Mr. Chairman,

1. I have the honor to speak on behalf of the Group of 77 and China on the organization of work of the Fifth Committee for the main part of the 67th session of the General Assembly.

2. The Group of 77 and China wishes to congratulate you Mr. Chairman H.E. Mr. Miguel Berger, Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of Germany and the other members of the Bureau on your election. We thank the Bureau for preparing the programme of work and appreciate the designation of Coordinators to facilitate on behalf of the Committee for the negotiations on the various items during the main part of the 67th session of the General Assembly.

3. The Group expresses its deep appreciation to H.E. Mr. Tommo Monthe, the outgoing Chairman, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Cameroon, as well as to the other distinguished members of the previous Bureau, for their outstanding work during the 66th session.

Mr. Chairman,

4. In reviewing the list of 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: human resources management, scale of assessment, Umoja/ERP and IPSAS, United Nations Common System and various reports of the Joint Inspection Unit and the Office of Internal Oversight Services.

5. The Group of 77 and China would like to emphasize the importance of having the Main Committees of the General Assembly including in their respective programmes of work an analysis in depth of the proposed strategic framework of the organization for 2014-2015, to be taken up under agenda item 131, Programme Planning. The General Committee, in paragraph 71 of its report A/67/250, has already made a recommendation in this regard.

6. 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. In this regard, we note with concern the reduction in resources allocated for the translation of documents and hope that this does not further aggravate this long-standing problem. 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.

7. The Group of 77 and China requests the Bureau to urgently coordinate with the Secretariat to make available to member states in the e-Room the reports as soon as they are issued, pending their translation.

Mr. Chairman,

8. Given the heavy agenda to deliberate upon during the main session, the Group appreciates the efforts of the Bureau in preparing a balanced programme of work which will be adjusted throughout the session based on the progress made by the Committee in the negotiations. In accordance with past practice, the Group is in a position to accept the programme of work as presented on the understanding that it will be reviewed and amended after the first week, as needed.

9. The Group of 77 and China as always stresses on the principle of conducting the negotiations in an open, inclusive and transparent manner, rather than decision-making based on small group configurations.

10. In conclusion, Mr. Chairman, the Group of 77 and China wishes to state that we stand ready to consider and conclude the items before us within the timeframe of the allocated Programme of Work. We believe that as Member States, we have a collective responsibility to take decisions that are beneficial to the Organization and enable it to fulfill its mandates effectively and efficiently. The Group of 77 and China reiterates its assurances of full cooperation and constructive engagement with our partners for a successful outcome for this session.

I thank you, Mr. Chairman