I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. The Central and Eastern European countries associated with the European Union Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia, and the associated countries Cyprus and Malta align themselves with this statement.The European Union would like to thank the Inspector, Mr. Mezzalama, for introducing the report by the Joint Inspection Unit on young professionals in selected organisations of the United Nations System. The European Union welcomes the report and the comments thereon provided by the Secretary-General and the Administrative Committee on Coordination, as presented by the Assistant-Secretary-General Ms. Rafiah Salim.Mr. Chairman,The report of the Joint Inspection Unit deals with a timely issue. Any discussion on the reform of human resources management at the United Nations and across the United Nations system would indeed be incomplete without taking into consideration the situation of young professionals. As clearly pointed in the report, and in the introduction by the Inspector, the critical point is the fact that there seems to be more resignations at the low or medium level of professional staff than retirements, and that there are doubts regarding the capacity of the Organisation to fill the vacuum left by this attrition. To meet the challenges of the future the Organisation must form a new generation of staff with strong leadership skills.The report has the merit of offering a general picture of young professionals at the United Nations and in other large organisations in the United Nations system, comparing practices and making useful recommendations to improve some weak points. As for the United Nations, the proposed Human Resources Management reform package contains measures to address concerns rightly pointed to in the report.Mr. Chairman,In our opinion, one particularly important point which it highlights is the need to provide improved conditions of service. In this context, we acknowledge the importance of a career perspective and the continued development of mentoring, which would increase the motivation of staff and encourage them to stay on. The resignations of qualified staff, recruited through an extensive and costly process, are a serious loss for the Organisation.It is also essential to speed up recruitment, including from the roster, as recommended in the report. Successful candidates in the NCE are not willing, nor sometimes able, to wait an extended period of time for a call from the United Nations if other opportunities present themselves in the meantime. The Office of Human Resource Management should therefore continue to devote serious efforts to improve its recruitment system.Mr. Chairman,A renewed and revitalised United Nations would not be possible without a more modern approach to its Human Resources Management. This is certainly true also for its policy regarding young staff. We welcome the Secretariat's valuable efforts in this field.I thank you.