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

AND SPOKESMAN FOR THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT

Following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, and Djibril Diallo, Spokesman for the General Assembly President.

Spokesman for the Secretary-General

Good afternoon,

**Guest at Noon

Anwarul Chowdhury, the Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States, will be joining us today to brief you on the Conference on Small Island Developing States that will take place from 10 to 14 January in Mauritius.

**SG - High-Level Panel

The Secretary-General just now spoke to the General Assembly on the report of the High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change, telling the Member States that it is up to them to make 2005 the year of change at the United Nations.

He says that if we do not act resolutely, and together, the threats described in the report can overwhelm us.  The Secretary-General asserted, “Either we turn our backs on the very notion of collective security, or we must work hard to make sure that collective security really means something.”

He told the Assembly that he will move ahead quickly to implement the Panel’s recommendations that are within his purview.  Next year, he added, he will present to the Member States the outlines of a comprehensive strategy against terrorism.

The Secretary-General drew particular attention to the Panel’s recommendation to support a Directorate of Security and to assist in implementing a new staff security system for 2005.  He said, “Unhappily we cannot, in this increasingly volatile and dangerous world, carry out the mandates that you give us without adequate security arrangements.”

We have copies of his statement upstairs.

**Statement Attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General

We have the following statement attributable to the Spokesman on the subject of Côte d’Ivoire:

“The Secretary-General welcomes the agreement reached by the Ivorian parties regarding the implementation of the Accra III and Linas-Marcoussis Agreements, following their consultations with President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, under the initiative which he is leading on behalf of the African Union.  The parties must now agree upon a detailed programme of action for the implementation of their commitments within a clear time frame.

“The Secretary-General urges the Ivorian parties to seize this opportunity and to ensure that genuine progress, which is required to prepare for the holding of elections in October 2005, is made.  The Secretary-General looks forward to President Mbeki and the African Union’s continued efforts to resolve the crisis in Côte d’Ivoire, in close cooperation with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire.”

**Côte d’Ivoire

On the ground, the radio of the UN mission in Côte d’Ivoire, UNOCI FM, went on the air in Bouake yesterday evening.  The programmes comprise messages of peace, news programmes and features on human rights, disarmament and the humanitarian consequences of the conflict.

Meanwhile, the so-called Young Patriots, who are planning to demonstrate on Saturday to demand the withdrawal of French troops from Côte d'Ivoire, told the UN mission that their demonstration would be peaceful.

**Statement Attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General

I have the following statement also attributable to the Spokesman:

“Further to the Secretary-General’s statement of 26 November, he has studied the five-point proposal that the Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi submitted to Parliament on 25 November.

“The Secretary-General welcomes any step which may contribute to full implementation of the 2000 Algiers Agreements and the subsequent decision of the Boundary Commission to the initiation of dialogue between Ethiopia and Eritrea, as well as to the restoration of normal relations between these two neighbouring countries.  Such relations could contribute in a major way to economic and social development in both countries, as well as to that of the whole region.”

**Palestinians

Today in Oslo, the UN Middle East Envoy, Terje Roed-Larsen, attended a meeting of the Ad-Hoc Liaison Committee.  This group brings together the donor countries, alongside the United Nations, the World Bank, the IMF and, of course, the Palestinians and Israelis.

This was the first time, in almost a year, that Israeli and Palestinian officials sat face to face and exchanged views.  Participants said the meeting took place in a positive spirit of cooperation as recent developments on the ground offered new opportunities.

Donors and the United Nations said steps should be taken by Israel to lift the closures in the Palestinian territory to increase freedom of movement and ease the humanitarian situation for the Palestinians.  They also urged the Palestinians to redouble their reform efforts, specifically in the judicial and security areas.  The Palestinian delegation was congratulated for a smooth political transition.

**FAO

The Food and Agricultural Organization today released its annual report, The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2004.

Hunger and malnutrition kill more than 5 million children every year, the report says.  The cost to developing countries, the agency says, is billions of dollars in lost productivity and national income.

On a positive note, the authors noted that more than 30 countries, representing nearly half the population of the developing world, have reduced the percentage of hungry people by at least 25 per cent in the 1990s.  These countries provide proof that rapid progress is possible, as well as lessons in how that progress can be achieved.

**Sudan

The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Sudan, Jan Pronk, returned last night from Naivasha, Kenya, where he met separately with Vice-President [Osman Ali] Taha and Chairman John Garang of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM).

