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, and Jan Fischer, Spokesman for the President of the General Assembly.

      Briefing by Spokesman for Secretary-General

Good afternoon.

PRESS BRIEFING BY UN DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME ADMINISTRATOR

In the midst of ongoing efforts in the political and humanitarian areas in Afghanistan, there was a new and equally vital challenge -– to structure a recovery and reconstruction programme that would support those efforts, Mark Malloch Brown, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), told correspondents at a Headquarters press briefing this afternoon.

PRESS BRIEFING BY UNCTAD

The growth of e-commerce will continue despite the strong economic pessimism generated by the dot-com crash, the 11 September terrorist attacks and the war in Afghanistan, Jean Gurunlian of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said at a Headquarters press briefing this morning.

PRESS BRIEFING ON EXPLOITATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES

IN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

Efforts were needed to strengthen the capacity of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to combat the exploitation of its vast natural resources, according to the Chairman of the panel established by the Security Council to this issue.

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

Following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, and Jan Fischer, Spokesman for the President of the General Assembly.

Briefing by the Spokesman for the Secretary-General

**Information and Communication Technologies Task Force

HEADQUARTERS PRESS BRIEFING BY DEPUTY EMERGENCY RELIEF COORDINATOR

A Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal for $2.5 billion to sustain more than

33 million people -- many suffering from war and conflict -- will be launched by Secretary-General Kofi Annan at 11 a.m. on Monday 26 November at Headquarters, it was announced at a press briefing this afternoon.

PRESS BRIEFING BY SECRETARY-GENERAL SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE

FOR INFORMATION/COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES

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

Following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General, and Jan Fischer, Spokesman for the President of the General Assembly.

PRESS BRIEFING BY SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE OF SECRETARY-GENERAL

FOR CHILDREN AND ARMED CONFLICT

PRESS BRIEFING BY UNDP ADMINISTRATOR ON AFGHANISTAN