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Monday, 21 September 1998

Today of course is so far the busiest day of this year's session. The President, Mr. Didier Opertti held a series of bilateral meetings before the opening of the 7th plenary meeting. The list of his appointments is available in the Spokesman's office. The first speaker this morning was the Secretary-General who made a presentation of his annual report on the work of the Organization (A/53/1). Following his statement, the Assembly opened the general debate with the statement by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Brazil, Mr. Luis Felipe Lampreia. He was followed by the President of the host country, Mr. Bill Clinton. Other speakers this morning are the Heads of State of South Africa, Burkina Faso, Uruguay, Sri Lanka, and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

This afternoon, the General Assembly will continue the general debate with statements by the President of Latvia and the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran; Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mexico, Prime Ministers of Papua New Guinea and Japanand Foreign Ministers of Argentina, Indonesia, Costa Rica, Norway, Cote d'Ivoire and Yemen (also Deputy Prime Minister).

I would like to remind you that the proceedings in the plenary are available live on the Internet and also archived for later retrieval. The list of speakers for tomorrow is available on the side table and can also be retrieved from the GA page on the Internet. You have also all seen the note to correspondents no. 5524, regarding the arrangements for correspondents during the general debate.

Finally, the updated list of the officers of the six main committees is available on the side table -- takes into account the composition of the bureau of the Fifth Committee.