Press Release

Committee on Relations

with Host Country

216^th Meeting (PM)

HOST COUNTRY COMMITTEE ADDRESSES ISSUES RELATED TO VEHICLE PARKING,

MISSION SECURITY, ENTRY VISAS

PRESSING DEVELOPMENT ISSUES STALL PREPARATIONS FOR SELF-GOVERNMENT,

CARIBBEAN REGIONAL SEMINAR TOLD

Role of Administering Powers

And Relationship with Locally Elected Officials Debated

(Received from a UN Information Officer.)

Committee on NGOs

22^nd & 23^rd Meetings (AM & PM)

NGO COMMITTEE RECOMMENDS CONSULTATIVE STATUS WITH ECOSOC FOR 18 ORGANIZATIONS,

DEFERS REQUESTS OF THREE OTHERS

Fifty-seventh General Assembly

Fifth Committee (Resumed)

53^rd Meeting (AM)

IN FIFTH COMMITTEE, AFRICAN GROUP ADVOCATES ADEQUATE FUNDING FOR UN MISSIONS

IN SIERRA LEONE, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

SECRETARY-GENERAL URGES ANGUILLA GATHERING TO WORK

TOWARDS COMPLETION OF DECOLONIZATION

Following is the message of Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the occasion of the opening of the Caribbean Regional Seminar on Decolonization and the observance of the week of solidarity with the peoples of the Non-Self-Governing Territories, at The Valley, Anguilla, 20-22 May:

SEABED AUTHORITY WORKSHOP MAPS PROJECT TO MODEL POLYMETALLIC

NODULE DEPOSITS IN NORTH PACIFIC

(Received from a UN Information Officer)

      NADI, FIJI, 20 May -- A blueprint for clearer scientific assessment of polymetallic nodule deposits on the deep seabed of the Equatorial North Pacific Ocean has been prepared by a workshop of the International Seabed Authority (ISA), held at Nadi, Fiji, from 13 to 20 May.

LASTING PEACE AND SECURITY IN CENTRAL AFRICA STILL SLOW

IN ARRIVING, SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS

(Delayed for translation of text, originally delivered in French.)

SECRETARY-GENERAL URGES CARIBBEAN REGIONAL SEMINAR TO ADVANCE

DECOLONIZATION PROCESS IN 16 REMAINING TERRITORIES

Calls Decolonization Cardinal Goal,

True UN Success Story, as Three-Day Seminar Opens

(Received from a UN Information Officer)

Committee on NGOs

20^th & 21^st Meetings (AM & PM)

NGO COMMITTEE RECOMMENDS SUSPENSION OF CONSULTATIVE STATUS

FOR ‘REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS’

Also Defers Four Decisions on Consultative Status with Economic and Social Council

PENITENTIARY REFORM PROJECT IN AFGHANISTAN LAUNCHED

VIENNA, 20 May (UN Information Service) -- On 17 May, Andul Rahim Karimi, the Minister of Justice of Afghanistan, and Mohammad Reza Amirkhizi, the Representative of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Afghanistan, signed a document on reform of the penitentiary system at a ceremony held in the Ministry of Justice in Kabul.