24 March 2006 Excellency, Following the adoption of the Human Rights Council resolution last week, I am writing to draw your attention to the work that remains ahead of us in the coming months. I am very grateful for the energy and commitment you invested in the historic resolution on the Human Rights Council. As you know, elections to the Council will take place on 9 May. The Secretariat is preparing a note for Member States on the modalities for the elections of the members of the Council. I know that you now stand ready to actively involve yourselves in the other ongoing processes of reform and World Summit follow-up. First and foremost amongst these are Development and ECOSOC reform, Secretariat and Management reform, and the Peacebuilding Commission, where we must quickly complete our unfinished work to constitute the Organizational Committee. --Development follow-up and ECOSOC reform Ambassador Verbeke of Belgium and Ambassador Diarra of Mali have cochaired many informal consultations of the plenary on the two draft resolutions on development follow-up and ECOSOC reform since last fall. On ECOSOC reform, there has been encouraging progress in finding strong formulations on the Councils new functions. On development follow-up, there has also been good progress on a number of areas of the draft. However, there has not yet been an understanding on one area of the text and its proposed amendments. All Permanent Representatives and Permanent Observers to the United Nations New York

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I urge delegations to go into the informal meeting which the Co-Chairs have scheduled to consider this part of the text with full respect for each others views, and a willingness to constructively discuss the issues at hand. Delegations positions are well known. I hope that all will show flexibility in order to assist the Co-Chairs in quickly finding the best way forward. Development and ECOSOC reform are too important to be further delayed. I very much hope that you will now be able to engage personally on these two resolutions. I intend to work closely with the Co-Chairs to ensure that both resolutions are adopted in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, other General Assembly development work is progressing. Most immediately, my proposal for a thematic debate on Human resources, Health and Development received positive reactions from Member States. I will revert to you regarding the timing and arrangements for this meeting. I am also making arrangements both for the High-Level Meeting on the midterm comprehensive review of the implementation of the Programme of Action for the Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2001-2010, and for the High-Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development. While these meetings are scheduled for September, I am also arranging informal interactive hearings with representatives of civil society and  in the case of migration  preparatory panels, from June onwards. I will write to you separately about these in due course. Secretariat and Management reform We need a strong United Nations that can meet global challenges with efficiency, credibility and moral authority. That is why the 2005 World Summit devoted such an important part of its Outcome Document to Secretariat and Management reform. You have now received the Secretary-Generals report Investing in the United Nations: for a stronger Organization worldwide (A/60/692). This is an important report at an important time. It is now for Member States to examine the Secretary-Generals proposals and take decisions. We have not lost any time; the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions plans to present its report on 27

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March. There is broad agreement that we must address the substantive issues involved in Secretariat and Management reform as quickly as possible. There is also broad agreement that it is important that we see the first results of our deliberations in the next few months. I therefore appeal to all Member States to take a constructive and practical approach to questions of procedure so that both the overarching political issues and the budgetary, financial and administrative issues can be considered in an appropriate way. On 30 March, the Secretary-General will also be presenting to the General Assembly his report on mandates older than five years originating from resolutions of the General Assembly and other organs, in accordance with paragraph 163 (b) of the 2005 World Summit Outcome. Co-Chairs Ambassador Akram of Pakistan and Ambassador Rock of Canada will have an important role in facilitating the intergovernmental work to review these mandates. Peacebuilding Commission We created the Peacebuilding Commission on 20 December. We must now ensure that the Commission quickly becomes operational. It is vital that we select or elect the members of the Organizational Committee without further delay so that the relevant actors in peacebuilding can come together at its first meeting in the coming weeks. I have today presented a non-paper to the chairs of the regional groups with a proposal on the distribution of seats in the General Assembly. I hope that this will help to facilitate prompt action in ECOSOC, followed by decisions by the financial and troop contributors and, finally, elections in the General Assembly. I count on your support as we move with urgency towards the launch of this new body of such importance to peoples and nations in postconflict situations. --Beyond these three priorities, there are other outstanding areas of work mandated to us by our leaders which call for our continued engagement.

