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23 March 1999

This morning, the President of the fifty-third session issued the following statement attributable to his Spokesman:

It is with great shock and surprise that I have received the news of the violent death of Vice-President of Paraguay, Mr. Luis Maria Argana. I should like to take this opportunity to convey my deepest sympathy to the Government and people of Paraguay, as well as to the family of Vice-President Argana and express my sincere hope that the democratic institutions of Paraguay will be able to quickly and efficiently overcome this crisis.

Tomorrow afternoon, the President of the fifty-third session will leave for official visits to Croatia, the Holy See and Italy. During his visit to Croatia, at the invitation of the Croatian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the President will meet with President Franjo Tudjman, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Mate Granic, and Acting Speaker of the Croatian Parliament, Mr. Vladimir Seks. He will also deliver a lecture at the Law School of the University of Zagreb, on the United Nations and regional organizations in the twenty-first century. On Monday, 29 March, he has a private audience with His Holiness, the Pope. On 30 and 31 March, the President will be visiting Italy, at the invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He will meet with the President of Italy, Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, Prime Minister Massimo d' Alema, and hold talks with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Lamberto Dini, the President of the Italian Senate, and the President of the Chamber of Deputies. He will also deliver a lecture at the La Sapienza University of Rome, on the theme "Institutional aspects and dispute settlement in MERCOSUR", and another one, at the Italian Diplomatic Institute, on the theme: United Nations: the season for reform".

The plenary will meet this afternoon with several items on the agenda. It will first pay tribute to the late Amir of the State of Bahrein, His Highness Shaikh Isa Bin Salman Al-Khalifa.

It will then take up the consideration of the letter by 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 (A/53/850).

Consultations are still continuing at this time regarding the consideration of item 58 -- Strengthening of the United Nations system, regarding the closing date of the current session and the opening of the fifty-fourth session.

The Assembly will then take up the item on an observer status for the Customs Cooperation Council in the General Assembly and consider draft resolution A/53/L.75, to be introduced by Chile.

The last item of the day is Armed aggression against the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with 13 speakers inscribed so far, and the list of speakers remains open.

And finally, the Fifth Committee held a formal meeting this morning to conclude the general discussion of the scale of assessments and of the Pattern of conferences, before resuming informal consultations, which are scheduled to continue this afternoon, evening and tonight, until 12:30 a.m.