Nine Member States Win Credit for Timely Dues to United Nations

It’s an annual competition among countries that prompts elaborate arrangements at the highest levels, a silent but righteous contest of time and money. The goal: to be the first nation to pay its U.N. dues.

In stark contrast to the United States--which hasn’t paid its U.N. dues on time for almost two decades--nine nations were paid up and on the U.N.’s self-declared Honor Roll on Monday, the first working day of the year.

Finland wins the prize for making the year’s first full payment. It got credit for its $5.7-million assessment Monday morning--though officials in the Finnish capital, Helsinki, may have pushed the button authorizing the electronic transfer days earlier, before banks resumed post-holiday business.

The deadline for annual dues is Jan. 31. Only a handful of countries meet that date, qualifying for the Honor Roll. Many see virtue in being the earliest.

“I’m pleased that we’re first again,” said Anna-Maija Korpi, Finland’s deputy ambassador to the U.N. “Nordic countries are always among the first, but it is nice to be the leader.”

Finland lost out to Singapore last year but paid first in 1998.

Danish Ambassador Jorgen Rud Hansen Bojer was dismayed to hear that his nation’s contribution hadn’t shown up yet.

“They beat us again,” he said. “They have someone who works on New Year’s Eve in their central bank.”

He shouldn’t be too upset: Some might argue that the Finns were beaten to the line. Eight countries received credit for overpaying last year and had the surplus applied to pay off their 2000 dues Jan. 1. They are Belarus, Gabon, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, the Marshall Islands, Lesotho, St. Kitts and Nevis, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

“It’s not our policy to try to be first,” Dorothea Hector of St. Kitts and Nevis’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs said about the island nation’s annual $10,519 contribution. “We just keep making regular payments, and I suppose we were lucky.”

In the early 1990s, being first was a matter of pride for Canada, which would send a special messenger with a check to U.N. headquarters Dec. 31 in order to beat its Nordic rivals. For the past few years, though, the U.N.’s seventh-largest contributor has settled for making the Honor Roll by paying by the end of January. The early payments confused the auditors in Canada, mission sources said.

Who’s in first has gained added weight as the world body sinks deeper into debt, in part due to the failure of some members to make payments. Each member state’s annual assessment is based on its share of the world economy and its ability to pay, which means a handful of countries contribute--or are supposed to contribute--the lion’s share of the organization’s resources.

The world’s most developed countries pay about $1 per citizen; the least developed countries pay almost nothing.

The United States, which is responsible for a quarter of the U.N. budget, has strained the coffers since it stopped paying its arrears in the mid-1980s in an effort to force reforms at the world body. In November, Congress finally approved the disbursement of $926 million of the $1.6 billion that the U.N. claims it is owed.

The overdue money will come in over the course of three years, depending on whether the U.N. approves Washington’s demands that the amount the U.S. pays in dues and peacekeeping assessments be reduced. The first tranche was immediately recycled to countries that were owed money for sponsoring peacekeeping operations.