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System-wide Coherence It will be important for Member States to have an early opportunity to informally contribute their perspectives to the panel the Secretary-General has established to consider how to enhance System-wide Coherence in the areas of development, humanitarian assistance and the environment. I therefore intend to schedule an informal meeting of the plenary at the time of the panels first meeting in early April. I will write shortly with the exact date and other details of this meeting.
Counter-terrorism

The Ad Hoc Committee established by General Assembly resolution 51/210 has made some progress on its work to conclude a comprehensive convention on international terrorism, although more time for consultations is needed. I trust that all Member States will use this extended period of consultations to find ways of reaching agreement before the end of our Sixtieth Session. In the 2005 World Summit Outcome, our leaders also asked us to develop, adopt and implement a strategy to promote comprehensive, coordinated and consistent responses, at the national, regional and international levels, to counter terrorism. In the coming weeks, I am expecting the Secretary-Generals proposals on strengthening the capacity of the United Nations system to assist States in combating terrorism and enhancing the coordination of the United Nations activities in this area, as well as his additional inputs of relevance for the forthcoming work of the General Assembly on a counter-terrorism strategy. Thereafter, I intend to initiate informal consultations of the plenary. I am pleased to advise that Ambassador Menon of Singapore and Ambassador Yáñez-Barnuevo of Spain have agreed to be Co-Chairs for this process. HIV/AIDS Following the adoption of the resolution on 23 December, work has been proceeding on the preparation of the HIV/AIDS meetings to be held from 31 May to 2 June. I will be writing in the coming days to advise you of the

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proposed organizational arrangements for the meetings, and to seek expressions of interest for Member States participation in certain segments. Meanwhile, I am pleased to advise that the Co-Chairs for the organizational resolution, Ambassador Hackett of Barbados and Ambassador Laohaphan of Thailand, have kindly agreed to co-chair the negotiations on the Political Declaration which is to be adopted at the High-Level Meeting. They will be in contact with you shortly to set out their plans. Environment The Co-Chairs, Ambassador Berruga of Mexico and Ambassador Maurer of Switzerland, have held a number of bilateral consultations over recent weeks regarding the mandate in paragraph 169 of the Outcome Document on the institutional framework for the UNs environment work. Following these consultations, they have written to Member States outlining their plans for informal consultations on 19 and 25 April. I know you will go into these consultations with an open and creative approach. Security Council reform In my review of progress on Security Council reform of 19 December, I encouraged Member States to engage in constructive dialogue on this issue. I note that at this moment three draft resolutions on this issue have been tabled. I remain fully committed to pursuing the goal of Security Council reform as agreed at the 2005 World Summit, and remain available for consultations with Member States. I also encourage Member States to work constructively with Ambassador Bethel of the Bahamas and Ambassador Majoor of the Netherlands, the CoChairs of the Open-ended Working Group on the Question of Equitable Representation on and Increase in the Membership of the Security Council and Other Matters Related to the Security Council, as they take forward their work. ---

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General Assembly revitalization Good progress in the outstanding areas of work requested of us by our leaders will constitute revitalization in action. It will provide examples of good practice to the ad hoc working group which has started its deliberations under the co-chairmanship of Ambassador Silkalna of Latvia and Ambassador Alsaidi of Yemen. The working group will soon proceed to consider specific themes and will submit a report with recommendations to the General Assembly later this spring. I am encouraged by your active participation and your valuable contributions to this work. --With the adoption of our resolutions on the Central Emergency Response Fund, on the Safety and Security of UN Personnel, on the Peacebuilding Commission, on HIV/AIDS, and most recently on the Human Rights Council, the General Assembly has already achieved much in its Sixtieth Session. But we still have several important tasks ahead of us. I am conscious that this agenda will mean further hard work for all of you, particularly the smaller Missions. But we should keep up the momentum of the reform and follow-up process. We must come to closure soon on our work on development follow-up and ECOSOC reform. We must all devote serious time and consideration to Secretariat and Management reform, whilst also taking forward the other important areas of work outlined above. And we must put the Peacebuilding Commission in place without further delay. To assist your planning through this busy period, my Office will be keeping a calendar of informal consultations updated at: http://www.un.org/ga/president/60/summitfollowup/schedule.pdf . Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration.

Jan Eliasson