In his discussions with them, Pronk welcomed the good spirit shown by the two leaders and their commitment to finalize agreement on pending issues.  He emphasized to both of them that every effort should be exerted in order to fulfil the commitment they made to the international community and to the Security Council on 19 November in Nairobi.  He cautioned them that failure is not an option.

**Security Council

This morning, the Security Council held a public meeting on the report of the Council’s November mission to Central Africa that was by led by France.  The report came out as a document [yesterday].

The Security Council issued a presidential statement late yesterday in which it expressed its concern about reports of military operations by the Rwandan army in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  It also condemned any attempt at undermining the unity and territorial integrity of the DRC, and said it would consider further actions against anyone who compromises the peace process there.  We have copies of that statement upstairs, as well as a joint statement by human rights experts concerned about the human rights situation in that country.

**DRC - Update

As far as what’s happening on ground in the DRC, the UN Mission there says it still doesn’t have fully conclusive evidence as to whether Rwandan forces have crossed into Congolese territory.  The Mission says it does have some evidence of the presence of unidentified -- but well organized -- military groups in the triangle formed by Goma, Walikale and Lake Edward.

The Mission is continuing its reconnaissance activities -- by helicopter and on foot -- to check the numerous and consistent claims it’s received from the local population about the presence of Rwandan soldiers.  We have more on this in a French press release; in a press release in French, released by the Mission.

**Cambodia

A six-member UN team arrived in Cambodia today to begin talks with the Cambodian Government on funding for the proposed trials of Khmer Rouge leaders.  The Secretary-General reiterated last week that UN approval of the Agreement on the trials will depend on whether sufficient money is in place to fund the staffing and operations of the Extraordinary Chambers for the trials for a sustained period of time.

**Disaster Reduction

The past year has been one of the most challenging in terms of providing humanitarian assistance, largely because of the high number of natural disasters that took place, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland said today.  At a press conference in Geneva, Egeland noted the crises that extended from the earthquake in Bam, Iran, at the beginning of the year, to the recent typhoons in the Philippines.

Among the worst crises, he said, was the one in Darfur, Sudan, where hundreds of thousands of lives had been saved because of the work of some 800 relief workers.  Egeland also drew attention to next month’s World Conference on Disaster Reduction in Kobe, Japan, where delegates from some 120 countries are to draw up a plan to prevent the worst effects of natural disasters.

**UNICEF Annual Report Tease

And a reminder that UNICEF’s annual flagship publication -- The State of the World’s Children 2005 -- will be launched tomorrow.  The report is the most comprehensive survey of global trends affecting children.  UNICEF’s Executive Director, Carol Bellamy, will launch the report in London tomorrow.  And we have embargoed copies of it available in my office.

**Press Conference Tomorrow

Finally, a press conference, at 12:30 in this room, the President of the General Assembly, Jean Ping, will be here to brief you on the work of the General Assembly with regard to the report of the High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change. 

And then at 1:00 o’clock, Ambassador Oswaldo de Rivero of Peru will be here to present his book “The Myth of Development”.

That’s all I have for you.  Yes, Colum?

**Questions and Answers

Spokesman:  Yes, Colum?

Question:   Yes, two questions.  One on Rwanda.  Is the Rwandan Government denying that it has sent troops into Congo?  And then, also, on Cambodia, could you just give us a little bit of background on the funding issues?  This has been going on for a couple of years, this whole debate over how you’re going to fund the Cambodia operation.  I mean, how much money are you trying to get?  Have governments made commitments?  And why are they in Cambodia looking for it?  Shouldn’t they be doing that in a place like New York, where all the donors are based?

Spokesman:  On Rwanda, the Government of Rwanda had publicly threatened to go into the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  I don’t know whether they have ever publicly acknowledged that their troops are in there, but we did respond to the threats, saying that these would be disruptive of the [peace] process and inviting both parties to engage the mechanism that we set up to patrol the border and to report any violations, that could then be investigated by international personnel.

Question:   But you’re not worried that they’re denying that they have troops there now?

Spokesman:  I frankly don’t know.  I’d have to check with the Rwanda desk, or the DRC desk to let you know, but I will do that afterwards.

On the funding, I can’t give you the specific numbers, and the history we can go into after the briefing back in my office, but the Secretary-General clearly was not prepared to commit the personnel to this special court undertaking without a firm commitment from Member States to finance at least two years of the court’s operations and I can give you the specific details on that afterwards as well.  [He later said the Secretary-General wanted commitments to cover the costs of the court for three years, with actual contributions for one.]

