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

Following is a near-verbatim transcript of today's noon briefing by Farhan Haq, of the Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

Hello. Good afternoon.

We are very pleased to have with us here as our guest at today's briefing Joseph Connor, the Under-Secretary-General for Management, who will talk to you a bit about the financial picture here at the United Nations.  You'd been asking about that.  We'll try to get to him very quickly.

**Financing for Development Wrap-up

First, let me start with a bit of good news for you.  More than 50 heads of State, along with other senior government officials from around the world, have just adopted the Monterrey Consensus at the International Conference on Financing for Development in Mexico.

The adoption of the Consensus was widely hailed as a major accomplishment in the global effort to eradicate poverty.

By endorsing the Consensus, States resolved to address the challenges of financing for development around the world, particularly in developing countries.  Their goal is to eradicate poverty, achieve sustained economic growth and promote development.

The document recommends a number of specific measures to achieve that goal, including a call on developed countries to promote duty-free and quota-free access to goods from least developed States.  The Consensus also advocates increased allocations in aid as well as debt relief measures.

The Conference drew some 8,000 participants, including over 2,500 government representatives, 1,800 of your colleagues in the media, and 800 delegates from non-governmental organizations or businesses.

**Secretary-General

The Secretary-General this morning was attending the plenary session of the Conference on Financing for Development.  In the margins of that session, he also met briefly with President Stepan Mesic of Croatia.

Right now, he is going to meet with French President Jacques Chirac.  Then he is going to participate in a retreat for heads of State and government that is being hosted by Mexican President Vicente Fox.  Later today, once that retreat has ended, the Secretary-General will be returning to New York.

Yesterday afternoon, the Secretary-General told reporters at a press conference that one of the messages of the Conference on Financing for Development is that “we can no longer continue to give with one hand and take with the other.  We must work together in a coherent fashion if we want to achieve our goal.”

He shared the platform with World Bank President Jim Wolfensohn, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Horst Köhler and World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General Mike Moore.  Asked about good governance, the Secretary-General said he didn’t think it should be seen as something imposed from outside.  He asserted that “good governance is in the interest of every country, in the interest of the people, and above all, in the interest of the poor.”

Asked about the financial crisis in Argentina, he said there is quite a lot of sympathy and support for that country, and added, “The leadership and some of the key steps will have to be taken by Argentina.”  We have the full transcript of his press briefing upstairs.

After the press conference, the Secretary General began a series of bilateral meetings yesterday afternoon.  He first met jointly with President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria and South African President Thabo Mbeki.

Cuban President Fidel Castro then came by to see him before a luncheon hosted by the Governor of Nuevo León.

After lunch, he met with the President of Argentina, Eduardo Duhalde, for a review of the political and economic situation in that country.

The Secretary-General's next appointment was with the King of Jordan, Abdullah II, with whom he assessed the prospects for the Arab Summit at the end of this month, efforts to move the Palestinians and Israelis back to the negotiating table, and chances for the return of United Nations weapons inspectors to Iraq.

With the Foreign Minister of Switzerland, Joseph Deiss, he talked of the recent referendum in which Swiss voters opted for full membership in the United Nations.  They also discussed the Middle East.

He then met with the President of Finland, Tarja Halonen, who gave him her assessment of the Financing for Development Conference.

His last appointment of the day was with former Mexican President Ernesto Zedillo, who chaired a high-level commission on financing for development that the Secretary-General appointed last year.

**Security Council

There are no Security Council meetings scheduled for today.  The Council’s next scheduled meeting is on Monday, when it will hold consultations on Somalia.

**East Timor

In Dili this morning, East Timor's Constituent Assembly approved East Timor’s Constitution after six months of drafting, consultation and debate.  The Constitution was adopted by a nominal role call with 72 votes for, 14 against, one abstention and one absentee.

In a ceremony in the afternoon, each of the 88 members of the Assembly signed the constitution.  Sergio Vieira de Mello, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for East Timor, congratulated the members of the Assembly for their work and said that both the people of East Timor and the international community recognized the personal dedication they brought to their task.

Also today, the ballot papers for April’s presidential election arrived in Dili.  The papers will be stored in the capital before being distributed to the districts, along with other polling materials.

We have more details in today's briefing note from Dili.

