Executive Committee. He expressed the hope that the spirit of Berlin would prevail globally and that the walls that divided people would be broken down peacefully. Fundamental political changes had already occurred in Europe, and democratic changes had taken place in Africa, Asia and Latin America; he expected those developments to enhance international solidarity and ease the plight of the millions of refugees throughout the world. 3. The extraordinary session was required to address the issues considered by the Temporary Working Group established to review UNHCR's General Programmes and other assistance activities. By adopting the report of the Temporary Working Group (A/AC.96/742) and authorizing the budget targeted for the year, the extraordinary session would have important ramifications on the future work of the Executive Committee and of the UNHCR. He hoped that lasting humanitarian solutions would be found while ensuring that basic needs were met and that fimdamental principles were respected. 4. He was confident that a spirit of compromise would prevail in the deliberations on agenda items 4 and 5. Since last autumn, there had been no improvement in the UNHCR budgetary situation, and he referred to the High Commissioner's letter of 14 March 1990 informing Governments of the great difficulties in reconciling total programme requirements and expected income and to his own letter, on behalf of the Executive Committee, drawing attention to the financial sittiation and to the fact that the financial crisis continued imabated. He felt it important to stress that while the Executive Committee was being asked to consider the General Programmes, it should be remembered that important special programmes had not been funded or had been under-funded. The previous session of the Executive Committee had also decided on other exercises, including, inter alia, the convening of an open-ended working group of members of the Executive Committee to examine protection and 
**Analysis**
The text appears to be discussing the activities and decisions of the Executive Committee of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), focusing on budgetary issues, humanitarian solutions, and international solidarity. The language used is formal and diplomatic, suggesting a high-level meeting or discussion. The topics mentioned, such as refugees, budgetary situations, and financial crises, indicate a focus on humanitarian aid and relief.

**Category**
Humanitarian aid and relief