The Economic and Social Council this morning, in the context of its agenda items on implementation and follow-up to major United Nations Conferences and Summits, and coordination, programme and other questions, adopted two resolutions, on recovering from the crisis: a Global Jobs Pact, and on the calendar of conferences and meetings in the economic, social and related fields for 2010 and 2011. The Council also held general discussions on the review and coordination of the implantation of the Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2001-2011 and on the reports of coordination bodies.

Under the first resolution adopted on recovering from the crisis, a Global Jobs Pact, the Council encouraged Member States to promote and make full use of the Global Jobs Pact as a general framework within which each country could formulate a policy package specific to its situation and priorities, through a portfolio of appropriate policy options, and requested the United Nations funds and programmes and the specialized agencies to take into account, through their appropriate decision-making processes, the Global Jobs Pact in their policies and programmes.

In the second resolution adopted, the Council approved a calendar of conferences and meetings in the economic, social and related fields for 2010 and 2011.

In the context of its agenda sub-item on the review and coordination of the implementation of the Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2001-2010, the Council was addressed by Sandagdorf Erdenebileg, Chief of Policy Development, Coordination, Monitoring and Reporting Service, Office of the High Representative for Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States, who presented the report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of the Programme of Action for the Least Developed countries for the Decade 2001-2011. He said the report stressed that the impact of the collapse in world trade had been more pronounced in the least developed countries. These countries could further be affected through potential reduction in official development assistance.

The Council then held a general debate on the topic in which speakers noted, among other things, that coming at the heels of the food and energy crises the global financial and economic crises had devastated the most vulnerable economies of least developed countries; years of development gains had been wiped out in the span of months, and millions had been pushed back to abject poverty. Sustained and long-term external assistance, particularly during times of financial crisis was critical for achieving the Millennium Development Goals and boosting the long-term economic growth of Least Developed Countries. The world was nearing the end of the Third Programme of Action - thus far, the programmes had had little impact in lifting the least developed countries from the morass of poverty, and a rethink was needed of the strategies and support mechanisms. However, increased official development assistance alone would not be sufficient. Equally important was that they had to make their development cooperation more effective; and had to continue efforts on an ambitious, action- and results–oriented response to the Paris Declaration and the Accra Agenda for Action.

The Council then considered coordination, programme and other questions, under which it heard a presentation by Istvan Posta, Inspector, Joint Inspection Unit, of the report on Junior Professional Officer/Associate/Expert/Associate Professional Officer Programmes in the United Nations system organizations, who said the report gave an assessment of the current status of the Junior Professional Officer Programmes, including the legislative basis, rules and regulations, operational practice, relevance and impact, and formulates recommendations to improve the political organizational, and operational conditions of the programmes. The report also outlined the weak points of the programmes, which required attention and action from the stakeholders to make the programmes more efficient, among others: the outdated legislative basis; the lack of transparent strategies and priorities in the organizations; the low visibility and poor ownership of the programmes among the Member States at large; and the low number of Junior Professional Officers coming from developing countries; the weak evaluation activity; and the inadequate control and monitoring of the individual difficulties of the Junior Professional Officers, especially at the beginning and concluding phase of their assignment.

In the general discussion on this issue, speakers said, among other things, that further efforts needed to be made to strengthen the organic linkages between the Chief Executives Board and the wider membership of the United Nations in general and ECOSOC in particular. It was critical for the Board to engage more directly with major groups in the United Nations, as a means of promoting a greater sense of involvement in the work of the Board. Concerning the work of the Chief Executives Board in achieving agreed action within the United Nations system, the Council and bodies that made it up, respectively, should take up actions approved in the operational activities segment of the Council. The coordination work of the Board could be further improved by inter-Governmental oversight, and the Board should therefore integrate its work better with the Council.

The Council also took note of the annual overview report of the United Nations system Chief Executives Board for Coordination for 2008/09 (E/2009/67), and the report of the Committee for Programme and Coordination on its forty-seventh session (A/64/16).

Introducing the first resolution was the representative of Brazil.

Speaking during the general discussions were the representatives of Bangladesh on behalf of the least developed countries, Sweden on behalf of the European Union, United States, China, France, Laos, Solomon Islands, Brazil, Algeria, Turkey, Sudan on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, Malaysia, Russian Federation, and Pakistan.