**Afghanistan

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) today reported that more than 80,000 Afghans have returned home from Pakistan since the agency started its repatriation programme three weeks ago.

By way of comparison, the number of returnees this month alone exceeds the average annual repatriation rate since 1993.

The massive flow of returns, while welcome, signals the pressing need for continued high levels of international support from donors.

Even more returns are expected as the temperatures rise in spring, and UNHCR is concerned that funding will not keep pace.

The agency has received less than half of the over $270 million needed to help an estimated 1.2 million Afghans go home this year.  UNHCR is urging donors to come forward with new contributions to make up the shortfall.

Also on Afghanistan, just a reminder that the Secretary-General’s report on Afghanistan is now out on the racks.  And we have an embargoed UNICEF press release for you on the opening of the Afghan school year this Saturday.

For more information on the refugee situation, you can pick up the UNHCR briefing notes, which also report on Sierra Leonean refugees returning home from Guinea.  The first repatriation convoy carrying 500 refugees overland is expected to arrive in Sierra Leone tomorrow.

UNHCR plans twice-weekly convoys for up to 1,000 returnees.  This comes in addition to the 500 who are returning each week by sea.

**Secretary-General's Report on Security

On the racks today is the Secretary-General's report on strengthening the security and safety of United Nations premises.  The report sets out proposals on security at United Nations Headquarters in New York as well as other main locations, following a thorough review of arrangements system-wide at the end of last year.

Among the recommendations for Headquarters is the establishment of 56 new posts for security-related functions, including two in the Medical Services Division.  A number of physical upgrades to the buildings and grounds are also recommended, including the installation of ballistic partitions in several areas.  A new perimeter fence incorporating alarms and closed-circuit television cameras is also recommended.

The total cost of the proposals for the 2002/2003 biennium would be about $57 million, in addition to the sum already included in the programme budget for the biennium.

The report is on the racks.

**Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)

We have available the summary of a press conference that was held in Kinshasa this morning.

Amos Namanga Ngongi, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, briefed reporters on the agreement mentioned here yesterday by the forces of both the Congolese Rally for Democracy and the Government of the DRC to withdraw from positions in the south-east area of the country.

**Cambodia/Vietnam

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) today said that Vietnam and Cambodia had violated the terms of a tripartite agreement on the voluntary return to Vietnam of Montagnard refugees, and UNHCR declared it could no longer be associated with repatriation under that agreement.

The decision came after a serious incident yesterday, in which a group of more than 400 Vietnamese arrived in 12 buses to enter a refugee camp at Mondulkiri, and were subjected, according to High Commissioner Ruud Lubbers, to “an unprecedented and unacceptable level of coercion to repatriate.”  In a letter to the Foreign Ministers of Vietnam and Cambodia, Lubbers added that UNHCR staff at the site were manhandled, and their lives threatened, for trying to protect the refugees.

Lubbers told the foreign ministers, “I do not believe that the overall situation is conducive for repatriation in line with international standards and all returns should therefore be suspended.”

We have a UNHCR press release upstairs with more information.

**World Water Day

Today is World Water Day and the theme for this year’s observance is “Water for Development."

In his message to mark the day, the Secretary-General urged everyone to take a “decisive course of action for meeting the Millennium Development Goals on access to freshwater."  He pointed out that 1.1 billion people are without access to safe drinking water, and 2.4 million have no access to proper sanitation.

By the year 2025, he added, two thirds of the world’s population is likely to live in countries with moderate to severe water shortages, but instead of being a cause for tensions, he said, water problems could be a catalyst for cooperation.

We have the full text of the message, along with others from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), all upstairs.

**Press Releases

In a press release, the World Health Organization (WHO) says that only a fraction of tuberculosis patients are getting the best care.  The annual report of the Organization, being released today, notes that only 27 per cent of the world’s TB patients are receiving treatment that can cure up to 90 per cent of all cases.

It is estimated that $1 billion a year will be needed to treat patients and control TB in the 22 countries that account for 80 per cent of the world’s TB cases.

Today at the United Nations, the Lions Club International is having its twenty-fourth annual day with 600 participants.  The Department of Public Information (DPI) has a Note to Correspondents in its press releases with some more information.

We also have, as always, the "Week Ahead", for you to pick up upstairs.

Are there any questions for me before we get to Mr. Connor?

If not, I'm very pleased to welcome with us Mr. Connor.

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