As outlined in its annual report for 2000 (E/2001/55), the ACC, recognizing the need for deepening its collective analysis of the many interrelated dimensions of globalization and their implications for the work of the system, continued its reflection during 2000 on the impact of globalization. At its first regular session, ACC focused on the interrelationships between trade and economic, social and environmental dimensions and on the issue of information technology. At its fall session, ACC took up the issue of health and other social implications of globalization as well as financing for development in view of the important forthcoming events focusing on these two topics. At its fall 2000 session, following the Millennium Summit of the United Nations, ACC members focused on requirements to ensure a sustained and effective follow-up to the United Nations Millennium Declaration, which they regarded as a key priority for the advocacy policy development and operational activities of the system as a whole.

ACC also reviewed developments at the inter-agency level relating to the follow-up to individual United Nations conferences and summits and preparations for the upcoming events of system-wide importance. In 2000, ACC, at the initiative of the Secretary-General, also took special initiatives to respond to the drought and food situation in the Horn of Africa.

ACC undertook an extensive reform process during 1999-2000, streamlining of the ACC subsidiary machinery. Until October 2000, system-wide coordination in programme as well as management areas was carried out in part by standing bodies, each focusing on a particular aspect of coordination within the UN System. There were five such bodies which reported directly to ACC: the Organizational Committee (OC), the Consultative Committee on Administrative Questions (CCAQ), the Consultative Committee on Programme and Operational Questions (CCPOQ) and the Inter-Agency Committee on Sustainable Development (IACSD), the Inter-Agency Committee on Women and Gender Equality (IACWGE). In October 2000, a comprehensive reform exercise launched by the United Nations Secretary General two years earlier led to the streamlining of the subsidiary machinery and the strengthening of secretariat support arrangements. Two High Level Committees were established, one to oversee work in the management area (HLCM) and another in the policy and programme areas (HLCP). With regard to its previous subsidiary bodies, the Board decided to move away from the concept of "permanent subsidiary bodies" and to promote coordination arrangements that would respond flexibly to requirements for interactions among substantive officials in the system.