The UN General Assembly's Committee for Programme and Coordination (CPC) held its 52nd session from 4 to 29 June to consider the proposed Strategic Framework of the United Nations for the period 2014-2015. Programme 10 (Trade and Development) of the Strategic Framework was considered in a formal session on 12 June (attended through videoconference by the Deputy Secretary-General of UNCTAD) and in an informal session on 21 June where UNCTAD staff from its New York liaison office and the Resources Management Service in Geneva were present to answer questions.
The CPC is the main subsidiary organ of the UNGA and ECOSOC for planning, programming and coordination and is comprised of representatives from 21 Member States, nominated from the five geographical regions. One of the key functions of the CPC is to review the United Nations proposed Strategic Framework, which is, as reaffirmed by General Assembly Resolution 62/224, the principal policy directive of the United Nations for programme planning, budgeting, monitoring and evaluation.
The terms of reference of the CPC include review of the programmes of the United Nations in light of budgetary implications, assessment of results achieved from current activities, recommending an order of priorities among UN programmes, guiding the Secretariat on legislative intent, and developing evaluation procedures.
During both sessions on Programme 10 (Trade and Development), the members of the Committee asked questions about the coverage of various areas of work of UNCTAD, requested clarifications about specific parts of the proposed strategic framework for Programme 10 (A/67/6(Prog.10)) and made comments. Generally, the members of the Committee expressed their support for the work of UNCTAD.
A recurring issue in the discussions was the modalities and timeline for the incorporation of the Doha Mandate from UNCTAD XIII into the Strategic Framework. A representative from the UN Office of Programme Planning, Budget and Accounts clarified that:
"...in accordance with General Assembly resolution 1995 (XIX), the UN Conference on Trade and Development was established as an organ of the General Assembly and should provide to the General Assembly a report on the texts of all recommendations, resolutions and declarations adopted during the period covered by the report. It is understood that those recommendations and resolutions would become legislative mandates after endorsement by the General Assembly.
As it was expected that the General Assembly would consider the thirteenth session outcome in December 2012, the related changes to the programme of work under Programme 10 would be reflected in the proposed programme budget for the biennium 2014-2015. Those changes will be submitted to the Committee on Programme and Coordination at its 53rd session in accordance with paragraph 13 of GA Res. 58/269, in which the Assembly requested the Committee for Programme and Coordination, in performing its programmatic role in the planning and budgeting process, to review the programmatic aspects of new and/or revised mandates subsequent to the adoption of the biennial programme plan, as well as any differences that arose between the biennial programme plan and the programmatic aspects of the proposed programme budget."
The CPC is finalizing the report of its 52nd session which is expected to be issued shortly. The final report will be transmitted by the UNCTAD Secretariat to Permanent Missions in Geneva to inform the discussion at the upcoming review of UNCTAD's biennial programme plan during the 61st session of the Working Party.