The next meeting of the Council will be at 3 p.m. this afternoon, when it will continue to consider coordination, programme and other questions, and will take up the topics of international cooperation in the field of informatics, science and technology for development, and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS.

General Segment: Implementation of and Follow-up to Major United Nations Conferences and Summits

Action on Resolution on Follow-up to the International Conference on Financing for Development

In a resolution entitled recovering from the crisis: a Global Jobs Pact (E/2009/L.24), adopted without a vote, the Council encourages Member States to promote and make full use of the Global Jobs Pact as a general framework within which each country can formulate a policy package specific to its situation and priorities, through a portfolio of appropriate policy options, which may include, inter alia, multisectoral development policies, technical assistance and international cooperation, joined with the effort to promote sustainable recovery from the crisis when measures are being developed to promote and protect employment in recovery plans, according to its specific needs and circumstances; requests the United Nations funds and programmes and the specialized agencies to take into account, through their appropriate decision-making processes, the Global Jobs Pact in their policies and programmes, as well as to consider the integration of the policy contents of the Pact into the activities of the resident coordinator system and the United Nations country teams in the context of their assistance provided for national crisis response measures, in accordance with national plans and priorities, bearing in mind the importance of national ownership and capacity-building at all levels; and invites international financial institutions and other relevant international organizations to integrate, in accordance with their mandates, the policy contents of the Global Jobs Pact in their activities.

MARIA NAZARETH FARANI AZEVEDO (Brazil), introducing draft resolution L.24, said the resolution aimed to include the Global Jobs Pact in the work of the Economic and Social Council. The Global Jobs Pact was unanimously adopted in the Global Jobs Summit. The Pact recognised that the current crisis was not merely economic and financial, it was first and foremost a crisis of employment. It offered a framework of guidelines privileging the economy and promoted job creation and social inclusion, and contained a portfolio of measures to address many of the most pressing challenges in the current downturn. Finally, the Pact also offered a reference for a comprehensive, integrated and interconnected response to the crisis by the United Nations system, in accordance with national plans and priorities and bearing in mind the importance of national ownership and capacity-building at all levels.

Review and Coordination of the Implementation of the Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2001-2010

Report

The Economic and Social Council has before it a report by the Secretary-General on Implementation of the Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2001-2010 (E/2009/79), which contains an analytical and results-oriented progress report on the further implementation of the Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2001-2010, including a report on the substantive, organizational and logistical preparations for the Fourth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries.

Introduction of the Report

SANDAGDORJ ERDENEBILEG, Chief of Policy Development, Coordination, Monitoring and Reporting Service, Office of the High Representative for Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (UN-OHRLLS), said this year’s report assessed progress in the implementation of the Brussels Programme of Action for the least developed countries against 30 international goals and targets contained in seven inter-linked commitments. The report argued that the impact of the collapse in world trade had been more pronounced in the least developed countries owing to their high degree of openness as well as their specialization in primary commodities and low value-added labour-intensive manufacturing. Crude oil and commodity metal prices declined by 70 and 59 per cent, respectively, over the period from July 2008 to March 2009. This coupled with the decline in demand for least developed countries’ export had led to output contraction in several least developed countries. As a result, both the least developed countries’ immediate economic situation and their long-term development prospects had worsened markedly for reasons not of their making. Furthermore, the report identified the decline in migrant remittances as another channel through which the crisis was impacting the least developed countries.

The report stressed that least developed countries could further be affected through potential reduction in official development assistance. Mr. Erdenebileg noted that given their reliance on official development assistance for financing their development, including social infrastructure, potential cut in official development assistance could have a far-reaching adverse negative impact on least developed countries, undermining progress towards internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals and the goals and targets of the Programme of Action for least developed countries. Progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals had been mixed. While progress in raising primary completion rates had been modest, most least developed countries had made considerable progress towards universal primary education. The report notes that HIV/AIDS was limiting progress in reducing under-five mortality in some countries. As a result the World Bank estimated that between 200,000 and 400,000 more babies could die each if the crisis persisted. In conclusion, he said, the report recommended the need to increase financial transfers to least developed countries to help them overcome their fiscal and financing constraints with the view to mitigate the impact of the global economic and financial crises on their economies; and to prioritize agricultural development in order to lessen least developed countries vulnerability to the food crisis and ensure food security.

