Mr. Chair, </p>

1. I have the honor to speak on behalf of the G77 and China on agenda item 149: Financing of the Regional Service Centre in Entebbe (RSCE), Uganda. </p>

2. At the outset, the Group would like to thank the Assistant Secretary General and Controller Ms. Bettina Tucci Bartsiotas, and the Chair of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions, Mr. Carlos Ruiz Massieu, for introducing the respective reports of the Secretary-General and the ACABQ.</p>

3. The Group wishes to recall that by resolution 64/269, the General Assembly established the Regional Service Center in July 2010 as the first Shared Service Center for Missions in the region under the Global Field Support Strategy (GFSS). </p>

4. In the subsequent resolution 69/307 the Assembly decided to give the Center operational and managerial independence and requested the Secretary General to submit a budget proposal to be charged against the Missions the center supported.</p>

5. The Group acknowledges the important work done by the Center in supporting 8 Peacekeeping Missions and 7 Special Political Missions, as well as other Missions in the region, through providing human resources, administrative and financial services for various categories of personnel. </p>

6. The Group looks forward to a thorough consideration of the financing of the Center for the period 2018/2019 during the current session, pursuant to resolution 71/293. </p>

Mr Chair, </p>

7. In his report, the Secretary-General indicated that, in 2018/19, the Regional Service Centre would participate in the planned end-to-end process of the East African corridor project. The Group welcomes this initiative and looks forward to obtaining more information on the scope of the project as well as how it can be strengthened beyond the six Missions it is currently covering. </p>

8. The Group also welcomes the proposed structuring of the Regional Service Center as recommended by the Independent Review into four service delivery sections to provide more customer-centric, standardized, timely and quality services to end users. The Group will seek information on why the reorganization of the service lines of 2017/18 were not fully implemented before a new arrangement is embarked upon. </p>

9. The Group will also make sure that the new structure is adequately staffed, and that the Center is provided with adequate resources to ensure effective implementation of its work. We also affirm the continued validity of the nationalization plan, and would encourage its resumption in the soonest opportunity. </p>

10. The Group would further seek clarifications on the governance structure of the center, and its consistency with the provisions of resolution 69/307 regarding the operational and managerial independence of the center. </p>

Mr Chair, </p>

<p>11. We wish to take note of the Advisory Committee's recommendation regarding the need for the Secretary-General to review the coordination between the Transportation and Movements Integrated Control Centre (TMICC) and the Strategic Air Operations Centre (SAOC) as well as the need to transfer some of the functions to the TMICC, and we look forward to an update in this regard.</p>

<p>12. In conclusion, Mr. Chair, the Group wishes to assure you, of its readiness to engage constructively on this important agenda item.</p>

I thank you, Mr. Chair</p>