F,Ffir$ru'{Eitr 0FIhlE F#ls,$j0!d HEPUEtIf; SF Y.EffiEH TOTI.I Ur'{ITED hIATIONS 413 EASTSIET$THET NEWYORK, I.IY TOg22 IELiZt2-35F1790 2t?-750,9$13 FpJC IrLR\f,,1NHN'f }fI-tsJON OF t-HE. FPUBI i(: OF ld:f\il{ TO TI"IE Ui{lTEIf, N/ti'iC}Ns 22 March 2006 Excellerrcy, With our lastmeetingon 16 March, we havecornpleted generaldebate-segment the of the work in the ad hoc working group on revitalization the GeneralAssernbly. of As Co-Chairs are gratefulto you for your activeparticipatior-r inputsso far. As the we and next step, we proposethat we will now proceedto discussclustersof themesin a series four meetinss. of Pleasefind aftached broad outline of the agenda a and tlie tentativetirnetable the for forthcorning thernatic meetingsof the working group.Basedon tlie input received from Member States during the general debate, propose we that two meetirrgs will be devotedto rnaf[ers relatedto the role and authorityof the GeneralAssernbly,one meeting to tl-reworking methods and agendaof the General Assembly, and one meetingto the role of the GeneralAssemblyin the selection the Secretary-General. of We havealso indicated sornespecificmatters that rnaybe raisedduring eachthernatic rneeting. While inspired by your contributions,the listings are by no means ex,haustive. Followingthe attaclred outline,we havethe honour inviteyou to tlie fourth (andthe to first thematic) meetingof the ad hoc working groupon revitalization the General of Assernbly Wednesday, March at 10 a.m.in the Trusteeship on 29 CouncilChamber. The overallthemewill be the role and authorityof the GeneralAssernbly. You may wislr to address issuespertainin inter alia to the relationship g betweenthe General Assernbly and other principal organs of the United Nations, and measuresto strengthening Office of the President the GeneralAssembly.We would also tlie of encourage you to put forward concrete proposals the consideration the working for of group. ( AlI Permanent Representatives and Permanent Observers the United Nations to New York to has The President the GeneralAssembly,Mr JanEliasson, agreed join us for the of on first parl of the rneeting 29 March andhe will alsomakea shortaddress. Yours sincerely, ,i \ \ it, , I i 1 l +-;*^-g;'*-=-.<\t v AbdullahM. Alsaidi Arnbassador Co-Chair ga Solvei Silkalna Ambassador Co-Chair 22 MARCH 2006 CO-CHAIRS' OUTLII{E OF THEMATIC MEETINGS FOR THE AD HOC WORKII\G GROUP ON REVITALIZATION OF THE GtrITIERALASSEMBLY Frtr tltematic'nteeting IYr.I (29 Msrch 2006) I ) R o l e a n d A u t h o r i t y o f t h e G e n e r a lA s s e m b l y A . T h e r e l a t i o n s h i pb e t w e e nt h e G A a n d o t h e r o r q a n s o f t h e U n i t e d l , l a t i o n ss y s t e m H o w t o e n s u r e i n c r e a s e dc o o p e r a t i o n ,c o o r d i n a t i o n a n d c o m p l e m e n t a r i t y b e t w e e n t h e G e n e r a l A s s e m b l y ,t h e S e c u r i t y C o u n c i l a n d t h e E c o n o m i c a n d S o c i a l C o u n c i l (res 58/126)? H o w t o e n c o u r a g e p e r i o d i c a l s u b j e c t - o r i e n t e d ,m o r e a n a l y t i c a l r e p o r t s f r o m t h e S e c u r i t y C o u n c i l t o t h e G e n e r a l A s s e m b l y( r e s 5 8 / 1 2 6 ) ? B. The Presidency f the GA o H o r v t o f u r t h e r s t r e n g t h e nt h e O f f i c e o f t h e P r e s i d e n to f t h e G e n e r a l A s s e m b l y ?B y e x t e n d i n g t h