NOTE TO CORRESPONDENTS INTERNATIONAL MEETING ADDRESSING 'YEAR 2000' COMPUTER EFFECT TO BE HELD AT HEADQUARTERS 11 DECEMBER

Press Release

NOTE TO CORRESPONDENTS INTERNATIONAL MEETING ADDRESSING 'YEAR 2000' COMPUTER EFFECT TO BE HELD AT HEADQUARTERS 11 DECEMBER

With the countdown for the "Year 2000" effect on computer systems at little more than 12 months and counting, heads of national programmes for tackling the problem meet for the first time on an international basis at United Nations Headquarters on Friday, 11 December.

Assessments of the severity of the impact of the so-called "Millennium Bug", or Y2K effect -- brought about when dating systems within computer software become inoperative at the moment of transition from years starting with "19" to those starting with "20" -- vary widely. The impact on developing countries is even more of an unknown quantity. Although computer systems are much less pervasive in developing countries than in those with advanced technologies, a larger share of their systems likely rely on older software that has not been updated to offset the effect. Most developing country governments and businesses have less money and fewer local experts available to them than is the case in industrialized countries, and a number of governments of developing countries are preoccupied by natural catastrophes or civil conflicts.

In all countries, aircraft control, telecommunications, financial services and governments services are at particular risk. Moreover, economists worry that business setbacks may lead to destabilization of international financial markets, which have not yet recovered fully from the 1997-98 crisis.

"The consequences of unpreparedness in any one country can rapidly spill over to other parts of the world", says Ahmad Kamal, Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations, who is organizing the 11 December meeting in his capacity as Chairman of the United Nations Economic and Social Council's Working Group on Informatics. "The first step is awareness of the problem, and at this point, many countries have barely begun to consider national responses, and there is as no reliable overview of worldwide preparedness. The Working Group meeting is designed to address these difficulties, and facilitate a useful exchange of experiences."

Also attending the 11 December meeting are Y2K experts from the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Telecommunications Union, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the International Civil Aviation Organization, the Joint Year 2000 Council and the International Technology Association of America, as well as permanent representatives of missions to the United Nations. More than 80 national Y2K coordinators have confirmed attendance.

Although the exchange of experiences and frank assessments of national preparedness necessarily are closed to the press, a United Nations report is to be presented publicly at the 10 a.m. opening of the meeting, and national experts and United Nations officials will answer questions from the media at an advance briefing at noon on Thursday, 10 December at the Foreign Press Center of the United States Information Agency, 150 East 52nd Street (between Third and Lexington Avenues), as well as at a press conference at 2:30 p.m. Friday, 11 December, in room S-226 at Headquarters.

Mr. Kamal will lead both press briefings. Also meeting the press will be some of the Y2K national coordinators from the following countries who have participated in organizing the meeting: Bulgaria; Chile; Mexico; Netherlands; Philippines; Republic of Korea; South Africa; United Kingdom; and the United States.

The meeting of the Economic and Social Council Working Group on Informatics opens at 10 a.m. on 11 December in the Trusteeship Council at Headquarters. Under-Secretary-General for Administration and Management, Joseph Connor, delivers a report on the state of worldwide preparedness at 10:30 a.m., and United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan plans to address the meeting shortly after 3 p.m.

The remainder of the meeting, closed to the press and the public, will include expert sectoral reports on: banking and finance; telecommunications; nuclear power; oil and gas; shipping and ports; and aviation. After a lunch break, there will be an exchange of national experiences and viewpoints on contingency planning and crisis management, followed by a discussion of international strategy.

For more information, contact Tim Wall at the Development and Human Rights Section of the UN Department of Public Information, 212-963-5851. For information on United Nations television broadcast feed, contact Jim Ludlam at 212-963-7650.

* *** *