FINAL PRESS CONFERENCE BY PRESIDENT OF FIFTY-FIFTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Outgoing General Assembly President Harri Holkeri (Finland) had just declared closed the fifty-fifth session of the Assembly, when he briefed correspondents at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon on his hopes for the future of the Assembly.

He spoke, in particular, about ideas to improve the effectiveness of the Assembly’s working methods, proposals for a more compact agenda and the need to resolve the stalemate in Security Council reform.

Introducing Mr. Holkeri, Shashi Tharoor, the Interim Head of the Department of Public Information, said that bidding farewell to much-admired and distinguished General Assembly President was a "bittersweet" occasion.  As the President of the Millennium Assembly, Mr. Holkeri had played a key part in the Millennium Summit's success.  Mr. Tharoor noted Mr. Holkeri's remarkable record of support for civil society initiatives and concerns.  Civil society outreach had, in fact, been one of Mr. Holkeri's key priorities. 

The President had also played an active and innovative role regarding the revitalization and strengthening of the Assembly and its working methods.

Mr. Holkeri's presidency was also the first to devise and activate a Web site of the presidency of the General Assembly.

By way of overview of Mr. Holkeri's presidency of the General Assembly,

Mr. Tharoor noted that Mr. Holkeri had attended 112 plenary meetings and had had presided over the adoption of 285 resolutions.  He had delivered 52 major statements, as well as many others, had made 12 official visits and had attended seven conferences and special sessions.

"It is an experience I will carry for the rest of my life", Mr. Holkeri said.  The Office of the President had not been a part of the Finnish Foreign Ministry, but was the Office of the President of 189 Member States.  It had been the goal of the presidency to serve the Organization.  How well it had succeeded remained to be seen. 

[For a summary of the highlights of his presidency, Mr. Holkeri referred correspondents to the statement he delivered at the closure of the fifty-fifth session of the Assembly.  For the text of this speech, see Press Release GA/SM/271 of 10 September 2001.]

Responding to questions, Mr. Holkeri said that while there were many dimensions to the issues the Assembly must consider, he would like to reduce the number of items on its agenda to give it the opportunity to focus on major issues.  Reducing the some 200 items to about 80 or 90 would give the Assembly the ability to work much more effectively. 

He was also sure that he was not alone in wondering whether it would be better to limit the number of conferences and special sessions outside of the General Assembly's ordinary session.  With major conferences, such as the recent

World Conference against Racism in South Africa, there was the tendency to take on too much, Mr. Holkeri continued.  He wondered if it would be better to include items, such as small arms, racism and HIV/AIDS, on the Assembly's regular agenda and reduce the number of smaller items, which could be dealt with by the Assembly's Main Committees, the plenary considered.

Asked to comment on the Assembly's working relationship with the Security Council, Mr. Holkeri said that he had found it very positive.  There had been monthly meetings with the Council Presidents, they had provided him with valuable information. 

Although there was still a stalemate on the matter of reforming the Security Council, quite a lot had happened.  The Council had become more transparent and open, even although no formal decisions had been taken on structural reform.

Mr. Holkeri said that he was encouraged that the political will to reform the Council, expressed at the Millennium Summit, still existed.  But it was time to find the right tools to implement that political will.  Of course, this was ultimately a question for Member States, and what he thought was not that important.  "Decisions are always in the hands of Member States", he said.

Asked if he could name one recommendation he would like the Organization to institute, Mr. Holkeri said that it was his sincere and first hope to see the targets of the Millennium Declaration implemented.  He would also like to see less bureaucracy in the Organization.

Asked what would remain on his wish list if the reform resolution adopted by the Assembly a few days ago was implemented, he replied that there were quite a few items remaining on his wish list.  He hoped that a roadmap for implementation and follow-up to the Millennium Declaration would be available in the near future.

A number of issues were vital, he explained, including the implementation of the "Brahimi Report".  The forthcoming conference on financing development was an important event, and he sincerely hoped it would succeed.

Mr. Holkeri was asked how the Assembly could regain the power it once enjoyed.  He answered that he was not sure whether the Assembly had ever held such power -- even when he first came to the United Nations some 38 years ago.  Whilst he thought tighter working methods could strengthen the Assembly, that possibility was "totally in the hands of Member States".

Asked to comment on the United States role in the work of the United Nations, Mr. Holkeri said that President Bush's visit to the General Assembly would be an important event in many respects.  He hoped that the United States was ready to cooperate with the United Nations.  It was a fact that the United States needed the United Nations, and vice versa. 

He added that he hoped the agreement reached last December on the scale of assessments would be fulfilled.  The United States Government had committed itself to that agreement last December. 

A correspondent asked if he was worried about the United States disengaging from international affairs.  He said it had taken a long time to appoint the former United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Richard Holbrooke, so the

current situation regarding a new Permanent Representative was not unique.  Moreover, the present United States representative, James Cunningham, was a very able man.  There were no difficulties in daily relations between the United Nations and the United States.  Although a political appointment was yet to be made, the United States was well represented at the United Nations. 

Asked to comment on his vision of the role of women in the first decade of the new century, Mr. Holkeri said that, although some darkness remained, progress had been made.  He was particularly pleased that his message on the education of girls had been so well received, especially in his own country.

Asked to comment on disappointments he had suffered during his presidency, Mr. Holkeri specified the stalemate over Security Council reform as his major disappointment.  He had also found the pace of revitalization of the work of the Assembly itself rather slow.  He would have liked to have seen more change, but the United Nations was a bureaucratic institution and nothing happened overnight.  Small steps had been taken, however.  Today, he had just asked his successor to continue the revitalization process, and he was sure it would be continued.

Asked what the next step in institutionalizing partnerships with the private sector was, he answered that “normalizing” and “institutionalizing” were very dangerous words, but he would like to see some flexible "rules of the game" established, which could prevent the need to renegotiate the same questions at each session.

Mr. Holkeri concluded by saying that with 189 Member States at present, and more likely in the future, it could take many, many years before Finland again held the presidency of the General Assembly.  "I will announce now that I am not available for that position", he said.

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