- enable the Secretariat to better serve the States Parties, which was also in a way a capacity- building activity for States that need International Assistance. These projects are important examples of safeguarding activities worldwide, and the delegation underlined the need to closely monitor and evaluate the impacts of assistance provided from the Fund. Thus, it was logical that the human capacities allowed the Secretariat to achieve that goal. It therefore welcomed the proposal to create a new budget line for the creation of the three new posts.
- 219. The delegation of Palestine thanked the Secretariat for the draft plan that reflected previous discussions on the new budget line 1.1, which was welcomed by all members of the Committee. Previous delegations stressed the need to adopt the new budget line as the Secretariat's excellent team needed to increase its human resources to enable it to better assist requests, namely, to provide International Assistance and strengthen capacities. The delegation thus congratulated the Secretariat, thanking the Secretariat and all the States Parties of the Convention for their excellent work.
- 220. The delegation of Uganda appreciated the use of the resources of the Fund, and it was proud of the expenditure rate gain of 53 per cent compared to 21 per cent under the International Assistance mechanism. However, it noted the underutilization of the Fund. Uganda recommended a deliberate effort towards raising capacity of sub-national staff and the communities at the State Party level, which would help identify elements and prepare possible proposals. The delegation requested that the Secretariat invest in research to understand specific State Party constraints that would lead to the use of International Assistance for safeguarding, and the preparation of files, programmes and projects.
- 221. The delegation of Venezuela agreed with the previous speakers who congratulated the Secretariat for the high quality of its report. Echoing the remarks by Uganda, it also highlighted the underutilization of the Fund and that priority should be given to certain investments in capacity building. Budget line 3 was said to be precise in its wording but was somewhat vague in its content, as it referred to funds dedicated to the capacity-building programme as well as intangible cultural heritage in formal and non-formal education. The delegation concurred that this was of course important and that it should reflected in the budget, but it was also important to emphasize International Assistance and it wished to see this more clearly reflected in the resolution as a whole.
- 222. The delegation of Senegal warmly congratulated the Secretariat for its report, adding that States had always expressed expectations with regard to the Secretariat and the Committee in attaining their objectives, of which the main objective was the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage. This safeguarding involves activities and actions developed at the national level for which International Assistance was requested. It welcomed the increase in the number of countries benefiting from International Assistance, including Senegal, for which it thanked and congratulated the Secretariat. Beyond this expectation, the Assembly could not ask the Secretariat to increase the number of beneficiary countries when the Secretariat had few human resources to process and follow-up on these requests. Hence, the need to be realistic, with the Secretariat needing the human resources through this budget line to achieve that aim. The delegation had always supported this budget line and would continue to support it so that the monitoring mechanisms at the Secretariat or at the national level would become truly operational. It was thus grateful for the increase in International Assistance and it urged the Assembly to support the Secretariat in its work.
- 223. The delegation of Zambia congratulated the Chairperson for efficiently managing the meeting, thanking the Secretariat for the good report. Zambia also benefitted considerably in terms of International Assistance, especially inventorying and capacity building. Currently, UNESCO was funding an education project for which it thanked the Secretariat. It was noted that the report indicated an underutilization of International Assistance. Zambia's experience showed that there was a need for capacity building so that States Parties could start understanding the processes and procedures that would allow them to apply to the Fund.
- 224. The delegation of Turkey welcomed the plan drafted by the Secretariat and it looked forward to its approval by the General Assembly. Bearing in mind the steady increase in demand for