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

The following is a near-verbatim record of today's noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

**Colombia

Good afternoon.

I'm going to start today with a statement attributable to the Spokesman on the situation in Colombia:

“Over the weekend, the Secretary-General was in direct contact with several regional leaders, as well as President Pastrana, about the situation in Colombia. The Secretary-General strongly appeals to the Government of Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to make every effort, even at this late stage, to seek a solution to the present crisis in the peace talks that would permit them to renew their negotiations.

“The Secretary-General’s Acting Special Adviser, James LeMoyne, is still in the FARC zone, at the request of the parties.  The Secretary-General appreciates the strong support that the 10 facilitating countries and the Catholic Church are extending to his good offices and to Mr. LeMoyne.

“The Secretary-General again emphasizes that all measures must be taken to protect the civilian population in the zone.  He urges the parties to reach a humanitarian accord that would ensure the respect for international humanitarian law in order to provide such protection.”

**Afghanistan

The Secretary-General will be travelling to Tokyo this weekend to attend the International Conference on Reconstruction Assistance to Afghanistan.

The two-day Conference, co-chaired by Japan, the United States, the European Union and Saudi Arabia, is scheduled to take place on 21 and 22 January in the Japanese capital.

The Secretary-General is leaving New York on Saturday, arriving in Tokyo Sunday afternoon.

On his programme, which ends Wednesday morning, is an audience with Emperor Akihito, and meetings with the Prime Minister, the Foreign Minister and members of Parliament, as well as business leaders.

We are trying to arrange a briefing for you by Mark Malloch Brown, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), who has been asked by the Secretary-General to take the lead in the early recovery effort of Afghanistan.

**Afghanistan -- Field

In Kabul today, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, through his spokesman, today appealed for donors to respond quickly to a nearly $100 million appeal to support the interim government in Afghanistan.

Spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said the new Administration needs to pay salaries to its employees, adding that they have not been paid for the past six months, and salaries are also needed for the next six months.

Mr. Fawzi said the start-up fund that was created after the Bonn agreement appealed for $20 million.  Around $17 million were pledged, $8.6 million were committed.  Subsequently, another appeal was issued requesting an additional

$70 million.

Please read the briefing notes from Kabul for more information.

The humanitarian briefing in Islamabad today includes an announcement by the World Food Programme (WFP) that it has sent an international staff member to Kandahar for the first time since September 2001.

**Pakistan

On Saturday, the Secretary-General welcomed the speech that morning by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf for its emphasis on tolerance, the rule of law, and the need to fight terrorism and extremism.  He said in a statement attributable to his Spokesman that he regarded the anti-terrorist measures announced by the President, including the banning of several armed extremist organizations, as a significant further step towards easing the dangerous situation in the region.

The text of the statement was sent out to you on Saturday and is available in my Office, if you missed it.

**Conference on Financing for Development

The Secretary-General, a short while ago, addressed the fourth session of the Preparatory Committee for the International Conference on Financing for Development.  He said that the upcoming Conference in Monterrey, Mexico, offers the best chance to unlock the financial resources desperately needed for development.

The Secretary-General added that the Monterrey Conference must build on the momentum achieved at the World Trade Organization meeting in Doha last year, and should pay attention to areas not covered in those negotiations, but still of importance to developing countries, such as commodity prices.

He ended by saying he believed the Conference can “really help developing countries take advantage of the global market, and thereby make a real difference to the lives of poor people all over the world”.

We have the full text of the Secretary-General’s address upstairs.

The Secretary-General also announced the appointment of Trevor Manuel, Minister of Finance of South Africa, and Michel Camdessus, former Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), as Special Envoys to the International Conference on Financing for Development.

Press releases with more information are available on the racks.

**Security Council

The Security Council met this morning in closed consultations to discuss the United Nations Mission of Observers in Prevlaka (UNMOP).  The Council is expected to adopt a resolution tomorrow, which will extend the United Nations Mission’s mandate by six months to 15 July, as recommended by the Secretary-General in his latest report.

Also during this morning’s consultations, a draft resolution was introduced to lift restrictions on Afghanistan’s national airline, Ariana, as imposed by the Council in its sanctions resolution on Afghanistan.  That resolution is also expected to come up for a vote tomorrow.

This afternoon, the Council will be holding a private meeting during which Ambassador Curtis Ward, the Deputy Permanent Representative of Jamaica and outgoing chairman of the Council’s Working Group on Peacekeeping Operations, will brief them on the Working Group’s latest report, which came out a week ago.

**Cyprus

This morning, the Secretary-General’s Special Adviser for Cyprus, Alvaro de Soto, met with His Excellency Mr. Glafcos Clerides and, a few hours later, with His Excellency Mr. Rauf Denktash.

