JOINT BRIEFING BY THE PRESIDENTS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY AND THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL, 81ST SESSION
Statement by H.E Mr. James Larsen, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Australia to the United Nations
30 January 2026
Presidents,
Thank you for this opportunity to discuss how we can strengthen coordination between the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council. This is particularly relevant as we work to enhance cohesion across the UN through UN80 reforms.
Australia values ECOSOC as a forum to address global economic and social challenges, and we are proud to be a member as the Council celebrates its 80th anniversary.
The UN is operating in a challenging global context, and it is critical that we enhance the Organization’s efficiency, effectiveness and impact, through the UN80 Initiative, but also in the daily work of bodies like ECOSOC.
Strengthening coordination between the GA and ECOSOC by reinforcing synergy, coherence and complementarity—as agreed by Member States in last year’s GA revitalization resolution—is essential to these efforts.
And as you said, President Baerbock, in your address to the GA on the Report of ECOSOC:
“The UN80 Initiative... extends to every organ of this house; we must all evolve and adapt with the times —to reduce costs…and strengthen our collective effectiveness.”
In this spirit, we propose three actions.
First, Member States should work to best leverage ECOSOC’s distinct role and value-add as the central UN forum for policy guidance and coordination on economic, social, environmental and related issues and reduce unnecessary duplication and overlap in the work of ECOSOC and the General Assembly.
Second, we should streamline ECOSOC’s meetings, to focus on where ECOSOC delivers best.
This could include combining meetings that have a crossover in focus, such as the Partnership Forum and Youth Forum.
Third, we should exercise greater discipline in mandating new activities—because every new activity brings costs which need to be met.
We should articulate these costs better with clear scoping and justification of proposed expenditure and any offsets.
This discipline will ensure that resources are directed where they are needed most – to maximize economic and social outcomes on the ground.
Work underway in the Internal Ad Hoc Working Group under Workstream 2 of UN80 will support this resource transparency.
Finally, an important avenue to strengthened coordination between ECOSOC and the GA is the upcoming General Assembly review of ECOSOC and the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF).
We look forward to working with Member States on the Review and all ways to promote a more efficient and effective UN.
Thank you.