- 99. The delegation of Venezuela congratulated the Chairperson on her election. It wished to co- sponsor the proposal by the Philippines, adding that the grounds for this proposal were appropriate and not premature, as this compromise solution stressed the importance of dialogue, as expressed by many of the speakers. This would also improve the working methodologies generally, which was part of the effort to improve governance. All statutory bodies have the mandate to modify, amend and approve their working methodologies, which was the thinking behind this paragraph, especially with regard to strengthening transparency and credibility.
- 100. The delegation of Ecuador expressed support for the proposal by the Philippines. With regard to the rationale behind this proposal, it reminded the Assembly that this issue had been largely discussed over the past two years, so it was difficult to understand why some delegations would wish to delete this proposal, especially in light of the debate in which States were unanimous in supporting the need for this dialogue as part of the evaluation process. The delegation echoed Algeria 's remarks that this was a work in progress, which would continue to be discussed in the ad hoc working group with a view to its possible adoption by the Committee. Moreover, previous discussions had dealt with the unfounded fear of the process being premature, as the main point to retain was that this work would continue in the open-ended ad hoc working group. Once the work was complete, the Committee would decide whether to adopt the proposals before then forwarding them to the General Assembly.
- 101. The delegation of Hungary supported the remarks by Ecuador, Algeria and the Philippines, and wished to retain the original paragraph as proposed.
- 102. The delegation of Portugal congratulated the Chairperson on her election. Having listened carefully to the arguments on strengthening dialogue, with which it agreed in principle, and understanding the wish to develop this further, the delegation proposed an amendment to the paragraph, which would read, ' the need to develop when and where appropriate a suitable mechanism' . This would provide some latitude to decide when and where this mechanism would be discussed to include the inputs provided by the working group.
- 103. The delegation of Lebanon congratulated the Chairperson on her election, and supported the proposal put forward by the Philippines.
- 104. The delegation of Cyprus also strongly supported the proposal by the Philippines, while rejecting Belgium's proposal to delete the paragraph, recalling that a working group had been especially created to discuss this issue of dialogue.
- 105. The delegation of Latvia congratulated the Chairperson on her election. It also believed that the General Assembly had substantial issues to discuss and it was looking forward to the upcoming debate. As for this concrete question, the delegation believed that more time was needed to examine the outcomes of the ad hoc working group. Thus, a decision had to be taken by the Committee before the General Assembly could really express whether or not there was a need for this dialogue and the respective mechanisms. In this regard, the delegation would go along with the initial draft resolution as proposed by the Secretariat.
- 106. The Chairperson remarked that a compromise solution should be sought. Summarizing, she noted that most delegations supported the original proposal that reflected the morning 's debate. Belgium proposed deleting the paragraph, while Latvia proposed returning to the original paragraph proposed by the Secretariat. Portugal proposed adding ' when and where appropriate '. The Chairperson suggested that in order to clarify the paragraph after 'when and where appropriate a suitable', the following text could be added, 'in the framework of the Committee and the working group'.
- 107. The Secretary felt that it would be better to start with the informal working group, followed by the discussions by the Committee. Thus, the text would read, ' in the framework of the informal ad hoc working group and the Intergovernmental Committee ' .
- 108. The delegation of Ecuador supported the proposal on the understanding that Portugal's amendment would be deleted , as the addition of ' in the framework of the informal ad hoc working group ' would render 'when and where appropriate' redundant since the context of