CONFERENCE ON DISARMAMENT ADOPTS AGENDA FOR 2004 SESSION

Hears Statement by Syria on Making

Middle East Free from Weapons of Mass Destruction

GENEVA, 27 January (UN Information Service) -- The Conference on Disarmament this morning adopted by consensus its agenda for its 2004 session and heard a statement from Syria which called for turning the Middle East into an area free from weapons of mass destruction, especially nuclear weapons.

COSTA RICA HOSTS UNITED NATIONS COUNTER-TERRORISM WORKSHOP

(Reissued as received.)

UN READY TO INCREASE WORK IN CHECHNYA

TRANSPARENCY, FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION ESSENTIAL TO TACKLING ROOT CAUSES OF MANY

CHALLENGES, SECRETARY-GENERAL TELLS PARIS MEETING ON GLOBAL COMPACT

Following is the text of remarks by Secretary General Kofi Annan at the meeting with French President Jacques Chirac and business executives on the Global Compact in Paris today:

INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY MUST ADDRESS CHALLENGES TO UN CHARTER PRINCIPLES,

DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL TELLS ASIAN SECURITY CONFERENCE IN NEW DELHI

Following is the text, as delivered, of the keynote address by Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette to the Sixth IDSA Asian Security Conference in New Delhi:

LANDMARK UNITED NATIONS PROTOCOL AGAINST SMUGGLING

OF MIGRANTS ENTERS INTO FORCE

(Reissued as received.)

SECRETARY GENERAL PRAISES GHANA’S ‘STEADFAST’, 40-YEAR COMMITMENT

TO UN PEACEKEEPING, IN MESSAGE TO INAUGURATION OF ACCRA CENTRE

Following is Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s message for the inauguration of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Centre, delivered by Alfred Fawundu, United Nations Resident Coordinator in Ghana, in Accra, 24 January:

SMALL ISLAND FORUM OPENS IN NASSAU, BAHAMAS; SLOGAN –- ‘SMALLISLANDS,

BIG POTENTIAL’ -- PROPOSED FOR MAURITIUS MEETING

(Received from a UN Information Officer.)

UN AGENCIES SAY UNPRECEDENTED SPREAD OF AVIAN INFLUENZA

REQUIRES BROAD COLLABORATION

(Reissued as received.)

The Secretary-General arrived in Stockholm from Davos in the afternoon of 25 January, to attend the Stockholm Forum on Preventing Genocide.