delegation did, however, have some reservations on the Advisory Committee's recommendation concerning the architectural and engineering study. The Secretary­ General indicated in paragraph 14 of his report that, in 1982, 46 per cent of conferences had been held outside of Bangkok and that, with more adequate facilities in ESCAP, major savings could have been made. He also pointed out in paragraph 27 that, in the past, the annual sessions of the Commission had occasionally been held away from Bangkok in various countries of the region, entailing considerable costs both for the host countries and for the Organization, and that, to a certain extent it was precisely because of the inadequate facilities for holding the annual sessions at Bangkok that various member States of ESCAP had extended such invitations in the past. The Secretary-General did not, however, guarantee that, should the General Assembly decide to set up additional conference facilities at ESCAP, no more conferences would be held away from headquarters. In view of the considerable amount of money that such facilities would cost the Organization, his delegation expected all annual sessions of ESCAP to be held at headquarters if the expansion work was undertaken and, on that condition, was prepared to support the recommendation of the Advisory Committee to approve the appropriation requested for the architectural and engineering study. In the interests of economy, his delegation would like the study to be undertaken with a modular design in mind. 8. Mr. GIDLEY (United States of America), expressing his delegation's gratitude to the Thai Government for having made available to the Organization land adjacent to the existing ESCAP buildings, said that there were two aspects to the question of the conference facilities of the Commission. All Member States knew that the 
**Analysis**
The text appears to be discussing the planning and development of conference facilities for the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), which is a UN agency. The language used is formal and official, indicating a high-level decision-making process. The focus is on the logistics and economics of hosting conferences, rather than any specific development or environmental issue.

**Category**
Transport and communication