Yes, Laura?

Question:   Fred, you said a few weeks ago that the European Union and, there was a UN representative helping with the Palestinian election.  Israel and the Palestinians have reached an election plan.  Do you know if the United Nations was involved in that?  And also, there have been reports that Egypt has brokered a separate truce between Israel and the Palestinians, and they’re going to have a peace conference in July in Washington.  Has the UN been involved in that at all?

Spokesman:  I don’t have any information on that and I have nothing to add to what I said before.  We had been advising the Palestinians on the election process.  More recently, a European Union official took over the leadership in that area.  We remained involved ourselves.  But for more specifics, you should see someone in my office after the briefing.  [He later said in fact the chief international electoral adviser is from the UN, and the UN is coordinating the observers.]

Mens?

Question:   In the last few days, there has been a show of support for the Secretary-General -- for him to continue in office -- as against the calls given by some Republican House members over here.  I wanted to ask you, are any efforts being made to repair the damage that that has been done to the relationship between the United States -- the Bush administration -- and the United Nations, which is at least manifesting itself now?

Spokesman:  First of all, these calls for resignation have been coming from a few members of the US Congress, and not from the administration.  The United Nations deals with the administrative branch of governments, not with the parliamentary or congressional branch.  So at the moment, no MemberState has called for his resignation.  It’s true, there has been, in the last week, gradually been an increasing number of governments that either individually or collectively have expressed their support.  I don’t know that I can give you a number.  And just about every UN duty station has also -- the staff at all the major duty stations have expressed their support.

For us, this is not an active issue.  It’s a small percentage of the political elite of one MemberState that have expressed their displeasure with the Secretary-General and the United Nations.  And in the United States, since 1945, there’s always been a minority that actively opposed the United Nations.  I don’t think there’s anything unhealthy about having that debate if it firms up the view of the majority that the United Nations is a useful instrument, including that it’s beneficial to the city of New York, financially.  But, as of now, you know that the Secretary-General told you yesterday what I had been telling you since this thing began, that he intends to stay on for the remaining two years of his mandate, and to work particularly for UN reform, which has been his major focus for the last eight years, and the Millennium Development Goals, which encompasses, really, the main priorities for the Organization in this century.

Question:   What about the funding, which impacts the United Nations directly?

Spokesman:  Well again, this is a small number of lawmakers who are taking this initiative.  I don’t want to prejudge how much support that might eventually get in the US Congress.  But the US Government as a whole, of course, has to ask itself whether it wants to support the United Nations and stay active in supporting its policies and working through it for the national and multilateral goals that they might have as a government.  So, if this is an internal debate that’s taking place actively in the United States today, so be it.  We’re not against that.  But we have not heard to date from the administration in Washington that they want to ask the Secretary-General to resign, or that they don’t want to continue working with us very closely on the Iraqi elections, on the transition in Afghanistan, on the humanitarian crisis in Sudan, and all the other important issues that we’re working on together.

Question:   Is there a reaction on the standing ovation that the Secretary-General got at the GA this morning?

Spokesman:  That happened just as I was coming down here, so I don’t have anything official.  But I understand that it was a standing ovation, but this would merely just be consistent with the statements of support that we’ve received in oral and written form from a rather large number of members of the Organization.

Erol?

Question:   Yes, Fred.  Since you’ve mentioned that the small part of the political elite in the United States are opposing, since 1945, the work of the United Nations, can you compare with your experience being here at the United Nations how big is this time, how huge is this opposition with previous?

Spokesman:  I don’t have anything scientific to give you.  I believe that public opinion polls have generally shown that something like 20 to 25 per cent of Americans questioned the utility of the United Nations from 1945, and there has been something like 65, 75 per cent general support for the UN in the United States throughout the history of the UN.  In this most recent time, I think the numbers have been fluctuating a little bit more.  I don’t know what they are today.

Yes, Mark?

Question:   I’m sorry if you might have addressed this before.  What exactly is the latest on Iraq?  What are the plans to send more UN people there?  And is the UN taking any position still, or no position, on whether elections are feasible at the end of January, and whether, as Allawi suggested, it might be better to do them over a period of time?

Spokesman:  Well, first of all, we won’t take a position, or have no position today, on what is an Iraqi decision on the elections.  There’s been no change since the Secretary-General announced that he was lifting the ceiling on the number of international staff that could go into Iraq.  I don’t have today’s numbers, but we’re looking to move the electoral experts up to something like 25, from around 8, where they were a week or so ago.  And I think the most recent number is something like 18.  But we’ll have to check because that varies from day to day.

