26 July 1985

52nd plenary meeting

Joint Meetings of the Committee for Programme and Co-ordination and the Administrative Committee on Co-ordination

The Economic and Social Council,

Recalling Articles 57, 58, 63 and 64 of the Charter of the United Nations,

Recalling also its resolutions 2008 (LX) of 14 May 1976 and 1984/61 B of 26 July 1984,

Recalling further General Assembly resolution 32/197 of 20 December 1977, in particular paragraphs 2 and 3 thereof,

Having considered the report of the Chairmen of the Committee for Programme and Co-ordination and the Administrative Committee on Co-ordination on the twentieth series of Joint Meetings of the two Committees,

1. Takes note of the efforts made in the preparations for and in the conduct of the Joint Meetings of the Committee for Programme and Co-ordination and the Administrative Committee on Co-ordination during the twentieth series and stresses the need for improvement in the functioning of the Meetings;

2. Takes note of the report of the Chairmen of the Committee for Programme and Co-ordination and the Administrative Committee on Co-ordination on the Joint Meetings of the two Committees, which includes the conclusions reached and the views expressed on the effectiveness and co-ordination of United Nations organs and specialized agencies in relief efforts in Africa and on economic and technical co-operation among developing countries;

3. Stresses the need for more vigorous observance of the responsibilities laid down in the Charter of the United Nations and the agreements between the United Nations and the specialized agencies, bearing in mind problems which have arisen in co-ordination and the pressing need for effective co-ordination among all the organizations of the United Nations system, including co-ordination between the United Nations and the specialized agencies;

4. Urges the development of an open and constructive dialogue in the Joint Meetings in order to reach concrete solutions to problems of interorganizational co-ordination; to that effect requests that the background paper for the Meetings should be submitted sufficiently in advance to allow careful study; and also requests that that document should highlight the problems faced by organizations in the field of interorganizational co-ordination and difficulties of implementation and should be action-oriented;

5. Recommends that normally only one item should be chosen to serve as a focus for discussion at the Joint Meetings; the item chosen should be sufficiently precise and of such a nature as to allow a concrete discussion among members, centred on the issues identified in the background paper;

6. Calls upon Member States and members of the Administrative Committee on Co-ordination to be represented at a high level in order to achieve the maximum usefulness of the Joint Meetings;

7. Suggests that problems of co-ordination should be more systematically taken into account in the work of the governing bodies of the organizations of the United Nations system in view of the discussion in the Committee for Programme and Co-ordination and at the Joint Meetings.