Ambassador Chris Lu
U.S. Representative for UN Management and Reform
New York, New York
May 12, 2022
AS DELIVERED
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The United States is firmly committed to improving the financial situation of the United Nations. In November 2021, the U.S. contributed over $700 million in advance payments to the current year’s UN peacekeeping budget. In the next few months, we will be contributing an additional $100 million to the regular budget, on top of our annual assessment, in order to reduce our outstanding amounts owed.
In this second resumed session, the Fifth Committee has an opportunity to put the United Nations on a more sound financial footing. One meaningful way to do this is by adding greater liquidity in the UN’s regular budget, including by increasing the Working Capital Fund through the retention of credits and the delayed return of credits.
Improving the liquidity of the regular budget would also allow us to return money held in closed peacekeeping missions. These funds, which are currently used as a liquidity reserve of last resort for the regular budget, could instead be returned to troop-contributing countries to address outstanding liabilities.
The cash pooling of peacekeeping operations, which was approved three years ago by the General Assembly, has substantially improved the timeliness of payments to troop-contributing countries, allowing them to be paid on time rather than months late. We support the continuation of cash pooling for peacekeeping, and we see the merits of considering cash pooling of all assessed contributions, and welcome further discussions on this topic.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
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