We are giving Iraq as much support as we can, and these international experts in Baghdad are the tip of the iceberg because we have a substantial number of staff in Jordan and surrounding countries.  We’ve engaged in a training exercise for electoral workers.  We’ve trained some 6,000 Iraqis for electoral work.  So we’re supporting this process as fully as possible.  We’re not going to enter the Iraqi debate on the timing of the elections.  And our hope is that whatever the Iraqis decide can be carried out in relative security and be seen by Iraqis as a whole as a fair and legitimate and representative exercise.  [He later said there were now 20 UN electoral experts in Iraq.]

Question:   To be fair, in the past you have entered the debate about elections.  So, if you’re not going to say anything more about elections -- either their feasibility within an insecure environment or their technical feasibility -- that’s a change in UN policy, because there has been a number of comments over the past few months by the UN on whether they would be feasible.  So, is this a change in policy, that the UN is not making any more comments on the feasibility of elections?

Spokesman:  I’m not aware of that, could you be more specific?

Question:   I had a long interview in the FT (Financial Times) on this including clearly Carina [Perelli] made comments.  So, to now say that the UN has no opinion whatsoever on the elections’ feasibility seems a change of policy.

Spokesman:  I think Carina Perelli’s comments might have been pegged to the existing security situation some time ago, when she might have been speaking about the difficulties that that would present for the electoral process.  But, something as fundamental as changing the timing of the election, we have consistently said, is an Iraqi choice.

Question:   Maybe just on the technicalities, then.  Is it, in the UN‘s view, technically feasible to hold elections at the end of January at this stage?  Are you still on track in terms of technical preparations, and can they go ahead?

Spokesman:  I don’t have the latest on that.  I would have to ask Carina Perelli.  But the latest thing we said on that, which wasn’t too long ago, is that, in fact, from a technical point of view everything was on track and it would be possible to hold elections by the end of January if the security situation permitted.  [He later said that technical preparations were still on track, but on a light schedule.]

Ahmed?

Question:   President Bush has said that before elections in Iraq, we are facing more violence.  Are you ready to put your staff in danger in Iraq?

Spokesman:  We have very carefully assessed the security threat in the country and the Secretary-General has decided to raise the ceiling to 59, from 35.  And, in addition to that, we expect to put in a close protection unit, made up of Fijian security experts, of over 100.  So, that’s the risk that we’re currently willing to take, because we do want to support this process.  We think it’s important for Iraq and for the region.

Question:   In terms of where the experts are going, so they’re going out of Baghdad to other parts of the country. Can you say where they will be?

Spokesman:  I cannot and should not give you any details.  The expectation is that they would, from time to time, operate outside of the green zone in Baghdad, and possibly even have sub-offices in other cities in Iraq.

Mr. Abbadi?

Question:   Why is it taking so long for the UN mission in the DRC to identify whether there are Rwandese military elements operating in the DRC, and putting the Security Council in an awkward position, whereby it had to issue a condemnation on the basis of multiple reports?

Spokesman:  I think we explained that the area that the force is monitoring is larger than Rwanda itself, and that it’s a deeply forested, heavily forested, area, so it’s not easy to always spot human movement from the air.  But we’re monitoring not only by helicopter, but also by foot.  We’ve only found bivouacs and remnants of encampments.  Sometimes we have spotted armed elements.  All we could observe is that they were well-equipped, but we couldn’t definitely say that they were Rwandese.  So I just think that’s the nature of the limits of the exercise, given the terrain and the number of people that we have engaged, that we have not been able to definitively say that Rwandan soldiers are in the Congo.

Question:   It seems extraordinary for the Security Council to issue a condemnation of these military operations…

Spokesman:  You’ll have to ask the Council if what’s…

Question:   (inaudible)...without having the output from the UN...(inaudible)?

Spokesman:  I don’t speak for the Security Council.  I give you information about their meetings, but you should ask the Council President or a Council member.

The gentleman here?

Question:   Yeah, was the Secretary-General’s recent statement to the GA to some extent also a message to his critics, letting them know that the UN is only as effective as the Member States and that, was he trying to say that he shouldn’t be scapegoated for all the body’s past errors?

