Bridging the Economic and Social Committees.

Chairing the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) of the General Assembly at its fifty-third session was very rich and challenging. Though not a total newcomer to the fold, let alone to the field, it was quite a new experience. I believe that our collective enterprise in the Committee made a positive contribution to the ongoing intergovernmental discussion on the wide range of economic and development issues. And I hope to have played a positive role--at the most a catalytic role--in the Committee's accomplishments.

The range and relevance of the issues discussed at the Committee this year, the seriousness and constructive spirit in which they were approached by all sides and, equally important, the consensus reached after often intensive difficult negotiations demonstrated the uniqueness and centrality of the United Nations as the universal forum for global dialogue on issues of global import and impact. A major thrust of the Second Committee's debates and resolutions this year was the affirmation of this role, including in contributing to the formulation of comprehensive international responses to the current financial and economic turmoil and to optimizing the impact of globalization.

The Second Committee had a very productive session, both in terms of the form and substance of its deliberations, as well as with regard to the resolutions it adopted. It discussed in detail such fundamental issues as: the global financial architecture and its implications for development; globalization; trade and development; external debt crisis; environment; and poverty and the future course of multilateral development cooperation. Following the two-day high-level dialogue of the General Assembly on globalization and its social and economic repercussions, the Committee addressed the issue in the course of its general discussions. The outcome of this in-depth deliberation on an important new subject was the adoption, by consensus, of a substantive resolution entitled, "Role of the United Nations in promoting development in the context of globalization and interdependence".

Adoption of 34 consensus resolutions on, inter alia, globalization, the financial crisis, renewal of the dialogue, triennial policy review of United Nations operational activities, and financing for development are just a few examples. Moreover, some of the Committee's resolutions intensified and broadened the existing consensus and, in certain instances, took it onto new ground, as it continued, and perhaps even advanced, the rather recent innovation of bringing into its fold a variety of academic and civil society actors through a number of panels, briefings and video-conferencing. These panels and briefings proved to be instrumental in ushering a good, congenial atmosphere that helped promote greater interaction in the Committee.

During the 1998 session, the Committee continued the trend in recent years in improving its working methods. Although its work has been managed efficiently, there is still scope for further improvement, both in terms of the necessity of an overall review of its agenda in view of the pace of developments in the global economy and in terms of producing shorter, more focused and fewer resolutions. Better clustering of issues on its agenda and adoption of omnibus resolutions are two areas where concrete progress is yet to be made.

The "Joint Event" with the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) on "poverty, human rights and development", in observance of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, was particularly successful, underscoring the usefulness of greater coherence and complementarity between these important Committees. I hope that their future Chairmen will find ways and means to expand the area of cooperation between the two bodies. One area of commonality, in my view, concerns the "Right to Development", which has been dealt with in the Third Committee, while the thrust of the subject belongs to the Second Committee. I am more than willing to pursue the matter and see how an ex-Chairman can be useful to the Committee's work.

"Human Resource Development (HRD) for Youth Empowerment" is the theme of ESCAP's 1999 HRD Award, whose recipient will be selected on the basis of factors including degree of HRD commitment, responsiveness to target group needs, innovativeness of approach, impact and sustainability of the activity. The deadline for applications for the $30,000 grant award being sponsored by the Government of Australia is 30 November; ESCAP instituted the prize in 1990 to encourage research, training and other innovative achievements in the HRD field in Asia and the Pacific.