PRESS CONFERENCE BY ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC COOPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT

Joke Waller-Hunter, Environment Director of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), told correspondents at a Headquarters press briefing this morning that with the right policies, adjusted to tackle the new generation of environmental problems, economic growth and environmental improvements could be achieved at the same time.

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today's noon briefing by Manoel de Almeida e Silva, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

Good afternoon.

**AIDS Drugs Case

I'm going to start with a statement attributable to the Spokesman:

PRESS CONFERENCE BY GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT FACILITY

There could be no talk of poverty alleviation as long as most of the 2 billion people in the world were poor and without access to modern energy services, particularly electricity, Mohamed T. El-Ashry, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), told correspondents at a Headquarters press briefing this morning.

PRESS CONFERENCE BY SWEDEN'S ENVIRONMENT MINISTER ON BEHALF OF EUROPEAN UNION

Unfortunately, the approach to international environmental governance, particularly following the historic Rio Conference, had been too fragmented to address the serious environmental challenges triggered by the world’s rapidly globalizing economy, Kjell Larsson, Swedish Minister for the Environment representing the European Union, told correspondents at a Headquarters press conference yesterday.

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today's noon briefing by Manoel de Almeida e Silva, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

Good afternoon.  Thank you for coming.

**Middle East

NGO'S CALL FOR KYOTO PROTOCOL WITH OR WITHOUT UNITED STATES, AT PRESS CONFERENCE

There was "a clear and present danger" that the United States would seek to undermine, obstruct or eventually destroy the Kyoto Protocol process, a representative of Greenpeace International warned, at a Headquarters press conference for non-governmental organizations this afternoon.

PRESS CONFERENCE BY AFRICAN MINISTERS ON CLIMATE CHANGE

PRESS CONFERENCE BY COMMISSION ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Reviewing the first week of the current session of the Commission on Sustainable Development for correspondents this afternoon, the Commission’s Chair said one of the overarching ideas had been that sustainable energy and transportation went beyond protecting the environment and included social considerations -– such as poverty, and access to and affordability of energy resources.

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

Hi. I want you to know I did my jury duty Thursday and Friday last week.  They rejected me as a juror.

**African Summit on HIV/AIDS

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, and Sue Markham, Spokeswoman for the President of the General Assembly.

Briefing by the Spokesman for the Secretary-General

      Good afternoon.