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Statement by
Mr. Chairman, I would like to begin by expressing my warmest congratulations on your election as chairman of the 25th session of the Committee on Infonnatjon. I would also like to express my congratulations to the other members of the Bureau of the Committee on Information. In the discharge of your duties, you can count on the full support, cooperation and participation of my delegation, for we are confident that under your chairmanship and your guidance, the 25th session of the Committee on Information will be an outstanding success. Let me also take this opportunity to express our gratitude to Ambassador Milos Alcalay, the Permanent Representative of Venezuela, for having successfully presided over our deliberations at the 24th session of the Committee. Before I continue, let me also thank Mr. Shashi Tharoor, the UnderSecretary-General for Communication and Public Information, not only for his outstanding work in heading the Department, but also for his comprehensive statement at the outset of this debate. Under his leadership, we are confident that the Department of Public Information and the implementation of the programmes and policies of the United Nations are in very good and capable hands. My delegation associates with the statement delivered earlier by the Representative of Morocco, speaking on behalf of the Group of 77 and China. In my brief contribution, I will only comment on a few specific issues of particular interest to my delegation. Mr. Chairman, My delegation shares the view expressed by USG Shashi Tharoor that the serious challenges that the United Nations is currently passing through do not diminish the role DPI in any way — nor, for that matter, the role of this Committee. If anything, these are the times that call for greater efforts to inform the world of the broader dimensions of the work of the United Nations. The Department must be at the forefront of this effort, as must be global consciousness that one issue, and one issue alone is not capable of determining the destiny of our esteemed Organization. We applaud the emerging structure of DPI, which includes a Strategic Communications Division, a News and Media Division, and an Outreach Division. Perhaps of special interest is the Strategic Communications Division, which has responsibility for devising and disseminating United Nations messages, engaging in issue-driven promotional campaigns. It is to be noted, as USG Tharoor said in his address, that the network of information centers, services and information components of UN Offices are now to function under this Division. We welcome this reorganized and streamlined arrangement, which is capable of taking the work of the department to new heights. Indeed, Mr. Chairman, bridging the communication and digital divide between the developing and the developed world is of significant interest to my delegation because of the implications of that divide for the very subject of development. To that extent, my delegation is pleased at the Secretary-General’s expressed new vision of the mission of DPI, which is “to help fulfill the substantive purposes of the United Nations by strategically communicating the activities and concerns of the Organization to achieve the greatest impact.” We welcome this new mission statement of the Department, since it is in a position to sharpen and guide the work of the component parts of DPI. In this connection, it is to be noted that its Review of the structure of the operations of the United Nations Information Centres, contained in A/57/747, the Office of Internal Oversight Services highlighted the need for information centers in developing nations to be managed differently from those located in developed countries. The OIOS also called for urgent reconsideration of the need for such centres in developed countries and their numbers since they are absorbing the bulk of available staff and funding resources. My delegation supports such a review, since not only will it enable resources to be deployed where they are best required, geographically and politically speaking, it will also enable the information centres to focus on the appropriate technologies for their immediate environments. My delegation continues to be confident, for instance, that it is important for UNICS to develop their own web page as the “field voice” of that locality and in the applicable language. In our own region, we have no doubt that a web page of the UNIC in Bahasa Indonesia would be most suitable and cost effective, given that the language is spoken in a number of countries in South-east Asia. Mr. Chairman: With reference to the implementation of the pilot project on the development of an international radio broadcasting for the United Nations, my delegation is well aware, and is a strong advocate of the use of radio as a very cost-effective means of communication, especially in the developing world. We are pleased to note that the report of the Secretary-General (AIAC.198/200314), which reports on the DPI-commissioned survey on the estimated worldwide audience for this project, has reached the conclusion that radio is, in fact, the most potent means of communication for the United Nations in developing countries, with about 133 million people hearing UN radio broadcasts at least once every week. My delegation would have no difficulty backing the continued use of this very desirable means of communication. With reference to the United Nations Communications Group, which replaced the Joint United Nations Information Committee, it is our view, Mr. Chairman, that it is a desirable and effective mechanism for the coordination of United Nations system-wide information. We share the view that the first annual session of the Group, held in Rome in June last year under the auspices of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), demonstrated that it is a suitable vehicle for harmonizing the activities of the information community within the United Nations, and should be encouraged. There is every reason for the United Nations to speak with one distinct, recognizable voice, and we support the potential of the Communications Group to fill this need. Finally, my delegation hopes that the Committee on Information will continue to execute its mandate with commitment and thoroughness, as it has done for 24 years, and that its members will work in cooperation and harmony towards achieving the highest hopes of the General Assembly. Indonesia, as always, stands ready to make its contributions to the realization of that objective. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
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