Mr. Chairman,

1. I have the honour to speak on behalf of the Group of 77 and China on the organization of work of the first part of the resumed sixty-sixth session of the Fifth Committee of the General Assembly.

2. Since my delegation is addressing this Committee as Chair of the Group of 77 for the first time, I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate the full support and cooperation of the Group throughout this and future sessions. We have full confidence that under your leadership and guidance the important work entrusted to the Committee will reach a successful conclusion.

Mr. Chairman,

3. The Group of 77 and China would like to thank you and the members of the Bureau for providing us with a balanced programme of work and the status of preparedness of documentation contained in document A/C.5/66/L.28. In this regard, the Group of 77 and China wishes to stress the provisional nature of the programme of work and our expectation that the Bureau, as in the past, will amend it throughout the session to reflect the progress made in the negotiations in keeping with the traditional practice in the Committee.

4. In reviewing the list of the new and deferred items in the proposed programme of work and the documentation available, the Group of 77 and China attaches special significance to their thorough consideration and trusts that adequate time will be allocated to the various items for their effective consideration to ensure their successful conclusion. We intend to carefully examine several important items on the agenda including the following: Capital Master Plan; accountability and various reports of the Joint Inspection Unit and the Office of Internal Oversight Services.

5. The Group of 77 and China continues to be concerned over the status of the documentation for the session. Important reports have been issued late and some have yet to be issued. The failure of the Secretariat to present these reports in accordance with the rules of procedures of the General Assembly often puts the member states and the ACABQ in a difficult position to work under time pressure. The quality of the deliberations is seriously affected as a result of this single factor. We would like to strongly urge the Secretariat to rectify this recurring problem, which often leads to delay and longer hours in the conclusion of the discussions. We hope that the Bureau will continue to engage with the Secretariat and the ACABQ to ensure that the remaining reports for the present session would be issued soon and the reports for the future session would be available 6 weeks prior to the commencement of the sessions.

6. In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, the Group of 77 and China stands ready to engage constructively with you and all the partners to find consensual solutions to all the items on our agenda.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.