Spokesman:  I don’t think I would invite you to read that much into it.  He gave them the high-level panel report last week.  They’ve had time to study it, to pass it on to their capitals where it was also studied, to begin formulating their thoughts on how they’re going to react to it.  So having given them a week to do that, I think he wanted now to focus their attention on the priorities, as he saw them.  It is true that the UN is only as good as its Member States.  And he said, in this statement to them, that implementation of most of these recommendations is now up to them.  But this is just the beginning of an almost year-long process during which he expects to be in touch with them, briefing them, responding to their questions so they clearly understand the thrust of the report, what’s at stake for them, and that they’ll be able to make informed policy decisions when the next General Assembly meets in the fall of next year.

Mark?

Question:   On Congo again.  The African Union today suggested that it might want to get involved in demobilizing militaries and so forth in eastern Congo.  Is this something that the UN has to the African Union about?  More generally, does the UN recognize Rwanda’s stated concerns that basically it’s not happening fast enough, which is basically Rwanda’s suggestion as to why it’s getting involved in the eastern Congo again?  And are there any plans to go about facilitating the demobilization process there?

Spokesman:  I don’t know whether we have discussed with the African Union their possible involvement in demobilization.  I’d have to ask for you.  We have acknowledged Rwanda’s concern about the armed elements of the former Interhamwe fighters from Rwanda currently in the DRC, and the security threat that they represent for Rwanda.  Our plan for dealing with that is to demobilize them, disarm them, and facilitate their return to Rwanda.  That is something that requires the cooperation of not only the DRC Government and the Rwandan Government, but the Interhamwe themselves.  So, this not an easy thing to negotiate and to carry out. But we will continue trying.  [He later said there have been no discussions with the African Union regarding their involvement in demobilization.]

Question:   Are you in talks with the Interhamwe?

Spokesman:  I don’t know that detail.  I would have to ask and get back to you.

Gentleman in the back?

Question:   On Security Council reform, what do you think is the main reason why the report of the high-level panel divides into two options. Do you think it makes the Secretary-General’s efforts complicated?

Spokesman:  I will refer you to the comments made by the research director for the high-level panel when he spoke to the press in this room.  He said that it was an indication that, first, the sixteen members of the panel could not agree on a single formula, that he felt that putting forward two formulas would invite useful debate by all Member States, and, essentially, I think he shrugged and said that was the best they could do.  So, it’s now in the hands of all 191 Member States to discuss what formula they might be able to agree on, hopefully by the end of 2005.

Mark?

Question:   Another thing in the report.  Well, there’s this idea of a one-time buyout to change around staff at the UN.  And all Member States say, how much is it going to cost and so forth?  Are we going to see more specific proposals on that over the next few weeks?

Spokesman:  We’ll, let’s see what the Secretariat feels about that recommendation.  That’s one of the things that would initially be within the competence of the Secretary-General to ask the General Assembly for funding for, and we have, in the past, had limited buyout policies that the General Assembly has funded.  I can’t tell you off the top of my head what the cost of that has been in the past, but the high-level panel clearly felt that this would be a useful way to move people out to make room for younger staff to move up.  And so, that’s most likely triggered an active debate within our personnel department, and we’ll have to see what the Secretary-General’s decision is.  And, if he’s for it, what the General Assembly is willing to fund.  He would, presumably, make a specific proposal, if he decided to act on this recommendation, with a price tag on it.  And then it would be up to the budget committee of the Assembly to debate it.

Question:   And is this something that you see as part of a whole reform package, or is that something that could be done quickly over the next couple of weeks or months in terms of ideas and recommendations?

Spokesman:  Well, weeks and months.  We are in the middle of a budget, so to do it in weeks and months would require a supplemental appropriation by the General Assembly.  I suspect it would more likely be folded into the recommendations for the next budget year.

Mr. Abbadi?

Question:   The Secretary-General this afternoon is meeting with the Staff Council.  What is the subject of the meeting?

Spokesman:  I think the agenda is wide-open.  The Staff Council has been unhappy that they haven’t had closer interaction with the Secretary-General and the Secretariat leadership, generally.  This is the Secretary-General’s response to that.  I don’t think he’s limiting the discussion in any way.  He wants to hear their concerns on whatever subjects they want to bring before him.

Question:   Mr. Qazi is coming.  Will he be briefing us on his assessment of the situation in Iraq?

Spokesman:  We’ll see.  I’m sure he’ll talk to you.  Whether he would just come to the stakeout after he briefs the Security Council, or whether he would want to sit down here in 226 with you. We can explore that with him.

Question:   I would like to back my colleague’s appeal.  I think it would make sense for him to come here.

