General Assembly

Senior advisers to the President of the General Assembly yesterday sounded a call to African nations to participate in next month’s high-level economic summit, as a way to make up for their absence at the creation of the Bretton Woods Agreement in 1944.

Seizing the opportunity for sustainable peace in the Central African Republic, afforded by the success of last year’s inclusive political talks and the decision by key rebel factions to disarm, the Peacebuilding Commission today endorsed an integrated strategy to steer the engagement and dialogue among the Government, the United Nations and other international partners.

As the United Nations International Meeting in Support of Israeli-Palestinian Peace got under way in the capital city of Cyprus today, the focus was on “parliamentary diplomacy” as a means to shape public opinion and soften the ground for a resumption of political dialogue, both central to the pursuit of a peaceful settlement of the conflict.

The Special Committee on Decolonization will hold its annual regional decolonization seminar in Saint Kitts and Nevis from 12 to 14 May. It will be the last Caribbean seminar conducted in the framework of the Second International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism (2001-2010).

As the Committee on Information continued its general debate today, many speakers urged the Department of Public Information to get the United Nations message out more effectively through better coordination and use of new technology, while others prioritized broader outreach through the wider use of a broader range of languages, more accessible media and a stronger network of information centres worldwide.

The Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, with the agreement of the Government of Cyprus, will convene the United Nations International Meeting in Support of Israeli-Palestinian Peace on 6 and 7 May at the Hilton Park Hotel in Nicosia. Mandated by the United Nations General Assembly, the theme of the Meeting is “Action by European, Arab and other parliamentarians and their umbrella organizations for Israeli-Palestinian peace”.

Resuming its comprehensive review of peacekeeping operations in all its aspects, the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization Committee) approved this morning a draft resolution by which the General Assembly would endorse the proposals, recommendations and conclusions of the Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations contained in a report adopted during that body’s last session, from 23 February to 20 March.

Although the Disarmament Commission had not been able to agree on elements of a draft declaration of the 2010s as the fourth disarmament decade -- the Commission’s main task this year -- a good basis for next year’s deliberations had been achieved, Commission Chairman Andrzej Towpik (Poland) told delegates today at the closing of its 2009 substantive session.

Although the Disarmament Commission had not been able to agree on elements of a draft declaration of the 2010s as the fourth disarmament decade -- the Commission’s main task this year -- a good basis for next year’s deliberations had been achieved, Commission Chairman Andrzej Towpik ( Poland) told delegates today at the closing of its 2009 substantive session.

With developing countries starting to feel the sting from recessions rooted in rich nations, there was a special need for the United Nations, especially its most representative body, the 192-member General Assembly, to identify inclusive responses to mitigate the impact of the ongoing economic crisis, and initiate the broad-based dialogue required to transform our outdated global financial system, a senior adviser to Assembly President Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann said today.