JAPAN TO HOST HEARING FOR ASIA AND PACIFIC REGION IN PREPARATION FOR UN MILLENNIUM ASSEMBLY

Press Release
GA/9581
REC/72

JAPAN TO HOST HEARING FOR ASIA AND PACIFIC REGION IN PREPARATION FOR UN MILLENNIUM ASSEMBLY

NEW YORK, 1 September (Office for the Millenium Assembly) -- In preparation for the Millennium Assembly and Millennium Summit of the United Nations, the Government of Japan will host the hearing for the region covered by the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). The hearing will bring together representatives of Member States and civil society of the ESCAP region.

The Tokyo Hearing will follow the regional hearings held for Western Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Latin American, and Caribbean regions. These meetings have been organized at the initiative of the Secretary-General, and in full cooperation with the Executive Secretaries concerned, to provide a forum for discussing the issues expected to be before the Millennium Assembly.

Nabutaka Machimura, State Secretary for Foreign Affairs of Japan, will officially open the hearing for the Asia and Pacific region on 9 September at the United Nations University, Tokyo, and serve as Presiding Officer of the meeting.

During the 2-day open meeting, participants will discuss how best can the United Nations address the challenges of the twenty- first century in the areas of peace and security, economic and social development, human rights and good governance, and how to strengthen the United Nations. Secretary-General Kofi Annan will draw upon the outcome of the hearing in the preparation of his report on the Millennium Assembly to be issued by March 2000.

In a letter to State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Machimura, Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette thanked the Government of Japan for hosting and underwriting the hearing.

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