World Summit on Sustainable Development Department of Public Information - News and Media Services Division - New York
	Johannesburg, South Africa 26 August-4 September 2002	30 August 2002

DAILY BRIEFING BY SUMMIT SPOKESWOMAN   Yesterday saw the presentation of five major partnerships aimed at addressing the priority issues of water, energy, health, agricultural production and biodiversity, Susan Markham, Spokeswoman for World Summit, said at today's noon press briefing. She said that representatives of individual governments, regional organizations, agencies of the United Nations system and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) announced the partnerships. In a sharp departure from traditional conference practice, the partnerships represent an innovative mechanism for moving from paper commitments to joint action on the ground. Ms. Markham said that members of the United States delegation announced that their Government intended to embark on five major initiatives: the "Initiative to Cut Hunger in Africa"; the "Water for the Poor" Initiative; the "Clean Energy Initiative"; the "Congo Basin Forest Partnership"; and a health initiative to combat infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. The Spokeswoman said that other partnerships announced yesterday included an initiative announced by the World Resources Institute, which was committed to supporting transparent, equitable and accountable decision-making for the achievement of Millennium Development Goals. Global Village Energy Partnership, to be launched formally tomorrow, was introduced by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Among the partners that had already joined that initiative were Chile, Hungary, Italy, Mexico, Sweden, Uganda, Thailand and the United Kingdom, as well as the World Bank and the European Union. "Africans pledge over R1 billion for Africa's development", Ms. Markham said, quoting the headline of a press release announcing the launch of an African Energy and Related Services Fund initiative, also presented yesterday. The Fund would seek to develop electricity interconnections between individual African countries and will be used for energy and related services investments. Among the parties involved in developing plans for that initiative were South Africa's electricity utility, ESCOM, the Development Bank of Southern Africa and the Industrial Development Corporation, the Spokeswoman added. She said the World Health Organization (WHO) presented an initiative called "Healthy Environment for Children" focusing on such issues as the quality of water and air, sanitation, insect and animal disease carriers, chemical hazards and passive smoking. It aimed to mobilize global and local actors to address health dangers and risks in the places where children live, play and go to school. The partnership announcements would continue this afternoon, with seven presentations, and over the weekend, Ms. Markham said. Turning to the plenary sessions, she said they continued today with statements by heads of United Nations funds, programmes and agencies; the heads of the secretariats for such relevant conventions as those on biodiversity, desertification, and climate change; heads of United Nations regional commissions; as well as representatives of intergovernmental organizations and other non-State entities. She said the full list of speakers was contained in the daily Journal and the United Nations Department of Public Information Meetings Coverage team would be providing a full summary of the morning and afternoon discussion in the twice-daily press releases in English and French. Those could be found on the racks outside the briefing room and on the web site. Today was the final day for the plenary until the heads of State discussions begin on Monday at 9 a.m., Ms. Markham said. Regarding the negotiations this morning, she said ministers were scheduled to meet, but they had not begun by the start of the briefing. They would hold consultations on how to approach some of the key issues, probably starting with sanitation and energy. It was understood that they would not actually be negotiating text, which would still be handled in the Vienna group. She said that last night, the work of the Vienna group continued into the early hours of the morning. So far, a total of 49 paragraphs had been agreed, not including paragraphs agreed at the contact group level. They would be made available to the media on an informal basis. The Spokeswoman then introduced Lowell Flanders, the senior United Nations adviser coordinating the drafting groups, asking him how the negotiations were progressing. Mr. Flanders said that John Ashe (Antigua and Barbuda), facilitator for the contact group on globalization, trade and finance, would report on the negotiations within the group and the Vienna group would take it up later. Agreement had been reached on paragraph 70, relating to regional initiatives. About 95 per cent of the document had been completed, leaving the most difficult and contentious issues, which would require intense negotiations and considerable compromise, he said. The situation was changing rapidly from moment to moment in terms of where and how the issues were being handled. He said the European Union had proposed yesterday that the remaining 14 issues be referred to the ministers, but other delegations felt they should not be referred until the point where it was clear they could not be handled within the Vienna group. The contact groups on energy and on governance continued this morning and would eventually report to the Vienna group, he added. The Spokeswoman advised journalists to look in Journal for the side events and to consult the list in the bullpen for press conferences, which were constantly changing. A new speakers' list for next week's heads of State Summit would be issued this afternoon, she added. Turning to attendance, she said 19,458 passes had been issued so far, with 8,411 going to delegations, 7,469 to major groups and 3,578 to the media. Explaining the Vienna process, she said that during the preparatory process for the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety, talks had been close to falling apart in 1999 when the Chairman, Juan Mayr of Colombia, tried a new negotiating formula at a meeting in Vienna. During that meeting, various countries had been grouped according to their negotiating positions and the deadlock had ultimately been broken. The Cartagena Protocol was finalized in 2000, she added. In the preparatory process for the Johannesburg Summit, countries adopted the use of the Vienna process during the fourth preparatory session held in Bali, Indonesia, last June. Turning to the negotiations on energy, she said three basic issues remained in dispute: targets for renewable energy sources; shifting from fossil fuels to others; and whether to launch new energy programmes. Introducing Gustavo Ainchil, (Argentina), facilitator of the energy contact group, she asked him what the problems were. Mr. Ainchil said most of the text had been agreed in Bali on the basis of the outcome of last year's ninth session of the Commission on Sustainable Development. Only five of the issues remained open; four were energy-related and the fifth was a cross-cutting issue. Paragraph 19 (w) dealt with public private partnerships and was very difficult to wrap up as some negotiations were taking place within the section on governance. It may remain open until the end, he said. The other four issues were very important, he said and the difficulties in reaching agreement were based on delegations' perceptions of how they should be dealt with, whether internationally or nationally. The remaining issues to be dealt with concerned centralized action as opposed to an open approach (paragraph 8); and in paragraph 19, targets and subsidies (paragraph 3 bis). Some countries considered that the work of the Commission on Sustainable Development provided the necessary framework, while others wanted to develop further recommendations. The negotiating positions were very polarized and the contact group was working hard to bridge the gap. Asked how many heads of State and government had confirmed they would arrive on Monday, Ms. Markham said the figure remained at 109. Another correspondent asked Mr. Flanders what chances there were for a concrete agreement on market access for developing countries and the elimination or phasing out of agricultural subsidies. He replied that subsidies continued to be one of the very difficult issues and it remained to be seen how the in the negotiations would progress. Asked whether the negotiations would continue until the end of the Summit, he said that would be decided as the Summit continued. The ministers and the Vienna group would be working in parallel and the two-pronged approach would hopefully overcome the difficulties. He told another journalist that the polarization in the negotiations was not between the North and the South. There were countries whose views did not conform to the position of their bloc and that was what made the negotiations so difficult. Regarding the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, he told another correspondent that a specific group was discussing the Rio Principles in a separate format. The Spokeswoman, asked whether the President of Iraq was expected, said that the speakers' list indicated the level of each country's representation. Asked about security, she said the logistical details would be provided at tomorrow's noon briefing. She also advised journalists to report any lost belongings to United Nations security. She told another correspondent that the contact group negotiations were closed to the media. Press Conferences Summit News