Mr. de Soto arrived on the island yesterday.  At the airport, he said to journalists that he believed there were grounds for hope and optimism regarding efforts to find a comprehensive settlement in Cyprus.  He also noted that the international community had been encouraged by recent developments there.  He himself was here to help the two sides find a settlement, and he was ready to play a role in this context.

As you know, the direct talks between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders, under the auspices of the Secretary-General’s good offices mission, are scheduled to start in the United Nations Protected Area at 10 a.m., local time on Wednesday of this week.

**Economic and Social Council

The 2002 session of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) will begin today with the expected election of Ambassador Ivan Šimonovic, Permanent Representative of Croatia.

The main theme of this year’s high-level segment of the ECOSOC session, which will take place this July in New York, will concern the contribution of human resources, including health and education, to the process of development.

Another objective of this year’s session will be to consider how the outcomes of the Conference on Financing for Development and the World Summit on Sustainability will be integrated into the follow-up of the millennium goals.

Ambassador Š imonovic has been the Permanent Representative of Croatia since February 1997.  He has served as Vice-President of ECOSOC since January 2001.

We have a press release upstairs.

**Secretary-General's Second Term

The Secretary-General this weekend gathered together 30 experts from around the world, together with members of his own staff, to discuss priorities for his second term.  The group gathered over dinner Friday night and then had an all-day brainstorming session on Saturday.

Although the Secretary-General in a speech to the General Assembly last November identified four priority areas for his second term, he told the experts on Saturday that there's still a lot of strategic thinking to be done.  He intends to further these discussions with his Cabinet, called the Senior Management Group, in a retreat to be organized in February or March, after which you will be briefed on the substantive outcome.

A note to correspondents, including bio notes on all of the participants, was sent to you on Saturday, and we have copies upstairs if you missed it.

**Environment

Legal and technical experts are meeting in Geneva this week to develop policies and technical guidelines for the Basel Convention on the Control of the Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal.  The Technical Working Group will continue its work on technical guidelines for the environmentally sound management of waste lead-acid batteries, persistent organic pollutants, and the dismantling of ships, among others.

The Legal Working Group will address the monitoring of implementation and compliance and a review of the legal implications of dismantling ships.  The two groups will also have a joint meeting.

In Bangkok yesterday, Klaus Töpfer, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), urged flexibility in tackling the challenges of poverty alleviation, environmental protection and the management of economic globalization.  He told the meeting of the Asia-Pacific Forum on Environment and Development, “We need to use trade to lift large numbers of people out of poverty, while maintaining and promoting a healthy, clean and environmentally sound planet.”

We have press releases on those items.

**Press Releases

Another press release out today says that the National Basketball Association basketball player, Dikembe Mutombo of the Philadelphia 76ers, is featured in a new HIV/AIDS awareness campaign, a joint project of the United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention), UNAIDS and the National Basketball Association.  Mutombo stars in a new public service announcement aimed at educating young people on the links between drug abuse and HIV/AIDS.

**Budget

Today, four more Member States paid their 2002 regular budget contribution in full.  They are Australia, with a payment of more than $18 million, Ireland with more than $3 million, the Russian Federation with more than $13 million, and Slovakia with more than $477,000.  We now have 23 Member States paid in full.

**United Nations Correspondents Association

The United Nations Correspondents Association (UNCA) asked me to announce that the first meeting of the new UNCA Executive Committee will be held in the UNCA Club at 2 p.m. today.  At 2p.m. tomorrow, all of the UNCA members are invited to the Club for the formal handover by last year's Executive Committee to the new officers, to be followed by a meeting of UNCA's general membership.

**Joseph Connor

Also, the World Chronicle programme, number 843, which features Joseph Connor, the Under-Secretary-General for Management, will be shown today at

3:30 p.m. on in-house television, Channel 3 or 31.

**Questions and Answers

Question:  On Colombia, the note from the Secretary-General said all measures should be taken.  Does that include the use of troops, if necessary?

Spokesman:  We’re not talking about troops, we're talking about restraint on both sides to ensure that civilians’ rights are protected.  To foster that objective, the Special Envoy, Mr. LeMoyne, is in the Zone today.  As you know, there's a really very broad regional effort being made to keep the lid on this potential re-emergence of fighting in Colombia.

I mentioned 10 countries have ambassadors.  They are with Mr. LeMoyne in the Zone, as well as representatives of the Catholic Church, talking to the FARC leaders today, and we're just hoping that we can keep the lid on this one.

Question:  On the strategic planning meeting that took place over the weekend.  Are you saying that we're not going to be able to get anything on what exactly they're looking at, and what conclusions they came to until after the retreat?

