DAILY BRIEFING ON SPECIAL SESSION OF GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Press Briefing

DAILY BRIEFING ON SPECIAL SESSION OF GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Samsiah Abdul-Majid, spokeswoman for the President of the General Assembly, briefed correspondents on the special session on the review of implementation of Agenda 21. Also taking part in the briefing was Jean-Claude Faby, Chief of the Office of the Under-Secretary-General for Policy and Coordination and Sustainable Development.

Ms. Abdul-Majid said that the Credentials Committee yesterday had approved the credentials of the representatives of 183 Member States. The plenary would have heard 199 speakers by the close of the session tomorrow, she continued. According to United Nations security, more than 700 special passes had been issued to the media, 2,100 to delegations and 678 to non-governmental organizations. She noted that those figures did not include delegates based in New York, the non-governmental organizations and media representatives already accredited to the United Nations. For example, more than 3,000 media representatives already had permanent passes. Ms. Abdul-Majid said the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) would hold an executive briefing and panel discussion today, from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., on the theme "Earth Summit + 5 - Markets and Investment", at the Marriot Hotel on Lexington Avenue. Maurice Strong, the former Secretary- General of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in Rio De Janeiro in 1992, would be the keynote speaker.

She then announced the following press briefings by the NGO Coalition in Room S-226: at 6:30 p.m. today, on energy and climate; tomorrow, at 11 a.m., an NGO Coalition wrap up of the special session, and at 1:15 p.m. on globalization and trade.

The Assembly President would give his press conference tomorrow at 3 p.m., contingent on last minute arrangements.

Ms. Abdul-Majid announced the following side events: In the Dag Hammarskjold Library Auditory Room, "Japan Room" -- video presentations and exhibits of posters; at 1:15 p.m. in the Public Lobby, a UNDP executive briefing, "People and Sustainable Development". A panel in Room B on national councils for sustainable development, and in Room 6 a presentation by the Global Education Associates; and at 6 p.m. in Room 6, a Third World Network panel, "Fighting for Sustainability in the context of Globalization" in Room 6.

In response to a question, Ms. Abdul-Majid said the press conference by the President of the Assembly had been changed from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. tomorrow within the last half hour.

In reply to a question, she said the existing credentials of the Permanent Representative of Afghanistan covered all United Nations organs regardless of sessions.

In reply to a question on when the Assembly would adopt the draft final outcome, Ms. Abdul-Majid said the plenary would meet at 3 p.m. "Your guess would be as good as mine" as to when they would do so, she added.

She said the final version of the document to be adopted tomorrow would be made available at the Media Centre and the Spokesman's Office as soon as it became available. Mr. Faby, Chief of the Office of the Under-Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development, said the intention was that by tonight the Committee of the Whole should adopt the text of the draft final outcome of the session. It was hoped that the text would be adopted sooner rather than later because it had to be processed and presented to the Assembly's afternoon meeting.

There was always the possibility that part of the text, which dealt with major issues but was not lengthy, might be presented orally, he said. However, at the present time he had no indication that that would be the case. The Committee of the Whole was continuing to look at the draft political statement. It had gone through 11 paragraphs on which initially there were proposals which added to the paragraphs. During the night, an attempt had been made to take aboard whatever could be taken aboard and to produce a revised set of paragraphs, hopefully for formal agreement today.

Agreement on paragraph 12 pertaining to finance would depend on the process in the Ministerial Contact Group on that subject, he said. That Contact Group was co-chaired by the Foreign Minister of the United Republic of Tanzania and the Minister for Development Cooperation of the Netherlands. In addition, the Committee had begun taking a look at paragraphs 13 to 16 of the draft political statement. It had finished discussion on paragraph 13 dealing with technology. That was good news since technology was generally a delicate issue. Hopefully, agreement on some of those paragraphs would be made easier by the work already done particularly in the context of sectoral issues.

Meanwhile, the work of the Contact Group on Finance was continuing through bilateral contacts with major delegations, he said. The Group was working on two fronts. First, it was working on language concerning the reaffirmation of the Rio commitments. Second, it was discussing language concerning a reversal in the official development assistance (ODA) decline trend. The other group of issues on which it was working, included the matter of a tax on aviation fuel, financial mechanisms relating to the desertification convention and the concept of incremental costs. However, there was still no agreement on those issues. That Contact Group was supposed to reconvene at 5 p.m. today and later it was to report to the plenary, hopefully with a package deal.

Special Briefing - 3 - 26 June 1997

On atmosphere, the ministers had agreed to establish an additional contact group, he said. It would be co-chaired by Japan and either Malaysia or Brazil. The group would meet at 3 p.m. today and the Chairman of the Committee of the Whole, Mostafa Tolba (Egypt) had suggested the establishment of a core group of ministers to deal with the issue. The core group included Norway, United Kingdom, France, Germany, United States, Russian Federation, Japan and the Netherlands from the developed countries. From the developing countries it included the United Republic of Tanzania, Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Malaysia, Brazil and China. That group was trying to agree on language pertaining to the third Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, to be held in Kyoto, Japan, in December.

There was a bit of a problem on the issue of energy, he said. There were a few paragraphs which had been adopted ad referendum with a few countries expressing reservations. Those countries wished to continue talking to see if a final agreement could be achieved on the paragraphs. However, the Contact Group on Forests which had been meeting at the ministerial level appeared to have achieved a breakthrough.

When was the cut off point beyond which there could be no negotiations? a correspondent asked. Mr. Faby said it was difficult for him to say. If someone from conference services was present, that person could explain that there were processes involved such as printing and translation. The major portions of the text, hopefully, would be agreed on relatively early today by 9 p.m. or 10 p.m. Disagreed portions of the text which were not excessively long might be introduced orally or even with a last minute sheet of paper circulated to governments. But that was only speculation at the present time.

What was the composition of the group on finance? a correspondent asked. Mr. Faby said it was open-ended. He added that there was no core group on either finance or forests.

Several delegations had expressed a desire to set up an intergovernmental committee on financing, a correspondent said. Did Mr. Faby have any comments on that? There had been discussion on that as part of the package on finance, Mr. Faby said. However, he was not aware of its current status. As of yesterday, there was uncertainty on whether governments would consensually agree to establish such a panel. Moreover, should it be high- level or expert? Further, what would be its agenda and focus? Some governments were taking a very practical view of what such a panel should do. They were trying to avoid the typical United Nations negotiating processes with consensual agreement on what would come out of such a panel.

Where did the question of tax on aviation fuel stand right now? a correspondent asked. Mr. Faby said it was still pending.

Special Briefing - 4 - 26 June 1997

He added that a colleague of his who dealt with forests was present in the room and could brief correspondents on that subject. Jagmohan Maini, Coordinator of secretariat of the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests said at present ministers were meeting to see if they could develop consensus language that accommodated different interest groups. Some of the language proposed had not been widely acceptable. Now, a group of seven or eight ministers, the "friends of co-chairs", were trying to see if they could develop consensus language which was widely acceptable.

Did the problem in energy relate to the provision of concessional finance? a correspondent asked. Mr. Faby said there were three paragraphs on the subject of energy which were ad referendum and those were the problem paragraphs. The problem basically was on how to continue, where to continue and if to continue the work on energy.

Mr. Maini added that the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests had been meeting for two years. It had reached consensus on a very large number of recommendations. About 130 proposals for actions had been agreed to by the countries. The only contentious issue was what should be the future orientation of the intergovernmental continuing dialogue on the issue and whether that should lead to a convention.

Who had asked to reopen negotiations on energy? Was it major groups or individual countries? a correspondent asked. Mr. Faby said it was individual countries.

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