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The President of the fifty-third session Didier Opertti (Uruguay) has returned to New York this morning and will be in the office later this afternoon.

No plenary meetings are scheduled for today. Tomorrow morning, the plenary will hold elections for the Economic and Social Council. Of the 54 members of the Council, the term of one-third of the membership expires at the end of 1998.

As for the work of the Committees, the Special Political and Decolonization Committee will continue this afternoon the general debate on the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Middle East. The Second Committee is meeting the whole day in informal consultations on a number of draft resolutions before it. The Third Committee is meeting this morning and this afternoon to discuss the report of the High Commissioner for Refugees: questions relating to refugees, displaced persons and humanitarian questions. The High Commissioner for Refugees, Mrs. Sadako Ogata made the introductory statement this morning (it is available in the Spokesman's Office) and then began a dialogue with the members of the Committee. The Fifth Committee continued this morning the general discussion of the human resources management, and then began informal consultations on the Joint Inspection Unit, and this afternoon on the pattern of conferences. The Sixth Committee is discussing the whole day the measures to eliminate international terrorism (item 155), and it is also scheduled to take action on two draft resolutions before it -- regarding the report of the UN Commission on International Trade Law on the work of its thirty-first session, and the report of the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Work of the Organization. Later in the afternoon it will hold informal consultations on the measures to eliminate international terrorism.