General Discussion

KHONDKER M. TALHA (Bangladesh, speaking on behalf of the least developed countries, said the least developed countries were paying the most for the crises which were not of their own making. Coming at the heels of the food and energy crises, the global financial and economic crisis had devastated their most vulnerable economies; years of development gains had been wiped out in the span of months, and millions had been pushed back to abject poverty. The human impact of an increase in food prices was greater in the least developed countries than elsewhere. According to the International Monetary Fund, world trade volume would decline by 11 per cent in 2009 - this would adversely affect development. The drying-up of credit, including trade finance, was having a further impact on trade performance. Most of the least developed countries relied heavily on official development assistance to bridge their external resource gaps, and there was a risk that such assistance could be reduced during the crisis.

If a mere one per cent of the bail-out package was earmarked to the developing countries to meet their needs for official development assistance over and above the normal flow, particularly to support food security, human development and social protection, this would result in a sea change on the ground. Climate change had also slowed development in some least developed countries. The grave situation necessitated immediate, collective, and forceful actions at all levels. The least developed countries should enjoy full flexibility and space in determining their own macroeconomic policies that could create jobs, reduce poverty, and meet health and education goals. Such flexibility would enable them to effectively manage and regulate their domestic economic policy in light of their national development strategies. The first and immediate concern should be to mitigate the effects of the global recession on the least developed countries. Efforts were also needed to make them more resilient to development shocks. The world was nearing the end of the Third Programme of Action - thus far, the programmes had had little impact in lifting the least developed countries from the morass of poverty, and a rethink was needed of the strategies and support mechanisms. Policies should be designed, and partnerships set in motion in a way that would correct the dysfunctional aspects of globalization, and give the process of globalization a development dimension and a human face where equity, fairness and wellbeing of the poor would reign supreme.

MARIANNE LIDSKOG (Sweden), speaking on behalf of the European Union, said the European Union agreed with the report’s conclusion that the immediate concern had to be to alleviate the effects of the global recession on the least developed countries. Focusing on the poorest and the most vulnerable, while ensuring social development and environmental protection, was of the utmost importance to the European Union. Therefore they urged all development partners to honour their existing commitments to increase their timetable for Member States to achieve 0.7 per cent of gross national income by 2015, with an intermediate collective target of 0.56 per cent by 2010. The European Union was willing, in the context of the above-mentioned overall official development assistance commitments, to meet collectively the target to provide 0.15 per cent to 0.20 per cent of gross national product to least developed countries, while fully respecting differentiated commitments as set out in the Brussels Programme of Action for the least developed countries for the decade 2001-2010. However, increased official development assistance alone would not be sufficient. Equally important was that they had to make their development cooperation more effective; and had to continue efforts on an ambitious, action- and results – oriented response to the Paris Declaration and the Accra Agenda for Action. In this context mutual accountability was crucial.

DOUGLAS MEURS (United States) said in the midst of the global financial crisis, all needed reminding that the short-term should not be allowed to overshadow the long-term. Too many families lived in absolute poverty, with little hope of access to basic medical services, family planning, and not only access to education, but support that would enable their children to complete primary education and go on to secondary education. Sustained and long-term external assistance, particularly during times of financial crisis, was critical for achieving the Millennium Development Goals and boosting the long-term economic growth of least developed countries. Assistance for adaptation to climate change was also a core element in ensuring that gains in economic growth rates were not jeopardised by changes in the environment. The United States agreed with the report’s findings, but noted that many other factors influenced implementation of the Programme of Action for Least Developed Countries that had not been included in the report, and should have been.

SHAO CHANGFENG (China) said with their fragile structures in terms of their national economies and social protection as well as limited policy instruments, the least developed countries had become the hardest-hit victims of the financial and economic crises. The international community should pay great attention to the least developed countries’ predicament in development, consider in earnest their development needs, help them with great efforts to cope with the challenges brought about by crisis, and spare no efforts to prevent the crisis from having an impact on contributions to development in the least developed countries. China recommended that the international community strengthen macroeconomic policy coordination; substantially increase development assistance; and firmly oppose trade protectionism. The volume of foreign trade amounted to 50 per cent of the gross domestic product of the least developed countries and served as an important channel for their economic growth and an important source of their development funding. In conclusion, China understood profoundly the development predicament in which least developed countries found themselves. It firmly supported the development efforts of least developed countries and actively participated in international cooperation that helped least developed countries.

