Media Home
UN Web TV
UN Audiovisual Library
UN PhotoPress Conferences
Briefing by Spokesperson for President of General Assembly
Samsiah Abdul-Majid, spokeswoman for the President of the General Assembly, briefed correspondents on the special session on the review of implementation of Agenda 21. Also taking part in the briefing was Jean-Claude Faby, Chief of the Office of the Under-Secretary-General for Policy and Coordination and Sustainable Development.
Ms. Abdul-Majid said that the Credentials Committee yesterday had approved the credentials of the representatives of 183 Member States. The plenary would have heard 199 speakers by the close of the session tomorrow, she continued. According to United Nations security, more than 700 special passes had been issued to the media, 2,100 to delegations and 678 to non-governmental organizations. She noted that those figures did not include delegates based in New York, the non-governmental organizations and media representatives already accredited to the United Nations. For example, more than 3,000 media representatives already had permanent passes. Ms. Abdul-Majid said the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) would hold an executive briefing and panel discussion today, from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., on the theme "Earth Summit + 5 - Markets and Investment", at the Marriot Hotel on Lexington Avenue. Maurice Strong, the former Secretary- General of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in Rio De Janeiro in 1992, would be the keynote speaker.
She then announced the following press briefings by the NGO Coalition in Room S-226: at 6:30 p.m. today, on energy and climate; tomorrow, at 11 a.m., an NGO Coalition wrap up of the special session, and at 1:15 p.m. on globalization and trade.
The Assembly President would give his press conference tomorrow at 3 p.m., contingent on last minute arrangements.
Ms. Abdul-Majid announced the following side events: In the Dag Hammarskjold Library Auditory Room, "Japan Room" -- video presentations and exhibits of posters; at 1:15 p.m. in the Public Lobby, a UNDP executive briefing, "People and Sustainable Development". A panel in Room B on national councils for sustainable development, and in Room 6 a presentation by the Global Education Associates; and at 6 p.m. in Room 6, a Third World Network panel, "Fighting for Sustainability in the context of Globalization" in Room 6.
She said the final version of the document to be adopted tomorrow would be made available at the Media Centre and the Spokesman's Office as soon as it became available. Mr. Faby, Chief of the Office of the Under-Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development, said the intention was that by tonight the Committee of the Whole should adopt the text of the draft final outcome of the session. It was hoped that the text would be adopted sooner rather than later because it had to be processed and presented to the Assembly's afternoon meeting.
There was always the possibility that part of the text, which dealt with major issues but was not lengthy, might be presented orally, he said. However, at the present time he had no indication that that would be the case. The Committee of the Whole was continuing to look at the draft political statement. It had gone through 11 paragraphs on which initially there were proposals which added to the paragraphs. During the night, an attempt had been made to take aboard whatever could be taken aboard and to produce a revised set of paragraphs, hopefully for formal agreement today.
Agreement on paragraph 12 pertaining to finance would depend on the process in the Ministerial Contact Group on that subject, he said. That Contact Group was co-chaired by the Foreign Minister of the United Republic of Tanzania and the Minister for Development Cooperation of the Netherlands. In addition, the Committee had begun taking a look at paragraphs 13 to 16 of the draft political statement. It had finished discussion on paragraph 13 dealing with technology. That was good news since technology was generally a delicate issue. Hopefully, agreement on some of those paragraphs would be made easier by the work already done particularly in the context of sectoral issues.
Meanwhile, the work of the Contact Group on Finance was continuing through bilateral contacts with major delegations, he said. The Group was working on two fronts. First, it was working on language concerning the reaffirmation of the Rio commitments. Second, it was discussing language concerning a reversal in the official development assistance (ODA) decline trend. The other group of issues on which it was working, included the matter of a tax on aviation fuel, financial mechanisms relating to the desertification convention and the concept of incremental costs. However, there was still no agreement on those issues. That Contact Group was supposed to reconvene at 5 p.m. today and later it was to report to the plenary, hopefully with a package deal.
For further details please see source:
MEETINGS COVERAGE
Download
There is no media available to download.
