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6 October 1998

This morning, the Assembly heard an address by the President of Botswana before proceeding with the commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of United Nations peacekeeping. The President of the fifty-third session made an opening statement, which is available on the racks in Spanish, with English version to be available soon after the briefing. The Secretary-General also made a statement, as did the Chairmen of the regional groups, a representative of the host country and a representative of the Chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement. The Assembly then proceeded to adopt without a vote a declaration contained in document A/53/L.5.

In the second segment of the commemoration, after the opening remarks by the Secretary-General, President of the Security Council and the President of the Staff Committee, the Secretary-General presented the Dag Hammarskjöld medals to the families of Dag Hammarskjöld, Rene de Labarriere and Count Folke Bernadotte. The family members also made remarks.

This afternoon, the Assembly will take up item 37 -- Implementation of the outcome of the World Summit for Social Development. Three reports are available under this item -- the report of the Preparatory Committee for the special session of the General Assembly on the implementation of the outcome of the Summit and further initiatives (A/53/45); Report of the Secretary-General (A/53/211), and Note by the Secretary-General (A/53/210), as well as a draft decision contained in paragraph 87 of the report of the Preparatory Committee. Twenty-eight speakers are inscribed to address the Assembly on this item.

Tomorrow morning, the Assembly will hold a commemorative meeting to observe the twentieth anniversary of the adoption of the Buenos Aires Plan of Action for Promoting and implementing Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries. Nine speakers have so far been inscribed to address the plenary on this item.

As for the work of the main committees, the Second Committee is beginning its general debate today, with 13 speakers inscribed for this morning, starting with the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, and another 12 for this afternoon. The Third Committee continues its general debate on social development, including issues relating to the world social situation and to youth, ageing, disabled persons and the family. The Fifth Committee is holding informal consultations this morning on item 118: Scale of assessments, and this afternoon will begin with a statement by the Under-Secretary-General for Management, Mr. Joseph Connor, on the current financial situation of the United Nations, and follow with the general discussion on the Development Account (113); Administrative Arrangements for the International Trade Centre (under item 112 -- Review of efficiency of the administrative and financial functioning of the United Nations) ; financing of peacekeeping operations (143), and the issue of gratis personnel (119); scale of assessments for the apportionment of expenses of the United Nations (118).