Intervention by the Republic of Maldives
on behalf of the Alliance of Small Island States
at the meeting of the Second Committee
14 June 2016
Mr Chair,
I would like to provide brief comments on behalf of the members of the Alliance of the Small Island States (AOSIS) and would like to align with the inputs from the Group of 77 and China.
We continue to believe that revitalization and consideration of the 2030 Agenda within the work of the General Assembly committees, should be a coordinated and coherent process, and in this regard will continue to support the President of the General Assembly's efforts to lead a broader discussion on how to adjust all of the committees in light of the 2030 Agenda. These conversations and decisions cannot be made in silos, but in processes that reflect the inter-linkages in the 2030 Agenda.
The Economic and Financial Committee, otherwise known as Second Committee, is an important committee for SIDS. We SIDS, as small states, with small delegations, shoulder a heavy burden with the Second Committee workload as it stands, including the reporting burden. Therefore we, SIDS, have a vested interest in ensuring that the quality of the work of the Second Committee is high: and we will continue to have a vested interest in ensuring that our work is done in the most effective and efficient way. And we approached the revitalisation process with this mindset.
We would like to thank all co-facilitators for their time and dedication to this undertaking. We greatly appreciate their contributions and efforts in identifying long-term opportunities for collaboration and compromise. We also value the importance placed on achieving consensus, and unfortunately, this is one of the instances we could not all agree.
We urge all colleagues to consider the bigger picture – that any changes to the second committee will take a significant amount of time and consideration. The process was useful as it provided the opportunity to step back and think conceptually about the purpose and role of Second Committee within the United Nations, and the many different ways to consider how the 2030 Agenda relates to the Second Committee, as well as the rest of the UN as a whole. We believe there is great benefit to continuing this exercise because it provides the chance to think through the long-term vision and utility of our work. It is important we approach every resolution with the long-term vision in mind: identifying key objectives to be realised.
AOSIS believes that even if we did not have a formal outcome from this year on this process does not mean we cannot consider closely how we conduct the business of the Second Committee in the fall. The commitments we have made in resolution 65/230 are still valid, and need to be better implemented. We can work differently. And AOSIS is committed to do so.
We thank Ambassador Logar for his leadership and recognition that we should celebrate this process and the resulting proposals. This is an ongoing discussion that we look forward to continuing and we look forward to seeing summary on the process, that will be directed to the incoming Chair of the Second Committee of the 71st session. We look forward to working with all colleagues further in the 71st session
In closing Mr. Chair, I wish to reiterate our Group's commitment over the coming months and years to work towards continuing to consider how to best conduct the work of the Second Committee.
I thank you.