Spokesman:  That's the idea, because it really was a brainstorming session. It would be premature to talk about what kinds of ideas came up.  Also, given the range of expertise of these people and the wide-ranging topics that were discussed, I think it’s too soon to say where the actual priorities are going to be.  Of course, as I said, this is just the first step.  The next step is for the Secretary-General to have more specific discussions with his Cabinet members at a retreat.

We gave you the list of participants.  If you wish to discuss with any of them what their individual contributions were, feel free to do so. The discussions were very interesting.  I mentioned in the note to correspondents that they broke down into four groups for Saturday morning.  They then came into a plenary in the afternoon, reviewed what each of the four groups discussed and then had more general brainstorming.  It was a very interesting session.

The Secretary-General hopes that these people will stay on as advisers and that he can call them together in the future to address more specific subjects when he feels he needs outside advice.

Question:  Will there be a verbatim or something from this?

Spokesman:  No, nothing as formal as that.

Question:  Will there be any kind of notes that will be released?

Spokesman:  No, I don't believe that at this time we're ready to release anything.  The person who organized the meeting was Michael Doyle, the Special Adviser to the Secretary-General.  His assistant in putting together this programme was Abby Williams, and you're free to call either of those two if you want to talk about this past weekend's session.

Question:  (Pakistani) President Musharraf has asked and appealed to the United Nations and NGOs to visit troubled areas of Kashmir.  What is the reaction to that appeal?

Spokesman:  I don't have a reaction to that.  I'd have to check and see whether we have a reaction.  I wasn't given any guidance on that point today.

Question:  Do I understand that Mr. Denktash and his Greek counterpart are going to be present on Wednesday at the conference?

Spokesman:  Yes, they meet formally on Wednesday under the auspices of the Secretary-General's good offices mission, which is headed now by Alvaro de Soto.

Question:  How long will the meeting last?

Spokesman:  We don't know.  There's a small window of opportunity this year, a couple of months before the European Union begins to take action on enlargement. It's no secret that this is a major political pressure point on the Cypriots to resolve their differences, so that Cyprus could be accepted for membership in the European Union as a unified State.  So that is what we're attempting to do in the next few months.

Question:  The Secretary-General in his speech on financing for development mentioned a comprehensive international convention on corruption.  I don't recall that coming up before.  Is that a new proposal?

Spokesman:  I can't answer that question.  I'd have to look into it in greater detail.  But I suggest you try to contact these new envoys, Mr. Manuel and Mr. Camdessus.  They had lunch yesterday with the Secretary-General and the Deputy Secretary-General to discuss approaches to the conference and what practically we would like to see come out of the conference.  They might be a good resource on this question, as well.  But in addition, I'll find out whatever I can for you.

[The Spokesman's Office later announced that the General Assembly had endorsed negotiations on an international legal instrument against corruption during the plenary in December.  The information could be found in the Third Committee's report on crime prevention and criminal justice.]

Question:  What are the 10 ambassadors and the Secretary-General doing in Colombia to keep the lid on?

Spokesman:  I don't have anything to add to what I have already said.  They are in the Zone today, the FARC Zone, meeting with the leadership of the FARC.  The idea is to try to get the peace process going again.

Question:  Are they meeting with both sides?

Spokesman:  Yes, and they're there at the request of both sides.  I don't want to put numbers on Mr. LeMoyne's optimism.  He did say that he sensed that both sides are serious about preserving peace, whether they can actually come up with a formula for the resumption of talks is the question before the two sides, and the objective of Mr. LeMoyne and the 10 countries that are trying to facilitate agreement.

Question:  Can you give us the names of the 10 facilitating countries?

Spokesman:  I have them here.  Canada, Cuba, Mexico, Venezuela, Sweden, Switzerland, France, Austria, Belgium, Norway.

[The Spokesman's Office later announced that Italy should be substituted for Austria on that list.]

Question:  Did they volunteer or did the Secretary-General ask them to become involved in Latin America?

Spokesman:  I don’t know.  I’d have to find out and let you know after the briefing.  [He later said they volunteered.]

Question:  Do you have anything concerning contact during the week and over the weekend among Security Council members about sending an international force to the Central African Republic with Libyan soldiers?

Spokesman:  I don’t have anything on that.  We would have to ask the Security Council President if he has anything to share with you on that subject.  They did not tell us anything about such contacts.

Question:  On Mr. Annan’s visit to Tokyo.  He leaves Tokyo on Wednesday?

Spokesman:  He leaves on Saturday, arrives Sunday afternoon.

Question:  And from Tokyo.  He leaves Tokyo on Wednesday?

Spokesman:  Oh, he leaves Tokyo on Wednesday, yes.  What was your question?

Question:  I was just asking when he was going to leave Tokyo.  Does he come directly back to New York?

Spokesman:  We’re not ready to discuss his programme from Tokyo at this time.  We might have something to announce a little later in the week.

Thank you very much.

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