SECOND COMMITTEE ELECTS OFFICERS TO BUREAU, APPROVES WORK PROGRAMME FOR FIFTY-EIGHTH ASSEMBLY SESSION

Fifty-eighth General Assembly

Second Committee

1^st Meeting (AM)

SECOND COMMITTEE ELECTS OFFICERS TO BUREAU, APPROVES WORK PROGRAMME

FOR FIFTY-EIGHTH ASSEMBLY SESSION

The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) elected four officers to its Bureau this morning and approved its programme of work for the fifty-eighth General Assembly session.

By acclamation, the Committee elected Ulrika Cronenberg-Mossberg (Sweden), Henri Stephan Raubenheimer (South Africa) and Irena Zubčević (Croatia) as Vice-Chairpersons, and José Alberto Briz Gutiérrez (Guatemala) as Rapporteur.

In his introductory remarks, Committee Chairman Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury (Bangladesh) said he hoped the cooperation and contributions of all delegations would allow the Second Committee to fulfil its mandate and bring its goals to fruition.

According to the programme of work, contained in document A/C.2/58/L.1, the Committee’s work would focus on macroeconomic policy questions; sectoral policy questions; sustainable development and international economic cooperation; environment and sustainable development; implementation of Agenda 21, the Programme for the further implementation of Agenda 21 and the outcomes of the World Summit on Sustainable Development (Johannesburg, 2002); United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development; operational activities for development; and implementation of the first United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (1997-2006).

The Committee would also consider training and research; globalization and interdependence; implementation of the outcome of the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) and of the twenty-fifth special session of the General Assembly; Third United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries; permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, and of the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan over their natural resources; follow-up to the International Conference on Financing for Development; and the report of the Economic and Social Council.

Commenting on the programme of work were the representatives of the United States, Honduras, Morocco (on behalf of the “Group of 77” developing countries and China), Switzerland, Japan, Italy (on behalf of the European Union), Russian Federation, Canada, and Paraguay.

The Second Committee will meet again at 3 p.m. on Monday, 6 October, to begin its general debate.

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