e t e r m o f t h e P r e s i d e n t o f t h e G A a n d / o r e l e c t i n gt h e P r e s i d e n t o f G A earlier ? As the role of the Presidentof the General Assembly is growing, would his office n e e d t o b e s t r e n g t h e n e d n d g i v e n s t r o n g e rs u p p o r t b y t h e S e c r e t a r i a t ? a I \ For thentotic meeting [r{r.2 (6 April 2006) a C . S u b s t a n c eo f c l e b a t e s n d r e s o l u t i o n s r e l e v a n c e f G A w o r k . o Could the General Assembly effectively revitalize itself by focusing thematically on c u r r e n t i s s u eo f g l o b a l r e l e v a n c - s u c h a s w a t e r , d i s a s t e r r e l i e f , g l o b a l e p i d e m i c s e t c . ( d i s c u s s i o n f s u c h i s s u e sc a n t a k e p l a c e a f t e r D e c e m b e r i n t h e r e s u m e d p a r t o f o thesession)? I f o l v c o u l d t h e G e n e r a l A s s e m b l y p l a y a m o r e r o b u s t r o l e i n t h e i m p l e m e n t a t i o no f major UN tvorld summit decisions MDGs) etc? ( F I o w t o e n s u r e t h a t t h e G e n e r a l A s s e m b l y w i l l a d o p t m o r e c o n c i s e ,f o c u s e d a n d a c t i o n - o r i e n t e dr e s o l u t i o n s i t h d i s c e r n i b l ei m p a c t o n t h e w o r l d ? w I n w h a t t Y a y sc o u l d t h e G e n e r a l A s s e m b l y c o n s i d e r g r e a t e r p a r t i c i p a t i o n b y a n d i n t e r a c t i o n w i t h N G O s a n d o t h e r k e y p l a y e r s ( p r i v a t e s e c t o r ,p a r l i a m e n t s e t c . ) i n i t s work? H o r v c a n t h e w o r k o f t h e G e n e r a l A s s e m b l yb e m a d e m o r e v i s i b l e t o t h e p u b l i c ? For tlt emttlic nteeting IYr.3(dute to be finnounced) I I ) W o r k i n g M e t h o d s a n d A g e n d a o f t h e G e n e r a lA s s e m b l y A. Agenda How do we go about re-examining and streamlining the agenda of the General A s s e m b l y i n o r d e r t o a v o i d r e d u n d a n c y a n d e a s et h e b u r d e n o n s m a l l d e l e g a t i o n s ? I s a m e c h a n i s mt o m o n i t o r i m p l e m e n t a t i o no f G A r e s o l u t i o n sn e c e s s a r l , ?W o u l d a n a n n u a l c h a r t o n i m p l e m e n t a t i o nb e a d v i s a b l e ? H o w c a n \ r l / e v o i d t h e a p p a r e n t d u p l i c a t i o n o f w o r k b e t w e e nt h e p l e n a r y a n d t h e a Main committees? B . R a t i o n a l i z a t i o no f t h e w o r k o f M a i n C o m m i t t e e s I n o r d e r t o a c h i e v ea b e t t e r b a l a n c e o f l v o r k l o a d b e t w e e n t h e M a i n C o m m i t t e e s , s h o u l d t h e r e b e a r e a s s i g n m e n t f i t e m s f r o m o n e c o m m i t t e et o a n o t h e r ? o Should the Main Committees be asked to reconsider the time allotted to the c o n s i d e r a t i o n f g i v e ni t e m s ? o C o u l d f u r t h e r c l u s t e ra n d / o r e l i m i n a t i n go f i t e m sb e c o n s i d e r e d ? C . R o l e o f t h e G e n e r a lC o m m i t t e e What role may the General Committee play in advisingthe General Assemblyon t h e e f f l c i e n to r g a n i z a t i o n ,c o o r d i n a t i o na n d m a n a g e m e n to f i t s w o r k ? W h a t r o l e m a y t h e G e n e r a l C o m m i t t e ep l a y i n r e v i e w i n gt h e a g e n d ao f t h e G e n e r a l Assembly? D. E,lections D o w e n e e d t o r e t h i n l