Press Release

CIVIL SOCIETY ROLE VITAL IN GLOBAL ANTI-POVERTY EFFORT, SAYS

DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL TO HEADQUARTERS CONFERENCE

Following is the speech of Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette to the fifty-sixth Annual DPI/NGO Conference in New York, 8 September:

OPEN-MINDED, PRAGMATIC, FLEXIBLE APPROACH NEEDED FOR BIODIVERSITY

PROTECTION, SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS

Following is the message by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the World Parks Congress in Durban, South Africa, delivered by Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme:

STATES PARTIES TO LANDMINES BAN TREATY TAKE THEIR MESSAGE TO ASIA

(Reissued as received.)

GENEVA, 8 September (UN Information Service) -- States Parties to the Convention banning anti-personnel mines will meet in Asia for the first time ever when they convene their fifth annual meeting in Bangkok from September 15 to 19, 2003.

SECRETARY-GENERAL CALLS FOR ‘UNITY OF PURPOSE AROUND A COMMON SECURITY AGENDA’

Security Council Must ‘Regain

The Confidence of States and of World Public Opinion’

SECRETARY-GENERAL’S PERSONAL ENVOY VISITS SEOUL, BEIJING; REAFFIRMS

SUPPORT FOR NEGOTIATING PROCESS ON KOREAN PENINSULA

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

LITERACY PREREQUISITE FOR REACHING GLOBAL ANTI-POVERTY GOALS

SAYS SECRETARY-GENERAL IN LITERACY DAY MESSAGE

Following is Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s message on the occasion of Literacy Day, observed 8 September:

SWITZERLAND MAKES OFFER TO UNOG MODULAR SYSTEM FOR EXHIBITIONS, RESTORATION

OF FRESCOS IN DELEGATES’ SALON TO MARK ITS ENTRY TO UN

(Reissued as received.)

CITES AUTHORIZES 2003 CAVIAR QUOTAS AS CASPIAN SEA

STURGEON STOCKS START TO RECOVER

(Reissued as received.)

GENEVA, 5 September (CITES) -– The Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) has approved quotas for Caspian Sea sturgeon catch and caviar exports in 2003.

Committee on the Inalienable Rights

of the Palestinian People

AM & PM Meetings

UN CIVIL SOCIETY CONFERENCE IN SUPPORT OF PALESTINIAN PEOPLE AGREES TO PRESS

GOVERNMENTS TO DEMAND DESTRUCTION OF WALL IN OCCUPIED TERRITORIES

Action Plan Adopted Today Also Calls for Educating Public,

Tabling of New Resolutions in General Assembly, Security Council

ASSEMBLY OF STATES PARTIES TO ROME STATUTE OF INTERNATIONAL

CRIMINAL COURT TO MEET 8-12 SEPTEMBER

(Reissued as received.)

THE HAGUE, 5 September (ICC Secretariat) -- The second session of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) will take place in New York from 8 to 12 September 2003.