Spokesman:  For 226?  Okay, we’ll ask if that can be arranged.  Thank you very much.  Djibril? I think Djibril will also have something to tell you about the General Assembly session of this morning in response to one of your questions.

Spokesman for General Assembly President

Good afternoon,

The General Assembly heard this morning an address by the Secretary-General of the United Nations and by the President of the General Assembly, Mr. Jean Ping.  The General Assembly took up the subject of the High-Level Panel in the context of its discussions on the follow-up to the outcome of the Millennium Summit.

In that connection, after the presentation by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, there was an extended standing ovation, following which the President of the General Assembly said the following:

“Mr. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, you have just received a rare and exceptionally warm tribute by the General Assembly.  This long-standing ovation is an expression of the support of Member States to your actions and of the trust Member States have in you as a person for the work that you continue to undertake at the helm of the United Nations Organization.

“In a world faced with doubt, confusion and even confrontation, you have been and remain a point of reference, a source of inspiration and wisdom for millions of persons in the world.  It is, therefore, without any reservation that I associate myself to this vibrant tribute.

“Beyond you as a person, I equally see in this show of support the firm attachment on the part of Member States to the ideals and values upon which the United Nations is based, especially in this crucial phase of the history of our Organization.  The report which you have just presented is a good illustration of your determination to adapt our Organization to the realities of a world confronted with profound mutations and to make sure that the United Nations is an even more efficient instrument, which will enable us collectively to face old and new threats, as well as the challenge of this century.  I renew to you my warmest congratulations for this important initiative.

“I would like also to congratulate all the members of the Group of Eminent Persons over their courageous recommendations and the clear vision they set out for us in the report in order to build a safer world; a world with more freedom and solidarity.  Among the things that I noted with particular interest is the role that the report recognizes for the General Assembly as the central organ of dialogue between nations in our collective effort to seek appropriate solutions to the challenges with which humanity is confronted.  Without any doubt, Member States will take into account the recommendations and perspectives of the report of the High-Level Panel, particularly for preparations of the High-Level Meeting to be held in September 2005.”

That was the statement made by General Assembly President Jean Ping after the presentation of the report by the Secretary-General and the unprecedented standing ovation that he received.

This afternoon at 3 p.m. the General Assembly will proceed in filling vacancies in subsidiary organs, such as the ACABQ, and also the General Assembly will discuss the situation in Afghanistan and its implications for international peace and security. 

Committee work.  First, the Second Committee.  You remember that the Second Committee deals in economic and financial issues.  That Committee approved without a vote six draft resolutions yesterday.  One of these resolutions stresses that debt relief could play a key role in liberating resources for poverty eradication, economic growth and sustainable development.

Another draft resolution, on specific actions related to the particular needs and problems of landlocked developing countries -- outcome of the International Ministerial Conference of Landlocked and Transit Developing Countries and Donor Countries and International Financial and Development Institutions on Transit Transport Cooperation.  That was also introduced by the Committee’s Rapporteur, Ethiopia.  By its terms, the Assembly emphasized that assistance to improve transit facilities and services should be integrated into the overall economic development strategies of landlocked developing countries, and that donors should take into account the requirements for the long-term restructuring of the economies of landlocked developing countries.

And it is with particular pleasure that we have here the Secretary-General of the Mauritius Conference, who will be briefing you immediately after this briefing, Ambassador Anwarul Chowdhury.  And to continue, the Assembly emphasized also that the examination of issues relating to the trade of small, vulnerable economies, and the framing of responses to those trade-related issues should be actively pursued, consistent with the Doha work programme, considering the particular needs of landlocked developing countries within a new global framework for transit transport cooperation.

I have items that I can share with you in writing.  But, because we have a special guest, Ambassador Chowdhury, I’d like to stop here and see whether you have any questions.

Any questions?

Question:   Do you have any idea when this process of discussion of the Secretary-General’s report is going to begin?

Spokesman for General Assembly President:Yes, the meeting today was in two parts.  There was the open part, the presentation by the Secretary-General of the High-Level Panel report, and then immediately the Assembly went into closed session, where there was initial response by Member States to the report.  But, as you may recall, the Secretary-General transmitted by letter last week the report to the entire 191 Member States of the United Nations.  That report will go to the capitals, and then the Secretary-General will come back to the General Assembly in March, pulling together the responses of Member States.  So that report will be in March.  But right now, we’re getting from the General Assembly initial responses about the report.

Okay, thank you.  Now we come to the briefing by Ambassador Anwarul Chowdhury.

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