UN receives $46 million from Washington towards US dues payment

The United Nations today received $46 million from the United States as part of a Congressional agreement on the reprogramming of Washington's payments for the UN regular budget.

On 30 September, US President George W. Bush signed into law an appropriations bill implementing the third and final stage of the "Helms-Biden" legislation providing for the repayment of US arrears to the UN. Congress has agreed that the funds can be paid in 15 days from the day that the President signed the legislation, instead of the usual 30 days.

"Interestingly, this legislation that was signed into law a week ago Monday does encourage and re-authorize what they call the 're-synchronization' of US payments," UN spokesman Fred Eckhard commented. He recalled that since the early 1980s, Washington has appropriated funds due in January only the following October, "so the US has programmed itself to be late every year." The new legislation contains encouragement to make it possible for US payments to be made on time.

The Secretary-General, who has sent a letter to US Secretary of State Colin Powell thanking the Administration for supporting the legislation, will also be writing to the chairs of the relevant Congressional committees, the spokesman reported.

The arrears problem eventually "became crippling, and Congress became seized of the matter with the intention to come up with a formula for repayment," Mr. Eckhard noted. "It's not 100 per cent, but it's a substantial improvement over how it was, and the Secretary-General is grateful that we made this progress."