INTERDEPENDENT WORLD REQUIRES UNIVERSAL INCLUSIVE 'INFORMATION SOCIETY'

SAYS SECRETARY-GENERAL IN WORLD TELEVISION DAY MESSAGE

Following is Secretary-General Kofi Annan's message on World Television Day, which is observed on 21 November:

                                                            AFG/210*

LONG LIST OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN AFGHANISTAN, BUT CHALLENGES REMAIN IMMENSE,

SAYS SECRETARY-GENERAL IN MESSAGE TO GENERAL ASEMBLY PANEL

Following is Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s message to the panel on "Afghanistan:  One Year Later", delivered by Kieran Prendergast, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, in New York on 18 November:

Fifty-seventh General Assembly

Third Committee

52^nd Meeting (AM)

FIVE TEXTS ON HUMAN RIGHTS APPROVED BY THIRD COMMITTEE; DISCUSSION ON REFUGEES CONCLUDES

Approved Drafts Concern Human Rights Prizes, Elimination of Religious Intolerance,

Human Rights Defenders, Strengthening UN action, Decade for Human Rights Education

The Secretary-General arrived in Sarajevo from Geneva at midday on Sunday, 17 November, and had a working lunch with the heads of the principal international organizations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, including the Office of the High Representative, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the NATO-led Stabilization Force (SFOR) and the United Nations.

SECRETARY-GENERAL ENCOURAGES SUDANESE PARTIES TO PRESS AHEAD WITH PEACE TALKS

The following statement was issued on Saturday, 16 November, in Geneva by the Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan:

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan this morning telephoned the President of the Sudan, Omar Al-Bashir, and John Garang, leader of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, to convey his encouragement for the current peace talks going on in Kenya.

UN MESSENGER OF PEACE, MUHAMMAD ALI, ON MISSION TO AFGHANISTAN 17-19 NOVEMBER

Muhammad Ali is undertaking a humanitarian mission to Afghanistan to raise awareness of the humanitarian needs of the people of Afghanistan and the work of the United Nations there.  The Mission is being sponsored by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP)

Secretary-General Kofi Annan arrived in Geneva on Thursday, 14 November, where on the following day he held a series of meetings with President Paul Biya of Cameroon and President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria to discuss follow-up to the World Court decision regarding the border dispute between the two countries over the oil-rich Bakassi peninsula.

Fifty-seventh General Assembly

Open-ended Panels

AFGHANISTAN PANEL PINPOINTS NATIONWIDE SECURITY, INSTITUTION-BUILDING, RECONSTRUCTION,

ECONOMIC REVIVAL, OUTSIDE INTERFERENCE AS PERSISTENT AREAS OF CONCERN

GOOD PROSPECTS FOR IT INDUSTRY IN 2003, PREDICTS UNCTAD

Developing World Looks to E-business for Growth

(Reissued as received.)