ADMINISTRATIVE COMMITTEE ON COORDINATION TO HOLD SPRING SESSION AT WMO HEADQUARTERS, 9-10 APRIL

Press Release
SG/2052

ADMINISTRATIVE COMMITTEE ON COORDINATION TO HOLD SPRING SESSION AT WMO HEADQUARTERS, 9-10 APRIL

GENEVA, 8 April (UN Information Service) -- The Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC), the highest level coordination body in the United Nations system, will hold its 1999 spring session at the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) headquarters at Geneva on 9 and 10 April.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan is presiding over the meeting. The session is attended by the heads of the specialized agencies and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), as well as by the heads of the United Nations funds and programmes.

The Committee will utilize its two annual sessions this year to undertake a comprehensive assessment of the new demands placed on national and international systems by the global environment which is emerging on the eve of the twenty-first century. This assessment is an integral part of the ACC's contribution to the Secretary-General's preparations for the Millennium Assembly and to related agency deliberations and events during the year 2000.

The spring and fall sessions of the ACC will be used to deal with different but linked aspects of this broad theme. The spring session will be made up of two parts: a formal meeting and a retreat.

At the formal meeting the Committee will, among other issues, focus on the interactions of the United Nations system with the private sector, in particular in the context of the proposal for a "compact" with the private sector called for by the Secretary-General at Davos last January.

The ACC retreat, which will immediately follow the formal session, will strive to arrive at a common understanding of the main challenges for the system in the new millennium, focusing on key common objectives and strategies for the United Nations system response. The retreat, which is being hosted in Mont Pèlerin, Switzerland, at the invitation of the Government of Switzerland, will begin with a dinner on Friday evening in honour of the Secretary-General and the participating executive heads by the President of the Swiss Federation, Ruth Dreifuss.

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Expected to attend the ACC session are: Juan Somavia, Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO); Jacques Diouf, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO); Federico Mayor, Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); Renato Claudio Costa Pereira, Secretary-General of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO); Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO); James D. Wolfensohn, President of the World Bank; Michel Camdessus, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF); Thomas Leavey, Director-General of the Universal Postal Union (UPU); Yoshio Ursumi, Secretary-General of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU); G.O.P. Obasi, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO); William A. O'Neil, Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO); and Kamil Idris, Director-General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

Also expected to attend the session are Fawzi Hamad Al-Sultan, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD); Carlos Alfredo Magarinos, Director-General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO); Mohamed Elbaradei, Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Renato Ruggiero, Director-General of the World Trade Organization; Rubens Ricupero, Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD); James Gustave Speth, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); Klaus Töpfer, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); Sadako Ogata, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR); Peter Hansen, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA); Carol Bellamy, Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF); Dr. Nafis Sadik, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA); Catherine Ann Bertini, Executive Director of the World Food Programme; Pino Arlacchi, Executive Director of the United Nations International Drug Control Programme; Mary Robinson, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights; and J.A. van Ginkel, Rector of the United Nations University.

Also attending the session will be the Deputy Secretary-General, Louise Fréchette; Under-Secretaries-General Joseph Connor and Nitin Desai; the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, Vladimir Petrovsky; Special Adviser to the Secretary-General, John Ruggie; and the Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Inter-Agency Affairs and Secretary of the ACC, Patrizio Civili.

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