NEW WEB SITE PROVIDES INFORMATION ON UN MEETING ON SMALL ISLANDS, MAURITIUS, 30 AUGUST – 3 SEPTEMBER

NEW WEB SITE PROVIDES INFORMATION ON UN MEETING ON SMALLISLANDS,

MAURITIUS, 30 AUGUST – 3 SEPTEMBER

NEW YORK, 26 April (DPI) -- The United Nations has launched today a new Web site on the international conference on small island developing States to be held in Mauritius, from 30 August to 3 September 2004, available on:

http://www.un.org/smallislands2004/

This Web site includes:

-- A new comprehensive press kit on the stakes of the Mauritius meeting on issues that affect small islands, like climate change, environment, trade, health and security;

-- Key documents, including a recent report by Secretary-General Kofi Annan;

-- Links with other Web sites on small island issues; and

-- Webcasts and videos on seas rising waters, coral reefs, etc.

The United Nations International Meeting to Review the Implementation of the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States will assess the results of this action plan approved in 1994 at the Barbados Conference on small islands.  It included issues such as climate change, tourism, natural disasters, wastes, freshwater, land resources, energy, biodiversity, transport and communications.  The Mauritius Meeting is expected to also address emerging issues like trade, HIV/AIDS, information technology and post 9/11 security matters.

Three days of negotiations recently held in New York (14-16 April) as part of the twelfth session of the Commission on Sustainable Development prepared the ground for the Mauritius conference.  Some 80 ministers (including from the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Cape Verde, Dominica, Fiji, Grenada, Jamaica, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Saint Lucia and Suriname) will discuss the preparation for the Mauritius Meeting as part of the Commission’s high-level segment, this Friday, 30 April, at 3 p.m. Additional negotiations will take place at the United Nations in New York in mid-May and just prior to the Mauritius conference, at the end of August, in the host country.

Press Contact:  François Coutu, UN Department of Public Information, Development Section; tel.: (212) 963-9495 and (917) 815-8176 (Cell.), Fax: (212) 963-1186, e-mail: coutu@UN.org or mediainfo@un.org

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