A/65/PV.84 General Assembly

My country has the honour to sponsor draft resolution A/65/L.65, entitled “Oceans and the law of the sea”, along with Australia, Brazil, Canada and New Zealand. I should like to begin by expressing appreciation for the cooperation exhibited by all delegations involved in negotiating the draft resolution. By adopting the draft resolution today, the General Assembly would endorse the recommendations of the Ad Hoc Working Group of the Whole on the Regular Process for global reporting and assessment of the state of the marine environment, including socio-economic aspects, as contained in document A/65/759. It is sometimes forgotten that the marine environment plays a critical role in the health of the terrestrial environment, with which we are more familiar. We therefore cannot ignore it in our analysis of and discussions on topics such as climate change, food security and biodiversity. We therefore need to know much more about the state of this sector of our planet, and it is our hope that equal attention will be given to monitoring and reporting as well as to the measures that may be necessary, as a result of our findings, for improvements and corrections. We look forward to the convening of the second meeting of the Ad Hoc Working Group of the Whole at the end of June 2011 to address the outstanding issues identified in the report of the first meeting, held in February. On behalf of my co-Chair, Ms. Renée Sauvé, I wish once again to thank all delegations for their cooperation during the February meeting and during the informal consultations on the draft resolution. We are particularly grateful for the assistance of the Mission of Canada, through Mr. Keith Morrill, who led the negotiations to their conclusion last Tuesday. We look forward to agreement on all of these very important matters through the adoption of this draft resolution by consensus today.

We shall now proceed to consider draft resolution A/65/L.65. May I take it that the Assembly decides to adopt draft resolution A/65/L.65?

The Assembly has thus concluded this stage of its consideration of sub-item (a) of agenda item 74. Reports of the Fifth Committee The Acting President: The General Assembly will now consider the reports of the Fifth Committee under agenda items 129 and 135. I request the Rapporteur of the Fifth Committee, Ms. Nicole Ann Mannion of Ireland, to introduce the reports of the Fifth Committee before the General Assembly in one intervention. Ms. Mannion (Ireland), Rapporteur of the Fifth Committee: I have the honour today to present to the General Assembly the reports of the Fifth Committee containing recommendations on issues that required action during the first resumed part of the sixty-fifth session of the General Assembly. The Fifth Committee met from 7 to 25 March and held four plenary meetings and numerous rounds of informal consultations and informal/informal consultations. I therefore have the honour to present the following brief report on the work of the Committee. Concerning agenda item 129, entitled “Programme budget for the biennium 2010-2011”, the Committee recommends to the General Assembly, in paragraph 8 of its report contained in document A/65/646/Add.2, the adoption of two draft resolutions. Draft resolution I deals with special subjects relating to the programme budget for the biennium 2010-2011, and draft resolution II relates to the capital master plan; both were adopted by the Committee without a vote. Under agenda item 135, entitled “Joint Inspection Unit”, the Committee recommends to the General Assembly, in paragraph 6 of its report contained in document A/65/796, the adoption of a draft resolution, which was adopted without a vote. I wish to thank all delegations for their cooperation during this session. I should also like to thank the members of the Fifth Committee secretariat for their consistent hard work and dedication in supporting the work of the representatives in the Fifth Committee. Special thanks must go to Mr. Moses Abelian, who is now moving on from the post of Secretary of the Committee after seven years and whose wisdom and tireless efforts on behalf of the Committee will be sorely missed. Finally, I should like to congratulate the new Secretary of the Fifth Committee, Ms. Sharon van Buerle, on her new position. We look forward to working with her in the future.

If there is no proposal under rule 66 of the rules of procedure, I shall take it that the Assembly decides not to discuss the reports of the Fifth Committee that are before the Assembly today.

Statements will therefore be limited to explanations of vote. The positions of delegations regarding the recommendations of the Fifth Committee have been made clear in the Committee and are reflected in the relevant official records. May I remind members that, under paragraph 7 of decision 34/401, the General Assembly agreed that “When the same draft resolution is considered in a Main Committee and in plenary meeting, a delegation should, as far as possible, explain its vote only once, that is, either in the Committee or in plenary meeting, unless that delegation’s vote in plenary meeting is different from its vote in the Committee.” May I remind delegations that, also in accordance with General Assembly decision 34/401, explanations of vote are limited to 10 minutes and should be made by delegations from their seats. Before we begin to take action on the recommendations contained in the reports of the Fifth Committee, I should like to advise representatives that we are going to proceed to take decisions in the same manner as was done in the Fifth Committee, unless members are notified otherwise in advance.

Draft resolution II is entitled “Capital master plan”. The Fifth Committee adopted it without a vote. May I take it that the Assembly wishes to do likewise?

The Assembly has thus concluded this stage of its consideration of agenda item 129.

The General Assembly has thus concluded this stage of its consideration of agenda item 135.