BAN KI MOON URGES UNSC TO ALLOW CONTINUED FINANCING OF TARASOV'S MANDATE FROM IRAQ ESCROW ACCOUNT

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Politics 1/6/2010 7 : 31 : 00 PM

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 6 (KUNA) -- Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday urged the Security Council to allow the continued financing of the activities of Gennady Tarasov, the UN High-Level Coordinator for the issues of Kuwaiti missing persons and property, from the Iraq escrow account until the end of next June.

In a letter to the council president, Ban said "given the Security Council's and my call on all parties to translate political statements of good will into concrete actions to speed up progress during the coming months to resolve outstanding issues, the period ahead will require further intensification of the High-Level Coordinator's activities." The call on Kuwait and Iraq was contained in Ban's report to the council last October.

"To that end, it would be necessary to allocate resources sufficient to finance the activities of the High-Level Coordinator and his support staff until 30 June 2010 in the amount of USD 251,400," he said in his letter today.

He suggested that this amount be earmarked from the operating reserves and fund balance of the 2.2 per cent part of the escrow account intended for administration and operational costs.

The council is expected to approve Ban's request.

Ban recalled in his letter that its members agreed in a statement to the press last October to continue to finance Tarasov's mandate for a period of eight months, "with a possibility of further extension." Ban also recalled that USD 337,657 was also transferred from the Iraq escrow account to finance Tarasov's mandate from April 25, 2008 to November 30, 2009.

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