S/PV.7854 Security Council

The Security Council will now begin its consideration of the item on its agenda. Members of the Council have before them document S/2016/1118, which contains the text of a draft resolution submitted by the United States of America. I wish to draw the attention of Council members to document S/2016/1126, which contains the text of a letter dated 29 December 2016 from the Secretary-General addressed to the President of the Security Council. The Council is ready to proceed to the vote on the draft resolution before it. I shall put the draft resolution to the vote now.

The draft resolution received 15 votes in favour. The draft resolution has been adopted unanimously as resolution 2335 (2016). I shall now give the floor to the member of the Council who wishes to make a statement following the voting.

Today’s adoption of a short-term extension of the processes and escrow accounts related to winding up the oil-for-food programme brings us a step closer to closing the book on that programme. The Government of Iraq and the United Nations requested this temporary extension to tie up a few outstanding issues. The United Nations and the Government of Iraq have made substantial progress on this file in the past year, having held successful negotiations and resolved a number of complex legal matters. We hope that both parties might take today’s adoption as an indication of the Security Council’s support for their efforts to close this file once and for all.