Japan, United States dissociate themselves from adopted budget outline.

• Position: General Assembly 53

The United Nations will begin the twenty-first century with about $2.545 billion at its disposal, according to the budget outline for 2000-2001 that was adopted by the fifty-third General Assembly. Two Member States - the United States and Japan, whose combined assessments amount to some 45 per cent of regular budget contributions-disassociated themselves from the consensus, saying the figure was too high.

According to another text out of 25 adopted without a vote on the recommendation of the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary), $1.261 billion is to be appropriated for 1999. Of that amount, nearly $1.218 billion will be assessed from Member States. That text also endorsed Secretary-General Kofi Annan's proposal to include provisions within the budget outline for special political missions that were expected but not yet mandated. The United Nations programme budget for the 1998-1999 biennium will be reduced from $2.532 billion to about $2.527 billion, according to another resolution, to reflect revised cost estimates and the cost of resolutions adopted by the Assembly during the current session.

On the newer issue of "results-based budgeting", the Committee recommended that the programme budget proposal for 2000-2001 should still be prepared according to currently existing procedures, but that the Secretary-General also should submit prototypes using results-based techniques. Mr. Annan was asked to furnish the Assembly at its next session with a proposal comparing the two budget formats and justifying his recommendation to change the existing procedure.

By a resolution on the Integrated Management Information System (IMIS), the Assembly approved an additional appropriation of $3.3 million, while requesting that the Secretary-General take action to ensure that related activities are performed efficiently and economically, and that adequate and qualified staff are...