PRESIDENTS BUSH, CHIRAC ANNOUNCE RECENT INCREASES IN AID

AT CONFERENCE ON FINANCING FOR DEVELOPMENT

PRESS STATEMENT ON SIERRA LEONE BY PRESIDENT OF SECURITY COUNCIL

Following is the text of today’s press statement on Sierra Leone by the President of the Security Council, Ole Peter Kolby (Norway):

Human Rights Committee

Seventy-fourth Session

1991^st Meeting (AM)

HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE DISCUSSES FOLLOW-UP PROCEDURES

FOR CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS ON COUNTRY REPORTS

FINANCING CONFERENCE ROUND TABLE FOCUSES ON TRADE, DEVELOPMENT POLICIES

(Received from a UN Information Officer.)

MONTERREY, 20 March -- Coherence in trade and development policies was the focus of Ministerial Round Table B4 held this afternoon on the theme of coherence in development, co-chaired by Owen A. Arthur, Prime Minister and Minister for Finance of Barbados, and Jean Lemierre, President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

‘AID DOES WORK’, SECRETARY-GENERAL TELLS CONFERENCE ON FINANCING FOR DEVELOPMENT

Following is the statement by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the International Conference on Financing for Development, Monterrey, 21 March:

EXPERTS CONCUR:  FERTILITY IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

MAY FALL BELOW TWO-CHILD FAMILY NORM

UN to Incorporate Below-Replacement Fertility for Developing

Countries in 2002 Revision of Official UN Population Estimates, Projections

MULTIDIMENSIONAL NATURE OF DEVELOPMENT CALLS FOR COHERENCE,

SPEAKERS STRESS DURING ROUND TABLE AT MONTERREY CONFERENCE

(Received from a UN Information Officer.)

MONTERREY, 20 March -- The multidimensional nature of development was underscored this afternoon during Ministerial Round Table B3, held in conjunction with the International Conference on Financing for Development. 

'ARGUMENT IN FAVOUR OF AID HAS NOW BEEN WON', SAYS SECRETARY GENERAL

IN ADDRESS TO MEXICAN CONGRESS

Following is the address by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the Mexican Congress, delivered in Mexico City on 19 March:

FUTURE WORLD POPULATION GROWTH TO BE CONCENTRATED IN URBAN AREAS OF WORLD

According to New Report Issued by United Nations Population Division

New York, 21 March (DESA) -- Virtually all the population growth expected at the world level during the next 30 years will be concentrated in urban areas. Also, for the first time in the world’s history, the number of urban dwellers will equal the number of rural dwellers in 2007.

The Secretary-General flew to San Jose, Costa Rica, in the evening of Friday, 15 March.