Press Release

NORTH-EAST ASIAN DUST AND SAND STORMS GROWING IN SCALE AND INTENSITY;

UNEP WARNS OF ‘THE GLOBALIZATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS’

(Reissued as received.)

JEJU/NAIROBI, 31 March (UNEP) -- Dust and sand storms are plaguing North-East Asia nearly five times as often as they were in the 1950s, environment ministers from around the world learned today.

RETURN VISIT OF SPECIAL ENVOY TO ERITREA

ASMARA, Eritrea, 30 March (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) -– Martti Ahtisaari, the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for the Humanitarian Crisis in the Horn of Africa, arrives in Asmara, Eritrea, on 31 March 2004 for a two-day visit.  Mr. Ahtisaari’s mandate was recently extended for six months.

CRIME PREVENTION AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE EXPERTS STRESS

NEED FOR ASSISTANCE IN POST-CONFLICT SITUATIONS

(Reissued as received.)

SECRETARY-GENERAL SADDENED AT KILLING OF MEMBER OF UN MISSION

IN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan:

SECRETARY-GENERAL SADDENED BY DEATH OF ALISTAIR COOKE

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan:

SECRETARY-GENERAL STRONGLY CONDEMNS TERRORIST BOMBINGS

IN TASHKENT, UZBEKISTAN

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan:

AT EUROPEAN FORUM, SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS ‘CORPORATIONS CAN BE AGENTS

OF CHANGE’ BY OFFERING SUPPORT TO DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Following is Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s message, translated from French, to the Third European Forum on Sustainable Development and Corporate Social Responsibility, delivered in Paris on 29 March, by Zéphirin Diabré, Associate Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP):

Security Council                                           

Security Council                                           

SIXTH MEETING OF UN ICT TASK FORCE EXAMINES ONGOING ACTIVITIES,

FOLLOW-UP TO WSIS, ADOPTS 2004 BUSINESS PLAN

NEW YORK, 30 March (UN DPI) -- The sixth meeting of the United Nations Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Task Force concluded on Saturday, 27 March, with a review of the Global Forum on Internet Governance and the adoption of the Task Force’s Business Plan for 2004.