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22 March 1999

The President of the fifty-third session has returned to New York and this morning he is presiding over the meeting of the Open-ended Working Group on the Question of Equitable Representation on and Increase in the Membership of the Security Council and Other Matters Related to the Security Council. The Open-ended Working Group will continue its current session until Wednesday.

This afternoon, the General Assembly will conduct Open-ended Consultations of the Plenary on agenda item 30 (UN reform: measures and proposals). The informal consultations will be on the question of the Millennium Assembly and the Millennium Summit of the United Nations. The Secretary-General will make an introductory statement. It is a closed meeting.

Tomorrow afternoon, the plenary will be reconvened to take up several issues. There is a letter from the Secretary-General to the President of the General Assembly, contained in document A/53/862, requesting the reopening of agenda item 110 (Human rights questions) in order for the Assembly to consider the report of the Group of Experts for Cambodia. In resolution 52/135 of 15 December 1997, the Secretary-General was requested to appoint this group, which submitted its report a few days ago (A/53/850).

The Assembly will also consider item 58 -- Strengthening of the United Nations system, and take up the issue of the date of closing of the current session and the opening of the fifty-fourth session, if the consultations on this issue come to a conclusion by tomorrow.

It will then take up item 169, Observer status for the Customs Cooperation Council in the General Assembly -- Chile will introduce draft resolution A/53/L.75.

The last item to be taken up tomorrow is item 167, Armed aggression against the Democratic Republic of the Congo. So far, seven speakers have inscribed to address the Assembly on this item.

And finally, the Fifth Committee is continuing its first resumed session, which is now in its final week. This morning, the Committee was scheduled to conclude its general discussion of the issue of gratis personnel under the item of Human resources management, and begin the general discussion of the scale of assessments, Pattern of conferences, programme planning, as well as the issue of Death and disability benefits, under the item of Administrative and budgetary aspects of the financing of the United Nations peacekeeping operations. Following the adjournment of the formal meeting, the Fifth Committee was scheduled to continue informal consultations on a series of items, and those are to continue this afternoon and this evening.