STATEMENT BY AMBASSADOR BURHAN GAFOOR PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF SINGAPORE ON AGENDA ITEM 122, ON THE REVITALIZATION OF THE WORK OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY 8 NOVEMBER 2021

1 Thank you very much for presiding this important debate today. Thank you also for your leadership and activism as President of the General Assembly especially during your recent visit to Glasgow for COP-26. Your presidency of hope is indeed making an impact globally and we thank you for that.

Mr President

2 With regard to agenda item 122 on the revitalisation of the work of the General Assembly, I would like to thank Ambassador Egriselda López of El Salvador and Ambassador Michal Mlynár of Slovakia for their work as Co-Chairs of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Revitalisation of the Work of the General Assembly during the 75^th Session, especially given the topic’s pertinence during the COVID-19 pandemic. We look forward to the continued stewardship of Ambassador López and congratulate Ambassador Mitch Fifield of Australia on his appointment as Co-Chair for the coming year. 

3 Singapore aligns itself with the statement delivered by Malaysia on behalf of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, as well as the statement delivered by Algeria on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement. I would like to add several points in our national capacity.   

4 It is clear from previous debates on this topic and what the speakers today have said that the revitalisation of the work of the General Assembly is an important issue for many states, including my own. The General Assembly is the main deliberative, policymaking and representative organ of the United Nations, where all member states, big or small, have an equal voice. In that regard, Singapore has always been a strong supporter of a more efficient, effective and accountable UN General Assembly. As we face global challenges such as COVID-19 and climate change, we must further strengthen our efforts to reinforce the role of the UN with the General Assembly playing a very important role.

5 We are glad to see that the revitalisation process has produced some concrete results. First, for example, the rationalisation of work and streamlining of the General Assembly agenda, including bieannialising the resolution on revitalisation of the work of the General Assembly, which was an idea that Singapore had long advocated and supported. Second, the regular dialogues between the Permanent Missions and the UN Secretariat is something that we find worthwhile and we hope that they will be continued. The third example is maintaining business continuity in the UN through information and communications technologies despite the restrictions due to COVID-19. These positive outcomes from the revitalisation process give us a positive foundation to build on further at this session of the revitalisation process.

Mr President

6 My delegation has some suggestions and we would like to share them with all colleagues at this point. First, we think it is important to continue to focus on how we can preserve the primacy of the General Debate during High Level Week by rationalising the number of high-level meetings and side events taking place in parallel with the General Debate. High Level Week is indeed undoubtedly demanding on all delegations, but it is particularly taxing for small countries with limited resources and personnel.

7 We note that the resolution of the 75^th session on the revitalisation of the General Assembly “encourages” Member States and the UN to consult one another to limit the number of side events and minimise overlap. But we think we can go further than simply encouraging. For all Member States to productively participate in and benefit from High Level Week, we think it is important to take a more structured and predictable approach where all proposed high-level meetings during High Level Week are collated and shared in an open meeting of the General Committee under the leadership of the President of the General Assembly. This would give all of us an overview of the entire programme of high-level meetings and side events taking place in parallel to the General Debate. We would also like to encourage the President of the General Assembly to consider the idea of drafting guidelines for the overall management of activities during High Level Week for further consideration in the General Committee or the General Assembly. The idea of guidelines for High Level Week has been around for some time, and we hope that we can make some concrete progress in this area at this session.

8 Secondly, we should continue to support the rationalisation and streamlining of the General Assembly agenda, including through the biennialisation or even triennialisation of resolutions, clustering of items and resolutions, and the introduction of sunset clauses where possible. While there are many pertinent issues and the final decision to reduce the frequency of resolutions or introduce a sunset clause is the prerogative of the main sponsors, we should also take into account the fact that the proliferation of agenda items and resolutions will lead to an unsustainable volume of work which will end up diluting the focus of the General Assembly.

9 Thirdly, as the COVID-19 situation stabilises, we would like to encourage the President of the General Assembly and the UN Secretariat to explore resuming more in-person meetings and meetings that are held in a single conference room, and not multiple conference rooms joined electronically that separates all delegates and is not conducive for consideration and working together. There is simply no long-term replacement for face-to-face diplomacy and the interpersonal relationships that can only be forged through in-person meetings, which are essential for helping Member States achieve consensus and find solutions on a range of issues. We think it is also important to have regular meetings of the General Assembly on business continuity as it gives all UN members a chance to discuss meeting arrangements and safety measures, and gives all of us a chance to share our views in an open-ended and inclusive manner.

Mr President

10 These are some views that Singapore has at this point. We reiterate our full support and commitment to work with all colleagues and delegations to help revitalise the work of the General Assembly. We will continue to work with other Member States and the UN Secretariat to build on the recommendations in the resolution that was adopted at the last session in order to enact concrete and meaningful outcomes that will effectively revitalise UN multilateralism, with the role of the General Assembly playing a very important part in this process.

11 I thank you for your attention.

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