PRESS BRIEFING BY SECURITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT

Ambassador John Negroponte of the United States, President of the Security Council for the month of October, briefed correspondents at a Headquarters press briefing today on the Council’s preliminary calendar for the month.

He highlighted a projected meeting on 29 October to mark the third anniversary of the Council’s adoption of a resolution on “Women, Peace and Security”.

PRESS BRIEFING ON 2003 HUMAN SETTLEMENTS REPORT

At least 1 billion people lived in slums, with the highest percentage of them found in Asia, Africa and Latin America, according to a new report by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) entitled, “The Challenge of Slums: Global Report on Human Settlements 2003”, to be issued on World Habitat Day, 6 October.

PRESS BRIEFING ON 2003 TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT REPORT

A mixture of sound macroeconomic and microeconomic policies was essential to avoid the recent failures of many developing countries in meeting the challenges of globalization and competitiveness on international markets, correspondents were told at a Headquarters press briefing launching the 2003 Trade and Development Report.

PRESS BRIEFING BY SECRETARY-GENERAL’S SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE

FOR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

PRESS BRIEFING BY SECRETARY-GENERAL’S SPECIAL ENVOY FOR SUDAN

Recent peace talks in Naivasha, the Sudan, had been a major breakthrough for the people of the country and for regional stabilization in that part of the world, Ambassador Tom Eric Vraalsen, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Humanitarian Needs for the Sudan, told correspondents at a Headquarters press briefing today.

PRESS CONFERENCE BY RIO GROUP

Rio Group countries needed new financial mechanisms to increase public and private investment in the short term, especially for public works, Peruvian Foreign Minister Allan Tizon told correspondents at Headquarters today.

Joined by the two other members of the Rio Group Troika, Foreign Ministers Roberto Faja of Costa Rica and Celso Amorin of Brazil, Mr. Tizon said such investment was also needed for education, health and housing.

PRESS BRIEFING ON UN CONVENTION AGAINST TRANSNATIONAL ORGANIZED CRIME

The 2000 United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime -– the first legally binding treaty of its kind -- would enter into force on Monday, 29 September, Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, announced at a Headquarters press briefing this afternoon.

PRESS CONFERENCE BY PRESIDENT OF CYPRUS

PRESS CONFERENCE BY PRIME MINISTER OF MALAYSIA

The United Nations must be democratized by a modified right of veto in the Security Council that would require negative votes by two permanent members and three rotating members to block a resolution, Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said this afternoon at a Headquarters press conference.

PRESS CONFERENCE BY COMMONWEALTH COUNTRIES

Commonwealth countries will do all they can to reinvigorate the Doha process in the wake of the breakdown of trade talks in Cancún, Mexico, Commonwealth officials told correspondents at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon.