United Nations

GA/AB/3646
8 November 2004

Budget Committee Recommends Appointments to Six Bodies, Including Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions

NEW YORK, 5 November (UN Headquarters) -- The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) this morning recommended to the General Assembly appointments to six subsidiary and other bodies, including the Committee on Contributions, the United Nations Staff Pension Committee and its Investment Committee, the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC) and the Organization’s Administrative Tribunal.

For the Committee on Contributions, the Committee recommended, by acclamation, for a three-year term of office beginning on 1 January 2005, the appointment of: Paul Ekorong a Dong of Cameroon; Hassan Mohammed Hassan of Nigeria; Bernardo Greiver del Hoyo of Uruguay; Eduardo Iglesias of Argentina; David Dutton of Australia; and Eduardo Manuel da Fonseca Fernandes Ramos of Portugal.

For the same body, following the resignation of Sergei I. Mareyev of the Russian Federation, the Committee recommended, also by acclamation, the appointment of Vyacheslav A. Logutov of the Russian Federation to fill Mr. Mareyev’s unexpired term of office, beginning on 1 January 2005 and ending on 31 December 2005.

Turning to the Pension Fund’s Investments Committee, the Committee recommended, by acclamation, that the Assembly confirm William J. McDonough of the United States, Helene Ploix of France, and Jurgen Reimnitz of Germany for a three-year term of office beginning on 1 January 2005.  It also recommended that the Assembly approve transformation of the appointment of Khaya Ngqula of South Africa from that of an ad hoc member to that of a regular member in order to fill the remainder of the term of office of Ahmed Abdullatif of Saudi Arabia, following his resignation.  Mr. Ngqula’s term would start in December 2004 and expire on 31 December 2006.

For a period of four years beginning on 1 January 2005, the Committee approved, for the United Nations Staff Pension Committee, appointment or reappointment of the following candidates:  Kenshiro Akimoto of Japan; Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry of Pakistan; Valeria Maria Gonzalez Posse of Argentina; Andrei V. Kovalenko of the Russian Federation; Gerhard Kuntzle of Germany; Lovemore Mazemo of Zimbabwe; Philip Richard Okanda Owade of Kenya; and Thomas Repasch of the United States.  All those candidates were approved by acclamation.

For the ACABQ, as the number of candidates from the Groups of Asian and Western European and Other States corresponded to the number of vacancies for those regional groups, the Committee recommended by acclamation the appointment for a three-year term of office beginning on 1 January 2005 of: Rajat Saha of India; Sun Minqin of China; Jun Yamazaki of Japan; Ronald Elkhuizen of the Netherlands; and Jerry Kramer of Canada.

Since there were three candidates to fill one vacant seat, one candidate from the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States was elected by secret ballot. Following two rounds of voting on the candidacies of Jorge Flores Callejas of Honduras, Santiago Wins of Uruguay, and Nazareth A. Incera of Costa Rica, Mr. Flores Callejas of Honduras was recommended to fill the vacancy, having acquired the required majority of votes.

In the first round of voting, none of the candidates received the necessary majority of 93 votes (83 for Mr. Flores Callejas of Honduras; 67 for Mr. Wins of Uruguay; and 34 for Ms. Incera of Costa Rica). [The number of ballots cast in the first round -- 185; invalid ballots -- 0; number of valid ballots -- 185; abstentions -- 1; number of delegations voting -- 184; required majority -- 93.]

In the second round of voting, Ms. Incera was eliminated.  The results of the second round were as follows:  the number of ballots cast -- 187; invalid ballots -- 0; number of valid ballots -- 187; abstentions -- 0; number of delegations voting -- 187; required majority -- 94.  Mr. Flores Callejas of Honduras obtained 105 votes, and Mr. Wins of Uruguay received 82 votes.

The number of candidacies for the ICSC from the Groups of Asian and Eastern European States corresponded to the number of vacancies for those Groups. Thus, the Committee approved by acclamation the appointment, for a four-year term of office beginning on 1 January, of Shamsher Chowdhury of Bangladesh, Ziaochu Wang of China, and Vladimir Titov of the Russian Federation.

As the number of ICSC candidates from the Group of African States exceeded the number of seats, two members from that Group were elected through secret ballot. Following a vote on the candidacies of Fatih Bouayad-Agha of Algeria  (161 votes in favour), El Hassane Zahid of Morocco (108 votes in favour), and Ernest Rusita of Uganda (87 votes in favour), Mr. Bouayad-Agha and Mr. Zahid were recommended for a four-year term of office starting on 1 January, having acquired the needed majority of votes. [The number of ballots cast -- 185; invalid ballots -- 0; number of valid ballots -- 185; abstentions -- 0; number of delegations voting -- 185; required majority -- 93]

And finally, also through a secret ballot, the Committee made recommendations to fill three vacancies on the United Nations Administrative Tribunal. Having acquired the majority of votes, Goh Joon Seng of Singapore (155 votes in favour), Spyridon Flogaitis of Greece (151 votes in favour),and Brigitte Stern of France (122 votes in favour) were recommended for reappointment for a four-year term of office beginning on 1 January 2005.  The fourth candidate -- Juliet Semambo Kalema of Uganda -- received 110 votes. [The number of ballots cast -- 185; invalid ballots -- 0; number of valid ballots -- 185; abstentions -- 1; number of delegations voting -- 184; required majority -- 93]

The Committee will take up its agenda item on programme planning and continue its consideration of the activities of the Office of Internal Oversight Services at 2:30 p.m., Tuesday, 9 November.

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