Ambassador Toshiro Ozawa told an administrative and budgetary arm of the General Assembly that the scale of assessment far exceeds the sum of the contributions paid by four of the permanent members -- Britain, China, France and Russia. Only the United States contributes more to the U.N. on a yearly basis.

On the current scale of assessment, Japan provides nearly 20 percent of the U.N. budget, or about $280 million, while the United States pays 22 percent, or about $363 million. In comparison, China contributes around 1.5 percent, or $21 million.

In addition to the question of fairness regarding Japan's lack of permanent Security Council membership, Ozawa questioned the fairness of the current methodology in determining the scale of assessment and a nation's so-called capacity to pay, noting that the current system creates a discrepancy of as much as 5 percent between the scale and the calculated gross national income share of a member state.

Negotiations on the methodology will begin next year for the first time since 2000.

The Japan Times Weekly: Oct. 22, 2005
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