Board discusses restructuring of UNITAR, asks for 'positive assessment' by Secretary-General.

Board discusses restructuring of UNITAR, asks for "positive assessment' by Secretary-General

IMPLEMENTATION of a General Assembly restructuring plan for the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) was discussed at the twenty-fifth session of the Institute's Board of Trustees (New York, 30 March-3 April). In its conclusions, the 20-member Board noted with satisfaction the action taken by Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar and Executive Director Michel Doo Kingue in implementing the plan, as contained in General Assembly resolution 41/172.

The Board agreed that implementation of some aspects of the plan must proceed gradually and that a three-year transitional period was desirable. It also hoped that conditions would prevail to enable the Secretary-General to give a "positive assessment' in his report to the forty-second General Assembly and not to proceed with the phasing out of UNITAR, as provided for in resolution 41/172 if adequate financing did not become available.

The Board also approved its work programmer for 1987 and adopted guidelines concerning UNITAR's research and training programme for the biennium 1988-1989. The 1987 budget was adopted at the level of $1,646,700 for the General Fund, subject to the receipt of sufficient additional resources from Governments, intergovernmental organizations and non-governmental sources.

The Secretary-General told the Board he planned to inform traditional donors of steps taken to restructure the Institute. If by mid-June the Institute did not have adequate financial resources to conduct its core programme of work, he would set in motion the contingency plan to phase out the Institute so that the General Assembly could take the necessary decisions at its forty-second session.

The President of the General Assembly, an ex officio member of the Board, in a message to the Board, stressed the importance of UNITAR's training and research functions in channelling intellectual resources towards the resolution of various international issues. In view of UNITAR's usefulness, particularly to developing countries, he believed that it would be prudent to allow it an opportunity to prove its worth before considering to phase it out.

Mr. Perez de Cuellar, in opening the session, reiterated the importance he attached to the mandate and functions of UNITAR, and expressed his wish to see the Institute serve the purposes for which it was created.

The Institute's funding had become a major preoccupation affecting its vitality and future, he said. Despite the consensus reached by Member States on a restructured UNITAR, Governments had yet to provide the minimum core budget required to maintain a healthy Institute.

Implementation of the restructuring plan had begun, as could be seen by the programme and budget for 1987 submitted by the Executive Director. Implementation of certain other elements of the plan must follow gradually, he said, recalling his recommendation for a three-year transitional period.

Some donors who had consistently supported UNITAR until now had not yet indicated whether they would contribute to the General Fund this year, he said. That uncertainty could not continue without impeding the proper functioning of UNITAR. Recent extensive consultations with Member States, particularly traditional donors, had revealed that there was still no consensus on the Institute's future.