Comité économique et financier
The Economic and Financial Committee of the General Assembly is currently in its seventy-seventh session. Her Excellency Lachezara Stoeva of Bulgaria chairs the committee. During this session, the committee will focus on various economic growth and development issues. These include macroeconomic policy questions, financing for development, sustainable development, globalization and interdependence, eradication of poverty, operational activities for development, agriculture development, food security and nutrition, information and communications technologies for development, and implementation of the New Urban Agenda.
Additionally, the Second Committee will consider issues relating to groups of countries in special situations. It will also discuss the permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and of the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan over their natural resources.
The Committee will hear a keynote address by Professor Michael Kremer, University Professor in Economics And Public Policy at the University of Chicago. Professor Kremer is the founding director of the Development Innovation Lab. He was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2019, jointly with co-researchers Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo. The award was for their experimental approach to alleviating global poverty. Professor Kremer will address the theme chosen for the general debate this year, which is "Transforming political commitments into actions for sustainable recovery - rebuilding a sustainable future for all" on 3 October.
During the seventy-sixth session, the Second Committee took action on 38 draft proposals. It is expected that the committee will consider around the same number of proposals during this year's session.
The Second Committee is engaged in updating its working methods and practices to improve the quality of debates and the impact of their deliberations and decisions. It aims to further streamline the committee's agenda and programme of work. To achieve this, the committee plans to biennialize agenda items, cluster the consideration of agenda items thematically, hold interactive "question time" sessions with secretariat officials after the presentation of substantive reports, and actively work to reduce the number and length of draft resolutions adopted during its sessions.
The formal meetings of the Second Committee are webcast live at the UN Web TV website, in line with General Assembly resolution 66/246. Past meetings of the session are available from the video archives.