Thank you chair.

I present this statement on behalf of Australia, Canada, the Republic of Korea and my own country New Zealand.

My delegation delivers this statement on behalf of Australia, Canada, New Zealand and my own country, the Republic of Korea.

We commend the Africa Group for presenting this important resolution and leading us through arduous negotiations in good faith. We especially appreciate Cameroon and South Africa for steering this process as dedicated co-facilitators.

We would like to reaffirm that we have been consistent in supporting the spirit and the objectives of this resolution from the beginning of the process – that is, improving the efficiency of the working methods of the Third Committee. From the beginning, we also reiterated the importance of upholding consensus on a resolution that impacts on all member states – small or large.

It is with regret, however, that our delegations have decided to call a vote on paragraph OP4. Let us be clear. We are in agreement that combined briefings are an effective method to alleviate the workload of this committee.

However, we disagree that this resolution should decide on how combined briefings should proceed – regionally or otherwise.

We believe that the current practice, where the Bureau has the flexibility to exercise its discretion in combining briefings is the preferred way forward.

This paragraph was one of a few paragraphs that our delegations broke silence on, while compromising significantly and accepting many of the proposals presented by the co-facilitators. From the outset, we asked for the deletion of this paragraph and when our concerns were not addressed, we continued to engage constructively to find common ground.

Despite these efforts, we regret that calling a vote on this paragraph seems to be the only option left for us to make our voices heard in the room. Therefore, we encourage all member states to vote NO on this paragraph.

A NO vote deletes the whole paragraph which is the change we are seeking. It provides a path forward and creates an opportunity for all member states to engage in this important process at a later stage that determines how interactive dialogues should be held in the future.

We agree that change to working methods is required in 3C. But we strongly believe that decisions that impact on all of our work, should be agreed by consensus. 

I thank you.