JEAN-BAPTISTE MATTEI (France) said the poorest countries were the ones suffering most from the current social and economic crises, as they faced a drop in world-wide demand, and would probably witness an exacerbation in their current imbalances. Their vulnerability was made worse by a high debt level. The least developed countries were also the hardest hit by the effects of climate change, which they were not responsible for. France was committed to helping the least developed countries and to support sustainable development - the least developed countries were a priority in French development assistance. Most of this aid was devoted to sectoral priorities aimed at the Millennium Development Goals, in particular health, education, agriculture, and food security. However, external finance was not enough to ensure the resilience of the Least Developed Countries to the crisis, and their economic recovery. Policies to regulate and stimulate growth were necessary at present, and States should play a major role therein.

SALEUMXAY KOMMASITH (Lao Peoples’ Democratic Republic) said amid this global crisis, the world required a concerted, coordinated and comprehensive global response. Today, more than ever, the international community had the responsibility and opportunity to strengthen international cooperation in jointly addressing the crisis as no country could weather these challenges alone. In this context, they welcomed the outcome of the high-level Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crises and Its Impact on Development held in New York last month. It was imperative that existing bilateral and multilateral official development assistance commitments be fulfilled. It was essential to ensure that the recovery programmes of both developed and developing countries were complimentary and that they reinforced global recovery. Like other countries, the Lao Peoples’ Democratic Republic had also been adversely affected by the crisis. The state of the national economy had slowed down compared to previous years dropping from 7.9 per cent in 2008 to 6.9 per cent this year. The implementation of the Brussels Programme of Action was also adversely affected by the global crisis in one form or another. However, this should not be used as an excuse for failing to meet the commitments set forth in it. Least developed countries should step up common efforts in addressing this global concern and undertake every possible measure to mitigate the impact of the crises.

HELEN BECK (Solomon Islands) said as a post-conflict country, the Solomon Islands continued to face challenges in the areas of infrastructure development, agricultural food production, deteriorating terms of trade, maternal mortality, inadequate access to water and sanitation, and inability to provide affordable medicine. It needed more assistance to compliment national efforts to make the delivery of these services more accessible to the majority in rural areas. These challenges were further exacerbated by the multiple global crisis of food, energy, and financial and economic recession. The crises and their impact on development were giving rise to high unemployment, increased hunger, high mortality rates, inequalities, poverty and malnutrition in many of the least developed countries. The least developed countries were ill-prepared to deal with the impact of the multiple global crises and their impact on development. The global nature of the crises would need development partners to support least developed countries in implementing their existing commitments under the Programme of Action. The international community and the United Nations should hasten the process and access to resources and technology transfer for adaptation and mitigation to assist national efforts to deal with the impact of climate change. All development partners should assist the least developed countries in realising the commitments under the Least Developed Countries Programme 2001-2011 to uplift the millions of people in these countries out of poverty.

GUILHERME DE AGUIAR PATRIOTA (Brazil) said the report presented by the Secretary-General affirmed that the global economic and financial crises, coupled with the food and energy crises, presented a real threat to the least developed countries. In addition to falling public revenues, least developed countries now had less scope for monetary and fiscal measures which could alleviate the pressures of social and economic development. Support for least developed countries should focus on the development of national capacities in the formulation and implementation of national plans and actions for the needs of their populations. Promoting greater national ownership of development programmes was necessary. Donor countries in particular should continue to make efforts to meet their funding commitments in a real and predictable way. Supporting the diversification of their exports and responding to the needs of least developed countries was vital.

SOLTANE CHIBOUT NAIM (Algeria) said the inclusion of this report in the programme of the Economic and Social Council gave an opportunity to look at this essential question for the international community as a whole. The international community committed itself in New York at the Millennium Summit to reduce the level of poverty throughout the world by implementing the eight basic goals that it had set itself. The particular situation of the least developed countries required attention, and this had been done through the Programme of Action for Least Developed Countries 2001-2011. During the period for its implementation, unexpected difficulties had emerged, aggravating the situation and complicating development efforts. The report said that tangible progress had been made by the least developed countries in the implementation of the various commitments, and showed that the financial and economic crisis inevitably had negative repercussions on the progress of the least developed countries in economic and social areas. During this phase, international solidarity with the poorest countries was particularly necessary, and the international community should step up its efforts to help the least developed countries keep on course to attain the objectives of eliminating poverty. The development partners should live up to their commitments for official development assistance.

