A qualitative step forward had taken place in the latest round of Cyprus proximity talks that had just ended, and another round had been scheduled from 1 to 10 November in Geneva, Alvaro de Soto , Special Adviser to the Secretary- General on Cyprus, said at a Headquarters press briefing this afternoon.
International Monetary Fund (IMF) lending dropped very sharply in fiscal year 2000 as a result of calmer conditions in emerging markets and rapid improvements in several crisis countries, David Cheney, Chief of the Editorial Division, External Relations Department, IMF, told correspondents this morning at a Headquarters press briefing.
While industrialized countries were growing at less than 1 per cent per year, the 4 per cent annual growth rate of the developing countries would double their energy consumption in 15 years and make them major players, Jose Goldemberg, Chairman of the World Energy Assessment (WEA), said at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon.
At a Headquarters press conference today, the Chargé d'affaires of the Mission of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Vladislav Jovanovic, presented a booklet compiled by his Foreign Ministry offering evidence that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) had used depleted uranium in its 1999 bombing campaign against his country.
Four to five per cent global growth estimates for the current year were excessively optimistic, as was the belief that the problems which caused the Asian financial crisis had been eliminated, Jan Kregel, High-Level Expert in International Finance, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), told correspondents this afternoon at a Headquarters press briefing.
At a Headquarters press briefing this afternoon, Nicolas Bwakira, Director, New York Liaison Office, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told correspondents that the recent murder of an agency staff member and the abduction of another had occurred amid growing tensions in the country of Guinea.
The Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund, Carol Bellamy, told correspondents at a Headquarters press briefing this afternoon that it was critical to engage young people in any peace-building process and she could think of no other country where young people were more involved in such a movement than Colombia.
