United Nations A/RES/56/238 General Assembly Distr.: General 31 January 2002 Fifty-sixth session Agenda item 122 Resolution adopted by the General Assembly [on the report of the Fifth Committee (A/56/653)] 56/238. Proposed measures to improve the profitability of the commercial activities of the United Nations The General Assembly, Recalling its resolution 55/232 of 23 December 2000, Recalling also the international and non-commercial character of the Organization, Having considered the report of the Secretary-General on the proposed measures to improve the profitability of the commercial activities of the United Nations1 and the related report of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions,2 1. Notes with satisfaction the report of the Secretary-General,1 and endorses the recommendations of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions thereon;2 2. Notes the proposal to separate the management of the commercial activities from the other activities of the Organization, and requests the Secretary-General to submit detailed information on this proposal and its administrative and financial implications; 3. Requests the Secretary-General to elaborate on this proposal by means of a blueprint concerning the specific commercial goals of the Organization and the steps that should be taken to achieve them, in particular the use of outsourcing, in accordance with the provisions of its resolution 55/232 and its resolution 55/247 of 12 April 2001, and the optimum use of space within the United Nations buildings; 4. Also requests the Secretary-General to make proposals to streamline and simplify the administration and management structure underpinning those activities; 5. Further requests the Secretary-General to submit for the consideration of the General Assembly at its fifty-seventh session a single report containing the information requested in the present resolution. 92nd plenary meeting 24 December 2001 _______________ 1 A/55/546. Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-sixth Session, Supplement No. 7 (A/56/7), chap. II, sect. B, paras. IS3.5–13. 2 01 49615