Mr. Movses Abelian, Secretary of the Administrative and Budgetary Committee of the General Assembly (Fifth Committee) and the Committee on Programme Coordination (CPC), will visit Japan upon invitation by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Taking this opportunity, Mr. Abelian will brief on the administrative and financial operations of the United Nations — the status quo and the challenges it faces –, with focus on the process of planning and decision-making of the UN budget as well as the scale of assessments of Member States. Mr. Masahiko Kiya, Director, UN Planning and Administration Division, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will be present at the briefing as a commentator.

Title:Briefing: Administrative and financial operations of the United Nations
— Status quo and the challenges it face —
Time/Date:15:30-16:30, Thursday, 18 February 2010
* Registration starts at 15:00 on the 1st floor.
Venue:UNIC Tokyo, 8th floor of UNU HQ Building (UN House)
[MAP] http://www.unu.edu/access/
Organized by:United Nations Information Centre (UNIC)
Languages/Admissions: English only / Free of charge
Registration:Persons wishing to attend should register by sending e-mails to event@untokyo.jp with subject for “Registration for briefing on 18 February” by Wednesday 17 February. Please make sure to include your name, organization, title, telephone/fax number and e-mail address. Applicants will only be contacted if the maximum number of participants is reached.
Inquiry: United Nations Information Centre (Tel: 03-5467-4451)

Biographical Note: Mr. Movses Abelian assumed the office of Secretary of the Administrative and Budgetary Committee of the General Assembly (Fifth Committee) and the Committee on Programme and Coordination (CPC) in 2003. Prior to his appointment in 2003, Mr. Abelian was the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Armenia to the United Nations with the rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, a post he held since 1997. During his career representing Armenia in the international community, Mr. Abelian took several posts including the Chairman of the Fifth Committee (1998) and President of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

The Fifth Committee is the Committee of the General Assembly with responsibilities for administration and budgetary matters. Based on the reports of the Fifth Committee, the General Assembly considers and approves the budget of the Organization. The Assembly also considers and approves financial and budgetary arrangements with specialized agencies and makes recommendations to the agencies concerned. The Committee also deals with administrative and budgetary aspects of UN Peacekeeping.