Programme planning : resolution / adopted by the General Assembly

The General Assembly,

Recalling its resolutions 37/234 of 21 December 1982, 41/213 of 19 December 1986, 42/211 of 21 December 1987, 43/219 of 21 December 1988, 44/194 and 44/200 B of 21 December 1989 and 45/253 of 21 December 1990, and taking note of Economic and Social Council resolution 1991/67 of 26 July 1991,

Having considered the oral report of the Chairman of the Fifth Committee on the review by the Second Committee of reformulated programme 21 of the medium-term plan for the period 1992-1997,

Having considered also the report of the Committee for Programme and Coordination on the work of its thirty-first session and the relevant parts of the report of the Economic and Social Council for 1991,

Having considered further the relevant parts of the first report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions on the proposed programme budget for the biennium 1992-1993,

Having considered the reports of the Secretary-General on the methodology for monitoring and reporting the programme performance of the United Nations and on the review of the procedures for the provision of statements of programme budget implications and for the use and operation of the contingency fund,

Taking into account the comments and observations made in the Fifth Committee concerning programme planning,

I MEDIUM-TERM PLAN FOR THE PERIOD 1992-1997

Approves programme 21 (Public administration and finance), as reformulated by the Secretary-General, of the medium- term plan for the period 1992-1997;

II CONSULTATIONS WITH INTERGOVERNMENTAL BODIES DURING THE PLANNING, PROGRAMMING AND BUDGETING PROCESS

1.         Notes with concern that, for most sections of the proposed programme budget for the biennium 1992-1993, programmes of work had not been reviewed by intergovernmental bodies;

2.         Requests the Secretary-General to institutionalize the consultative process with Member States on the medium-term plan, or its revisions, and the programmes of work to be included in the proposed programme budgets and to use, when necessary, ad hoc mechanisms to ensure that relevant intergovernmental bodies undertake their review in a timely manner;

3.         Invites the functional, sectoral, regional and central reviewing bodies to improve the quality of their review of the relevant planning and programme documents submitted to them;

4.         Requests the Secretary-General to ensure that the quality of the proposals submitted to the bodies mentioned in paragraph 3 of the present section as well as their timeliness and the procedure for their submission are improved so as to facilitate the review mentioned also in paragraph 3;

III PRIORITIES

1.         Stresses the importance of priority-setting as an integral part of the planning, programming and budgeting process;

2.         Requests the Secretary-General to make every effort with a view to ensuring that all relevant entities and bodies set and apply priorities in accordance with the Regulations and Rules Governing Programme Planning, the Programme Aspects of the Budget, the Monitoring of Implementation and the Methods of Evaluation;

3.         Also requests the Secretary-General to keep under review the regulations and rules on priorities, in particular those at the level of activities and outputs, during the implementation of the programme budget for the biennium 1992-1993 and the use of the contingency fund of the programme budget;

IV STATEMENTS OF PROGRAMME BUDGET IMPLICATIONS

1.         Reiterates the need to implement fully the relevant provisions of General Assembly resolution 44/200 B ;

2.         Invites the Secretary-General to take appropriate measures to enhance general awareness of the budgetary process in the Organization and, in this connection, to inform special conferences convened under United Nations auspices of the budgetary implications of their draft resolutions, recommendations and decisions;

3.         Requests the Secretary-General to improve the programmatic content of the statements of programme budget implications and to propose in such statements or in revised estimates alternative solutions for carrying out new activities, as required by resolutions 41/213 and 42/211;

4.         Also requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly, at its forty-eighth session, through the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions and the Committee for Programme and Coordination, at its thirty- third session, a report on the review of the procedures for the provision of statements of programme budget implications and for the use and operation of the contingency fund, taking into account in particular the requests made in paragraph 3 of the present section;

V PROGRAMME PERFORMANCE MONITORING

1.         Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General on the methodology for monitoring and reporting the programme performance of the United Nations;

2.         Endorses the conclusions and recommendations of the Committee for Programme and Coordination and of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions on the report mentioned in paragraph 1 of the present section;

VI COORDINATION

1.         Expresses its appreciation to the Administrative Committee on Coordination for the improvement it made to its annual overview report for 1990, in particular through the new report on programmes and resources of the United Nations system;

2.         Reaffirms the importance of coordination in the United Nations system and the central role of the Administrative Committee on Coordination, under the leadership of the Secretary-General, in ensuring greatercomplementarity and compatibility of the activities and programmes of the United Nations system;

3.         Endorses the conclusions and recommendations of the Committee for Programme and Coordination contained in the report on the work of its thirty-first session, on the annual overview report of the Administrative Committee on Coordination for 1990;

4.         Requests the Administrative Committee on Coordination to pursue its efforts to improve its annual reports, taking into account the conclusions and recommendations of the Committee for Programme and Coordination at its thirty-first session;

VII PROGRAMME OF WORK OF THE COMMITTEE FOR PROGRAMME AND COORDINATION

Requests the Committee for Programme and Coordination to review its programme of work in the light of Economic and Social Council resolution 1991/67 and to make suggestions on the timing and duration of its sessions;

VIII OTHER CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Approves those conclusions and recommendations of the Committee for Programme and Coordination at its thirty-first session which have nototherwise been approved by the General Assembly at its forty-sixth session.