EMIR YUKSEL (Turkey) said Turkey was strongly committed to address the urgent needs of developing countries. As a developing country itself, Turkey was able to better identify the gaps and needs of least developed countries, and help them in overcoming these challenges. Turkey hosted the United Nations Ministerial Conference on Least Developed Countries on 9-10 July 2007; this conference was further testimony of the commitment of the Turkish Government to sustain and enhance to needs of least developed countries. In addition, Turkey donated $ 780 million to development aid, despite the global economic and financial crises. They reiterated their readiness to host the fourth United Nations Conference on Least Developed Countries in 2012.

HAMZA AHMED (Sudan), speaking on behalf of the Group of 77 and China, said that the least developed countries were the countries that found it most difficult to respond to this situation. The dire effects of the global financial and economic crises on development impacted the least developed countries hardest, and the financial crisis and the lingering effects of the food crisis highlighted their vulnerability to external shocks that were completely beyond their control. If investment in education, health and infrastructure had to be cut back, this would dramatically increase poverty and reduce productive capacities in the least developed countries. It was therefore urgent for the development partners to deliver on their commitments and step up their support of the Brussels Programme of Action. The macro-economic reforms implemented by least developed countries over the last decade in fulfilment of their commitments had contributed to their improved economic performance - the crisis had shown that these achievements remained precarious. The international community must strengthen its support to help the least developed countries consolidate the gains that had been made, and accelerate progress in areas where they were lagging behind as indicated in the report. It was crucial to involve all stakeholders, including Parliaments, non-governmental organizations and civil society in the decisions at the national and global levels.

Coordination, Programme and Other Questions: Reports of Coordination Bodies; Proposed Strategic Framework for the Period 2010-2011; and Calendar of Conferences

Reports

A Report of the Joint Inspection Unit on the Junior Professional Officer/Associate Expert/ Associate Professional Officer Programmes in United Nations system organizations (E/2009/82), provides an overall assessment of the current situation of the JPO/AE/APO Programmes in the United Nations system organizations, including their legislative basis, rules and regulations and operational practice, and the relevance, effectiveness, and impact of the programmes, and recommends measures to improve their political, organizational and operational conditions. The evolution of the programmes has resulted in more harmonized conditions of service, the application of standardized eligibility criteria, job descriptions, and supervision and appraisal of the individual JPOs/AEs/APOs. More attention is needed from human resources management to monitor and control the implementation of the programmes, especially at the beginning and concluding phases of the term of assignment. The report also contains the recommendations for the consideration of the legislative bodies.

There is an addendum to the above document which is a note by the Secretary-General (E/2009/82/Add.1) which contains the comments of the Secretary-General and those of the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination on the report of the Joint Inspection Unit on Junior Professional Officer/Associate Expert/Associate Professional Officer programmes in United Nations system organizations (JIU/REP/2008/2).

There is a Letter dated 8 July 2009 from the Chair of the Committee on Conferences to the President of the Economic and Social Council (E/2009/108) which notes that the Committee on Conferences met on 1 July to review the provisional calendar of conferences and meetings for 2010 and 2011 in the economic, social and related fields (E/2009/L.10) and welcomed the opportunity to provide, as appropriate, its recommendations thereon to the Council. The provisional calendar was formulated on the basis of the data received by the Secretariat at the time of its preparation. Information received subsequently will be included in the overall draft biennial calendar of conferences and meetings, which would also take into account any decisions adopted by the Council at its substantive session in July 2009 when it considers the provisional calendar.

Introduction of the Report

ISTVAN POSTA, Inspector, Joint Inspection Unit, Introducing the Joint Inspection Unit Report (A/64/82-E/2009/82) entitled Junior Professional Officer/ Associate Expert/ Associate Professional Officer Programmes in the United Nations system organizations, said the report gave an assessment of the current status of the Junior Professional Officer Programmes, including the legislative basis, rules and regulations, operational practice, relevance and impact, and formulates recommendations to improve the political organizational, and operational conditions of the programmes. The report’s assessments and conclusions were based on the detailed survey in 10 United Nations system organizations, donor countries and numerous meetings and interviews with Junior Professional Officers, their supervisors and programme managers. The Junior Professional Officer Programmes, initiated five decades ago, had gone through a significant evolution and today there were about 1,000 Junior Professional Officers employed in the United Nations system at any given time, involving more than $100 million of funding annually.

