A/RES/67/237
Pattern of conferences
programmes of work and to notify conference services, well in advance, of any
cancellations so that unutilized conference-servicing resources may, to the extent
possible, be reassigned to meetings of regional and other major groupings of
Member States;
12. Welcomes the efforts of all users of conference services to inform the
Secretariat as early as possible of any cancellation of service requests so as to allow
for such services to be smoothly redeployed to other meetings;
13. Notes with satisfaction that, in accordance with several resolutions of the
General Assembly, including resolution 66/233, section II.A, paragraph 12, in
conformity with the headquarters rule, all meetings of Nairobi-based United Nations
bodies were held in Nairobi in 2011, and requests the Secretary-General to report
thereon to the Assembly at its sixty-eighth session through the Committee on
Conferences;
14. Notes with concern the recurring underutilization of the conference
centre of the Economic Commission for Africa, and recognizes the ongoing
promotional efforts and initiatives of the Commission;
15. Requests the Secretary-General to continue to explore additional means
to increase the utilization of the conference centre of the Economic Commission for
Africa, including with its partners such as the African Union, and to report thereon,
including on the impact of the initiatives of the Commission, to the General
Assembly at its sixty-eighth session;
16. Also requests the Secretary-General to encourage the heads of entities of
the United Nations system to use as a matter of priority, when applicable, the
conference centre of the Economic Commission for Africa to ensure greater
utilization of the conference facilities;
17. Further requests the Secretary-General to formulate a more competitive
pricing structure and an appropriate marketing strategy for the conference centre of
the Economic Commission for Africa;
18. Recognizes the proactive efforts of the Secretary-General to identify
ways to enhance efficiency and effectiveness in conference services;
19. Requests the Secretary-General to propose, at its sixty-eighth session, a
comprehensive review of conference servicing, highlighting any duplication or
redundancy, with a view to identifying innovative ideas, potential synergies and
other cost-saving measures, without compromising the quality of the services;
20. Reiterates its request to the Committee on Conferences that it consult
those bodies that have consistently utilized less than the applicable benchmark of
their allocated resources for the past three years, with a view to making appropriate
recommendations in order to achieve the optimum utilization of conferenceservicing resources, and urges the secretariats and bureaux of bodies that
underutilize their conference-servicing resources to work more closely with the
Department for General Assembly and Conference Management of the Secretariat
and to consider changes to their programmes of work, as appropriate, including
adjustments based on previous patterns of recurring agenda items, with a view to
making improvements in their utilization factors;
21. Requests the Chair of the Committee on Conferences to address a letter
to the presiding officers of intergovernmental bodies based at duty stations other
than New York if their utilization factor falls below the benchmark of 80 per cent;
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