DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

This is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Manoel de Almeida e Silva, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

**Secretary-General/AIDS

I’m going to begin with the Secretary-General.  This morning, in Amsterdam, the Secretary General met with the chief executive officers and senior officials of six of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies.  They discussed what further steps needed to be taken to improve access to better health care, HIV medicines and HIV-related medicines for developing countries, as part of further action to combat AIDS, including prevention, education and research.

The Secretary-General was joined by Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), and Dr. Peter Piot, the Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

After the meeting, which lasted for over three hours, in a statement issued in Amsterdam, the Secretary-General said that the companies have agreed to three items.  One, to continue and accelerate reducing prices substantially, with a special emphasis on the least developed countries, particularly in Africa; to continue to offer affordable medicines to other developing countries, on a country-by-country basis; and third, to recognize the need to consider increased access to HIV/AIDS medicine to qualified non-governmental organizations and appropriate companies offering health care to employees and local communities in these nations.

In his statement, the Secretary-General also said the price of drugs is only one of the issues that has to be addressed.  He called for a major mobilization of political will and significant additional funding to enable a dramatic leap forward in prevention education, care and treatment.  The full copy of the Secretary-General’s statement is available in the Spokesman’s Office upstairs.  We also have available the press release which was issued jointly by the United Nations, UNAIDS and the WHO, as well as a list of participants in that meeting.

Tonight, as Fred announced yesterday, the Secretary-General will be having a working dinner with Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.  Also present will be Foreign Minister Jozias Van Aartsen.  The Secretary-General will be flying back to New York tomorrow morning.  He is expected here in the city tomorrow in the early afternoon.

**Sierra Leone

Now, moving to Sierra Leone -- the Government of Pakistan has decided to deploy a brigade-size contingent consisting of well over 4,000 troops to the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL). The details of their deployment, such as discussions on equipment, logistics and transportation requirements, are still being worked out.  The Government of Nepal is also actively considering offering a battalion, which would bring the troop strength of that Mission to

close to the authorized 17,500.  The current strength stands at a little over 12,000, as you know.

Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette, who arrived Wednesday evening in Freetown, met today with President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah.  On her agenda are meetings with other senior government officials, as well as with members of the diplomatic corps and the UN country team in Sierra Leone.  On Friday, the Deputy Secretary-General will meet with senior staff of the UN Mission and then with representatives of international and local non-governmental organizations, before taking trips out to the field.

She is also scheduled to visit Lunsar to meet with United Nations peacekeepers that were deployed there recently. The UN mission deployed to Lunsar and Mange, two towns which had been held by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), as part of its forward deployment plans.  A press conference has been scheduled upon her return to Freetown.

**Security Council

Here in New York, the Security Council today is holding a public meeting, to hear a briefing by Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Hédi Annabi on the latest developments in East Timor.

Mr. Annabi told the Council that "Significant progress is being made on most, if not all, fronts to prepare the East Timorese people for independence."  He noted that he had visited East Timor last week, and added that work has begun there to prepare for the post-independence period, including efforts to transfer necessary skills to the Timorese population.

He noted the announcement by the Secretary-General's Special Representative, Sergio Vieira de Mello, to set 30 August as the date for national elections to a Constituent Assembly, but added that the schedule for the elections is tight and can only be kept if electoral registration is completed by 24 June.

Mr. Annabi said that, to date, 180,000 refugees have returned from West Timor to the East, but an estimated 100,000 may still remain in West Timor, where they reportedly are subject to intimidation and lack information about the real conditions inside East Timor.  United Nations efforts to encourage reconciliation included its support to a visit by a group of five former pro-autonomy leaders last week.  He also noted a few recent incidents along the border between East and West Timor, including one on Sunday in which UN troops fired three shots at two suspected militia west of Maliana, after one pointed his weapon in the direction of a border post.

We expect to have copies of his briefing, as delivered, available later this afternoon in the Spokesman's Office.  The debate is continuing right now.  By the way, today's discussions in the Council represent a first, in that Council members not only can deliver speeches, but can also raise their hands to be called on, in a more interactive format for discussion.

**Yugoslavia Tribunal

Now, moving to Yugoslavia -- the Registrar of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, Hans Holthuis, is in Belgrade today, where he presented the Yugoslav authorities with a copy of the indictment against former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.  He is continuing his discussions with the authorities, which are intended to remind them of their obligations to cooperate with the Tribunal, including by transferring Milosevic into the custody of the Tribunal in The Hague.

In a press release issued late yesterday, the Tribunal's Prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, and President, Judge Claude Jorda, recalled that obligation, and insisted that Milosevic is no different from any other person indicted by the Tribunal.  At the same time, the Tribunal acknowledged that the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, as a sovereign State, may want to investigate Milosevic for alleged crimes pursuant to national criminal law.

Among other aspects of his visit, Mr. Holthuis will try to obtain information regarding the investigation and pending charges that the authorities in Belgrade intend to pursue with regard to Milosevic.  Jean-Jacques Juries, an adviser to Ms. Del Ponte, said yesterday that she had no objection to local charges being raised against Milosevic, although she had also said that the obligation to transfer Milosevic to The Hague was non-negotiable.  We have copies of the Tribunal's press release, as well as a summary of yesterday's weekly press briefing at The Hague, available in the Spokesman’s Office.

**Budget

Two more Member States have paid their regular budget contributions in full today.  Indonesia has made a payment of more than $2 million and Mauritania more than $10,000.  This brings the total of fully paid Member States to 69.  At this time last year, 76 member States had paid in full.

**Press Releases and Reports

A short while ago the report, “World Population Monitoring 2001: population, environment and development”, which was presented to the thirty-fourth session of the Commission on Population and Development earlier this week, was discussed at a press conference in this room.  The report states that by 2050 the world’s population will grow by between 2 and 3 billion people, and that population will be significantly older and more culturally and ethnically diverse.  The report of the Secretary-General by the same name presents an analysis of the full report and is available on the Commission’s Web site.

We have one press release to highlight today.  Sharon Capeling-Alakija, Executive Coordinator of the United Nations Volunteers, told a gathering of international parliamentarians that volunteer participation is a “crucial aspect of good governance”.  Speaking at a conference of the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Havana, she outlined challenges facing governments in fostering volunteerism and said that it should be taken into account in national development strategies.

**Press Conference

I’d like to bring to your attention a press conference tomorrow, Friday.  It will be at 1 o’clock here in room S-226, by Prafullachandra Bhagwati of India, Chairman of the Human Rights Committee, and Nisuke Ando of Japan, member of the Committee.  They will give a wrap up of the work of the Committee’s seventy-first session, which ends tomorrow.  The reports considered during this session were on the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by the Governments of Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Uzbekistan, Croatia and Syria.

**Questions and Answers

Question:  Why wasn’t Merck at the meeting?

Deputy Spokesman:  They were invited, but didn’t come.

Question:  Did they say why?

Deputy Spokesman:  I’m not aware.

Question:  On the third point -- “they recognized the need to consider increases” -- what does that mean in English?

Deputy Spokesman:  Until now, all the discussion has been around access through government.  This time, it also includes non-governmental organizations and even private organizations, firms that have AIDS programmes.

Question:  I understand that, but they recognize the need to consider but they’re not even committing to the need to consider.  Does this mean it’s not going to happen?

Deputy Spokesman:  No, no.  We trust that this will happen. 

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