Sixtieth session
Agenda item 128
	Scale of assessments for the apportionment 
of the expenses of the United Nations



		Letter dated 22 May 2006 from the Permanent Representative 
of Japan to the United Nations addressed to the President of the General Assembly


	As you are aware, the Committee on Contributions will convene its sixty-sixth session at Headquarters from 5 to 30 June 2006 to consider, inter alia, the scale of assessments for the apportionment of the expenses of the United Nations for the period 2007-2009. The Government of Japan would like to request through you that the Committee on Contributions prepare machine scales in accordance with the proposal annexed to the present letter and incorporate them in the Committee’s report to the General Assembly at its sixty-first session. It is the understanding of the Government of Japan that, in line with its past practice, the Committee will also incorporate in its report to the Assembly tables on point differences resulting from step-by-step adjustments to the assessments scale methodology in relation to prepared machine scales.
	We would be more than happy to provide the Committee with a further explanation of our proposal if the Committee would find it useful.
	I would be grateful if you would have the present letter and its annex circulated as a document of the sixtieth session of the General Assembly under agenda item 128.


(Signed) Kenzo Oshima
Ambassador
Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations
		Annex to the letter dated 22 May 2006 from the Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations addressed to the President of the General Assembly


		Japan’s proposal


	Machine scales referred to in the letter to the President of the sixtieth session of the General Assembly dated 22 May 2006 are to be prepared in accordance with the following elements and criteria in the order of application as shown below:
	(a)	Data on gross national income;
	(b)	A statistical base period of three years, with annual recalculation;
	(c)	Conversion rates based on market exchange rates, except where that would cause excessive fluctuations and distortions in the income of some Member States, when price-adjusted rates of exchange or other appropriate conversion rates should be employed, taking due account of General Assembly resolution 46/221 B of 20 December 1991;
	(d)	Debt burden adjustment based on the total debt stock;
	(e)	A low per capita income adjustment of 80 per cent, with the threshold per capita income limit of the average per capita gross national income of all Member States for the statistical base period;
	(f)	A minimum assessment rate of 3 or 5 per cent for the permanent members of the Security Council;
	(g)	A minimum assessment rate of 0.001 per cent;
	(h)	A maximum assessment rate for the least developed countries of 0.01 per cent;
	(i)	A maximum assessment rate of 22 per cent.









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 United Nations
A/60/859
 
 General Assembly
Distr.: General
23 May 2006

Original: English



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