similarly far-reaching implications, she said, the question may be best addressed following the adoption of the new agenda.

Switzerland said: the moment is right to consider the Committee’s working methods, including by merging resolutions; during the preparations for the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20), many resolutions taken up by the Second Committee were procedural in nature; and a similar approach should be followed, given the substance of the upcoming negotiations.

The US cited the “crush” of concurrent processes, with the post-2015 agenda at the center, flanked by the FfD conference and its preparations, and meetings of the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties, among others. The delegation stressed: avoiding confusion and duplication of effort; completing the Committee’s work on business on time; and the importance of guidelines for first-time facilitators and Secretariat note-takers. She supported streamlining resolutions on related topics, reducing the frequency of some resolutions, and merging issues, for “immediate efficiency gains.” On restructuring the existing agenda and biannualizing or triannualizing items, the US suggested holding off until the conclusion of the post-2015 discussions.

Japan cautioned against duplicating, overlapping and prejudging the FfD-related work of the coming year. Iceland expressed support for the EU’s suggestion, and requested comprehensive information from the Secretariat, such as a list of the high-level officials and experts who will present to the Committee.

Canada said governments will determine the road map to the post-2015 summit – the modalities for intergovernmental negotiations and then conducting them. Therefore, it is essential that the Second Committee does not disrupt, preempt or otherwise replicate that work, he said, calling to refrain from using Committee resolutions to prejudge the outcome of the post-2015 discussions. He said the preferred approach for the Committee is to use procedural resolutions for those subjects implicated in the post-2015 agenda, as well as other major conferences, such as on FfD and climate change.

Cardi said the discussion will be reflected in a summary to support the Committee’s discussions. [IISD RS Sources] [Meeting Webcast] [PaperSmart Meeting Page] [Resolutions of UNGA 68]