Mr. Chair,

1. I have the honor to speak on behalf of the Group of 77 and China on Agenda item 150, Administrative and budgetary aspects of the financing of the United Nations peacekeeping operations: Updated financial position of closed peacekeeping missions as at 30 June 2021. I would like to thank the Secretariat and ACABQ for issuing their respective reports timely.

Mr. Chair,

2. The Secretary General Report A/76/553 of 19 November 2021 under consideration provides the financial situation of 29 closed peacekeeping Missions as of 30 June 2021. Five of these Missions had a cash deficit of 85.6 million dollars, which is mainly a result of outstanding payments of assessed contributions from the Member States. The Group expresses great concern as the cash deficit situation prevents these missions from fulfilling their obligations not only vis a vis vendor, third party claims and member states, but also vis a vis Troops and Police contributing countries. Some of these liabilities have been outstanding for many years. The Group is of the view that Troops and Police contributing countries are already contributing to a great extent and should not, for any reason, be asked to bear additional costs. The Group will therefore look forward to new strategies developed by the Secretary General to resolve this situation and not to borrow from these accounts of the closed Peacekeeping operations to meet cash shortfalls in the regular budget, which arise due to outstanding payments of assessed contributions from the Member States.

3. The Secretary General Report mentions the combined outstanding payment from Member States of assessments in 29 closed peacekeeping Missions amounted to at 367.9 million dollars as of 30 June 2021. The group would remind the Member States of their obligation to pay their contributions to PKOs budget on time, in full and without condition.

4. Moreover, the Group recalls General Assembly resolution 65/293 requesting the Secretary General to submit concrete proposals and alternatives to address the issue of outstanding dues to Members States from closed peacekeeping missions that are faced with cash deficits.

Mr. Chair,

5. On another point, the General Assembly resolution A/73/307 authorizes, on a three-year trial basis, cross borrowing between active PKOs. So far, the feedback to this decision has been positive; it has for instance significantly diminished the pressure of borrowing on closed PKOs.

6. We reiterate that the ongoing practice of borrowing from closed PKOs has not been approved by the General Assembly and we believe that it is not a healthy financial practice. The Group looks forward to continue discussions on options to avoid such practices to continue

Mr. Chair,

7. The Group of 77 and China notes with satisfaction that 24 closed missions have a positive net cash balance. The Group however would urge the Secretary General to keep close monitoring of the different borrowing transactions and settle in a timely manner all claims and liabilities to enable final liquidation of closed PKOs.

8. To conclude, Mr. Chair, the Group of 77 and China as usual will spare no effort to work with all partners to reach a successful conclusion of this very important agenda item.

I thank you.