(WPR/RC33/SR/9)
SUMMARY RECORD OF THE NINTH MEETING WHO Conference Hall, Manila Friday, 24 September 1982 at 9.00 a.m. CHAIRMAN: Dr S. Tapa (Tonga)
CONTENTS
1.
Consideration of draft resolutions
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158
2.
Statements by representatives of the United Nations, the specialized agencies, and intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations in official relations with. WHO ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
160 161 161
3. 4.
Resolution of appreciation Closure of the session
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- 157 -
158
REGIONAL COMMITTEE:
THIRTY-THIRD SESSION
1.
CONSIDERATION OF DRAFT RESOLUTIONS The Committee considered the following draft resolutions:
1.1
Programme budget for 1984-1985 (Document WPR/RC33/Conf. Paper No. 2) (continued from the third meeting, section 2)
Dr MINNERS (United States of America) proposed a modification of the amendment he had submitted earlier, in order to achieve unity on this important matter and also to make an appropriate factual reference to the views expressed by the representatives. His proposal was to insert a phrase in the. operative pqragraph so that it would read "REQUESTS the Regional Director, taking note of the discussions, ••• ". He was no longer proposing that the words "and inclusion" be deleted. There were in fact various opinions on the programme budget, and it would seem correct to include such a reference. The proposed phrase seemed brief, inoffensive and a relatively standard kind of formula, found in numerous resolutions throughout the United Nations family. Moreover, the United States wanted to be perfectly clear about its intentions. It felt that it would be misleading and inconsistent to vote in favour of an increase at the Regional Committee and then reverse its stand - for example, at the next session of the Executive Board or at the World Health Assembly. Regardless of the text of the resolution finally adopted, it should be clear that the United States Government was viewing all budgets - both domestic and international - as calling for extraordinary restraint. It recognized inflation, and was struggling in a variety of ways to overcome it. Accordingly, if the sort of increase proposed in the regional budget was also shown in the overall budget, the United States would most probably not be able to support the WHO programme budget. He accepted that the proposed draft resolution only made a request and recommendation to the Director-General. It did not adopt the programme budget itself. Secondly, the WHO Constitution referred to the function of the Regional Committee only in terms of increasing regional budgetary recommendation; it made no reference to other adjustments - for example, decreases. Thirdly, other regional committees might also request increases, and the Western Pacific Region should not be placed at a comparative disadvantage vis-a-vis the other regions. Dr ACOSTA (Philippines) had noted the commendable comments by the representative of the United States of America. The proposed phrase seemed, however, extraneous to the content of the operative paragraph. He therefore suggested that, instead, the words "and discussed" should be inserted after "having examined", in the preambular paragraph. Dr MINNERS (United States of America) felt that the proposal of the representative of the Philippines did not meet the intention of his own proposed amendment, which was to ask the Regional Director to transmit the discussion, according to his interpretation, to the Director-General.
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Dr EVANS (Australia) sympathized with the points of view expressed by the representatives of both the United States of America and the Philippines. He suggested that the following wording of the operative paragraph might be acceptable: "Requests the Regional Director to take note of the discussion and ••• " Dr REILLY (Papua New Guinea) agreed with the representative of the United States of America regarding the need to avoid increases in the budget. In Papua New Guinea it had been necessary to cut back· on health services because of the financial situation. He believed, however, that there were moves from other regions for their allocations to be increased for the 1984-1985 biennium, and he was concerned lest a weakening of the resolution through addition of the proposed amendment might weaken the Western Pacific Region 1 s position in obtaining the funds requested in the programme budget. Dr KHALID (Malaysia) understood the reasoning behind the representative of the United States 1 proposed amendment, and had also noted the previous clarification provided by the secretariat - that the proceedings of the regional committees were in fact submitted to the Director-General. The proceedings of the present session of the Committee would accordingly be at the disposal of the Director-General, and he therefore supported the proposal made by the representative of the Philippines. He also shared the view expressed by the representative of Papua New Guinea regarding the need to avoid weakening the Region's position. Dr MINNERS (United States of America) accepted the wording proposed by the representative of Australia. Dr LIU XIRONG (China) supported the proposal made by the representative of the Philippines. Mr NGUYEN DUY CUONG (Viet Nam) supported the amendment proposed by the representative of the Philippines. Mr KAKAR (Director of the Support Programme) summarized the proposed amendments, and sought confirmation before explaining the voting procedure that, since the representative of the Philippines had addressed his suggestion to the representative of the United States of America, who had not accepted it, only the proposal of the representative of the United States of America, as amended by the representative of Australia, remained to be voted upon before the vote on the draft resolution as a whole. It was so agreed. Mr UHDE (Administrative and Finance Officer) was appointed teller to assist the Secretary in counting the votes. The CHAIRMAN called for a show of hands in a simple majority vote on the proposed amendment. 4; against: for: The result of the voting was as follows: 2• , majority required: 8. The proposed amendment was abstentions: rejected.
11; thus
160
REGIONAL COMMITTEE;
THIRTY-THIRD SESSION
'l'he CHAIRMAN called for a further show of hands in a vote on the draft resolution as a whole in its original unamended form. The result o.f the voting was as follows; abstentions; 5; majority required: 7. for; 12; against; none;
Decision; The draft resolution was adopted (see resolution WPR/RC33 .Rl7). 1.2 The biomedical information system: development and support (Document WPR/RC33/Conf. Paper No. 18)
Dr EVANS (Australia) proposed the addition of the words "present resources and" before "present and future " in operative paragraph 4(1) of the draft resolution. Dr ACOSTA (Philippines} supported the proposal. Decision; The draft resolution, as amended, was adopted (see resolution WPR/RC33.Rl8). 1.3 services in international ports
Dr HAN (Director of Progrannne Management) pointed out that the word "services" should be inserted after "epidemiological" in operative paragraph 2(1). The French text was not affected. It was so agreed. Decision; The draft resolution, as amended, was adopted (see resolution WPR/RC33.Rl9). 1.4 Technical discussions (Document WPR/RC33/Conf. Paper No. 20) Decision; The draft resolution was adopted without comment (see resolution WPR/RC33.R20). 1.5 Thirt -fourth and thirt -fifth sessions of the Re ional Committee (Document WPR/RC33 Conf. Paper No. 21 Decision; The draft resolution was adopted without comment (see resolution WPR/RC33.R21) 2. STATEMENTS BY REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED NATION'S, THE SPECIALIZED AGENCIES, AND INTERGOVERNMENTAL AND NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS IN OFFICIAL RELATIONS WITH WHO; Item 20 of the Agenda At the invitation of the CHAIRMAN, statements were presented as follows: 2.1 United Nations and related organizations United Nations Children's Fund
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161
2.2
Nongovernmental organizations International Association of Cancer Registries International Federation of Information . Processing Medical Women's International Association World Federation for Mental Health International Committee of .C atholic Nurses International Council of Nurses International Federation of Ophthalmologic~l Societies International Paediatric Association World Federation of Parasitologists International Planned Parenthood Federation International Council of Societies of Pathology International Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions Rehabilitation International International Council of Women
A statement was submitted for circulation to representatives of Member States by the International Association of Environmental Mutagen Societies. 3. RESOLUTION OF APPRECIATION
Dr SOUVANNAVONG (Lao People's Democratic Republic) presented a draft resolution of appreciation. Decision~ The draft resolution was adopted unanimously (see resolution WPR/RC33 .R22).
4.
CLOSURE OF THE SESSION:
Item 22 of the Agenda
The CHAIRMAN thanked representatives for their cooperation and declared the thirty-third session of the Regional Committee closed ..
The meeting closed at 11.35 a.m.