reports, it was persuaded of the need to expand the conference facilities. It had therefore voted for the Advisory Committee's recommendation. It considered none the less that it was necessary to select the most economical plan for the construction of new conference facilities and to make rational use of the existing facilities. 22. Mr. GODFREY (New Zealand) said that his delegation had voted for the Advisory Committee's recommendation because it supported ESCAP activities and regarded as reasonable the proposal for a preliminary studyJ that did not, however, imply any commitment on its part regarding the actual scale of the expansion. It would be for the General Assembly to take a decision concerning construction, on the basis of the results of the preliminary study. 23. His delegation had already, at the current session, expressed its concern at the practice whereby the cost of meetings of the regional commissions held away from headquarters was borne by the United Nations. If the expansion was carried out, it expected that practice to be abandoned and the host country to finance the cost of any ESCAP meeting held away from headquarters. 24. He drew attention to the second paragraph of the letter from the Chairman of the Advisory Committee to the Secretary-General (A/38/7/Add.S, annex), in which it was stated that: " the architectural and engineering study should be independently carried out in accordance with established United Nations procedures as has been the case in all other recent major construction projects". 25. Mr. HOLBORN (Federal Republic of Germany) said that his delegation had voted not to include an amount of $400,000 in section 32 because it felt that it was unwarranted to spend such a large sum on a study of the kind envisaged when the Fifth Committee was supposed to exercise the utmost restraint. 
**Analysis**
The text appears to be discussing the expansion of conference facilities for the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), with specific references to the cost and financing of the project. This suggests that the topic is related to the organization and management of international meetings and events, which may be linked to the broader category of international cooperation and diplomacy.

**Category**
International cooperation and diplomacy, Industry