The report acknowledged the high satisfaction rate of all stakeholders, the continuous improvement and high quality of Junior Professional Officers, the strong and open competitive process of selection in the donor countries, the importance of the programmes for United Nations organizations in enlarging their human resources capabilities to address the changing needs in staff and programmatic priorities in the circumstances of severe budgetary constraints, and the strong field orientation of the programmes, in particular the emphasis on Africa. The report also outlined the weak points of the programmes, which required attention and action from the stakeholders to make the programmes more efficient, among others: the outdated legislative basis; the lack of transparent strategies and priorities in the organizations; the low visibility and poor ownership of the programmes among the Member States at large; and the low number of Junior Professional Officers coming from developing countries; the weak evaluation activity; and the inadequate control and monitoring of the individual difficulties of the Junior Professional Officers, especially at the beginning and concluding phase of their assignment.

General Discussion

KENNEDY MAYONG ONON (Malaysia) said the report clearly indicated the increasingly important role that the Chief Executives Board played, due not only to the importance of consolidating and further strengthening ongoing efforts aimed at achieving the national development goals, of which promoting greater coherence was one measure, but also especially given the new challenges that were faced by the international community such as the food and fuel crises which all demanded coherent responses from the United Nations system. At the same time, longstanding challenges such as humanitarian disasters had evolved. It was for these reasons that Malaysia firmly believed that further efforts needed to be made to strengthen the organic linkages between the Board and the wider membership of the United Nations in general and ECOSOC in particular. It was critical for the Chief Executives Board to engage more directly with major groups in the United Nations, as a means of promoting a greater sense of involvement in the work of the Board. The focus in the report on security and safety of staff was welcome, as was the fact that the steering group for staff safety had outlined a clear way forward on this issue. There was concern about the lack of urgency in the report related to the evaluation of the Delivering as One Initiative - evaluation would involve not only determination of the efficiency of this initiative, but also on how and to what extent lessons learnt were to be implemented elsewhere.

ALEXANDER AIMOV (Russian Federation) said on the whole the Russian Federation commended the efforts taken by the Chief Executives Board to strengthen coordination within the United Nations system. The Russian Federation agreed with the policy of the Chief Executives Board on the importance of increasing the effectiveness of the United Nations system’s subsequent action through its conferences and summits. They took note of the fact the Chief Executives Board approved nine key areas of work for the United Nations system in the view of overcoming the global economic and financial crises. Concerning the work of the Chief Executives Board in achieving agreed action within the United Nations system, Russia believed that the Council and bodies that made it up, respectively, should take up actions approved in the operational activities segment of the Council. The Russian Federation was convinced that it was necessary to strengthen the accountability of Member States with United Nations bodies and the United Nations Development Group. They welcomed the intention of the Chief Executives Board to step up dialogue and enhance participation with the Economic and Social Council and other United Nations bodies to also increase transparency and accountability. They advocated the optimal use of the order in which the Chief Executives Board was taken up at the session and felt the coordination segment.

MUHAMMAD AYUB (Pakistan) said coherence and coordination in the work of the United Nations system was of great importance to the effectiveness of the work of the system. The Chief Executives Board gave guidance to the entities of the United Nations system, and it should redouble its efforts to bring about a greater semblance of coordination therein, as well as ensuring cooperation. New development challenges had placed new demands on the United Nations system, and coordinated response was required to address these effectively. The coordination work of the Board could be further improved by inter-Governmental oversight, and the Board should therefore integrate its work better with the Council. Its work on harmonisation and business practices of the United Nations system was excellent.

Action on Resolution on Calendar of Conferences and Meetings in the Economic, Social and Related Fields

A resolution containing a Note by the Secretariat on Provisional calendar of conferences and meetings in the economic, social and related fields for 2010 and 2011 (E/2009/L10), adopted without a vote, invites the Council to approve the calendar of conferences and meetings for 2010 and 2011 in the economic, social and related fields. The Council is invited to consider further the biennialization of the sessions of its subsidiary bodies, in accordance with paragraph 2 (f) (ii) of its resolution 1988/77 and General Assembly resolution 50/206 A.

The Council thus approved the calendar of meetings for 2010 and 2011.



For use of the information media; not an official record

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