At the 3408th meeting of the Security Council, held on 27 July 1994, in connection with the Council's consideration of the item entitled "An agenda for peace: preventive diplomacy, peacemaking and peace-keeping", the President of the Security Council made the following statement on behalf of the Council:
"The Security Council has considered the report of the Secretary-General of 30 June 1994 concerning stand-by arrangements for peace-keeping (S/1994/777), submitted pursuant to the statement by the President of the Council of 3 May 1994 (S/PRST/1994/22).
"The Security Council reiterates the importance it attaches to improving the capacity of the United Nations for rapid deployment and reinforcement of peace-keeping operations. The recent history of United Nations peace-keeping operations demonstrates that such an effort is essential.
"In this context, the Security Council is grateful for the efforts undertaken by the Secretary-General in respect of stand-by arrangements and welcomes the responses so far received from Member States. It also welcomes the intention of the Secretary-General to maintain a comprehensive database of the offers made, including the technical details of these offers.
"The Security Council notes that one of the major limiting factors in the timely deployment of troops for United Nations peace-keeping is the lack of readily available equipment. It stresses the importance of urgently addressing the issue of availability of equipment both in the context of stand-by arrangements and more broadly.
"The Security Council notes the Secretary-General's view that the commitments made so far do not yet cover adequately the spectrum of resources required to mount and execute future peace-keeping operations. It also notes that additional commitments are expected from other Member States. In this context, it welcomes the Secretary-General's call to those Member States which are not already doing so to participate in the arrangements.
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"The Security Council looks forward to a further and more comprehensive report on the progress of the stand-by arrangements initiative."
