Migiro welcomes closer working relationship between UN and European Union

Two weeks after a report showed that hundreds of millions of people have benefited from a United Nations-European Union (EU) partnership – in such areas as protecting refugees, helping children and promoting democracy – Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro today welcomed the start of a workshop bringing the two organizations closer in the administrative realm.

“It is particularly useful to learn from those who are going through the same processes – and let’s face it, who sometimes experience the same woes,” Ms. Migiro said at the start of the workshop held at UN Headquarters. “There is an old saying that encapsulates this idea: ‘A problem shared, is a problem halved.’”

The workshop aims to harmonize the administrative practices – in such areas as planning and budget, human resources, procurement, internal controls, audit, investigations and ethics – of the two bodies to meet the demands of their diverse and large constituencies.

“Cooperation between the European Commission and the United Nations is a vital means for better serving people around the world,” Ms. Migiro told the meeting’s participants.

Two weeks ago, Ms. Migiro travelled to Europe to meet with EU authorities and launch the report, the first detailing the partnership between the two organizations, which found that the UN and the European Commission worked together in 80 developing countries and countries in transition during the year under review, operating mainly to improve economic development, protect human rights and provide humanitarian assistance.

EU Member States provide 38 per cent of the UN’s regular budget, at least 40 per cent of peacekeeping operations and about 50 per cent of contributions to voluntarily funded UN agencies, funds and programmes.