Press Release

NEW INTERNATIONAL COCOA AGREEMENT ENTERS INTO FORCE

(Reissued as received.)

WORLD’S PARLIAMENTARIANS ‘CAN DO MUCH’ TO ADVANCE UNITED NATIONS

REFORM AGENDA, SECRETARY-GENERAL TELLS IPU ASSEMBLY

Following is the message of Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the 109^th  Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly, as delivered today in Geneva by Sergei Ordzhonikidze, Director-General, United Nations Office in Geneva:

SECRETARY-GENERAL WELCOMES ASSUMPTION OF DUTIES BY UN MISSION IN LIBERIA

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

SECRETARY-GENERAL CONGRATULATES AD HOC COMMITTEE ON SUCCESSFUL CONCLUSION

OF NEGOTIATIONS ON UN CONVENTION AGAINST CORRUPTION

NEW UN REPORT HIGHLIGHTS NEED TO ADDRESS ADOLESCENTS’

REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH CONCERNS AS GLOBAL PRIORITY

UNFPA to Launch State of World

Population 2003 on 8 October; Advance Access Available Online

(Reissued as received.)

Note to Correspondents

‘AGELESS’ EXHIBIT, SHOWCASING TALENTS, CREATIVITY OF OLDER PERSONS,

TO OPEN AT UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS ON 2 OCTOBER

OLDER PERSONS ‘A MOST CHERISHED RESOURCE’, GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT

SAYS IN INTERNATIONAL DAY MESSAGE

Following is the message of Julian R. Hunte, President of the fifty-eighth session of the General Assembly, on the occasion of the International Day of Older Persons, 1 October:

Fifty-eighth General Assembly

Second Committee

1^st Meeting (AM)

SECOND COMMITTEE ELECTS OFFICERS TO BUREAU, APPROVES WORK PROGRAMME

FOR FIFTY-EIGHTH ASSEMBLY SESSION

The Second Committee (Economic and Financial) elected four officers to its Bureau this morning and approved its programme of work for the fifty-eighth General Assembly session.

Fifty-eighth General Assembly

Plenary

19^th & 20^th Meetings (AM & PM)

ADDRESSING SIGNIFICANT THREATS FACING SMALL ISLAND STATES CRITICAL TO ACHIEVING

GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT AGENDA, GENERAL ASSEMBLY TOLD

BUILDING SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES KEY TO REDUCING VULNERABILITY TO NATURAL HAZARDS,

SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS ON INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR DISASTER REDUCTION

Following is the message of Secretary-GeneralKofi Annan for the International Day for Disaster Reduction, 8 October:

The theme of this year’s International Day for Disaster Reduction is “turning the tide on disasters towards sustainable development”.