Back to Home Page

Back to General Assembly

14 September 1999

The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Shirley Brownell, spokeswoman for the President of the General Assembly, Foreign Minister Theo-Ben Gurirab of Namibia:

I’d like to say, by way of introducing myself, that I know some of you personally, and others by your bylines. It has been my job these past five years to monitor what you write and say about the UN and other international issues, and to disseminate your stories in this house in the form of Daily Press Clippings and Political Information Bulletins. In this new capacity I hope, over the coming months, to share with you information about the President of the General Assembly, Foreign Minister Theo-Ben Gurirab of Namibia, and the Assembly over which he presides. My office is located on the second floor, in Room C-204; and my phone number is: 963-0755. Stop by when and if you have questions, and I’ll be happy to assist you.

Now to the work of the Assembly. The General Assembly will convene at 3 p.m. today, which is also the International Day of Peace. The Chairman of the delegation of Uruguay will open the session, followed by a minute of silent prayer or meditation. At this first meeting, the Assembly will appoint the nine members of the Credentials Committee. The names are confidential until announced.

The Assembly will then elect the President of the fifty-fourth session, The newly elected President will then address the Assembly. Copies of his statement, with a 3:30 p.m. embargo, will be available in room 378 after the briefing.

Following his acceptance speech, the President will preside over the admission of three new Members -- the pacific island nations of Kiribati, Nauru and Tonga – which will bring membership of the Organization to 188 Member States. The flag-raising ceremony for the three new Member States will take place in front of the Delegates’ Entrance, after the adjournment of the second plenary meeting, at approximately 5 p.m. today. I have pictures from a website of the three new Member States’ flags.

The Assembly will adjourn its first meeting, followed immediately by consecutive meetings of the six Main Committees to elect the Chairmen. Expected to chair the Committees are: Mr. Raimundo Gonzalez (Chile), Disarmament and International Security (First Committee); Ambassador Sotirios Zackheos (Cyprus), Special Political and Decolonization (Fourth Committee); Ambassador Roble Olhaye (Djibouti), Economic and Financial (Second Committee); Ambassador Vladimir Galuska (Czech Republic), Social, Humanitarian and Cultural (Third Committee); Ambassador Penny Wensley (Australia), Administrative and Budgetary (Fifth Committee); and Ambassador Percy Mangoaela (Lesotho), Legal (Sixth Committee). The Main Committees will adjourn.

At the second plenary meeting, the Assembly will elect its 21Vice-Presidents: five from African States; five from Asian States; one from Eastern European States; three from Latin American and Caribbean States; two from Western European and other States; and the five permanent members of the Security Council -- China, France, Russian Federation, United Kingdom and the United States. These 21 Vice-Presidents, the Chairmen of the Main Committees and the Assembly President will constitute the 28-member General Committee, which will meet at 10 a.m. tomorrow, 15 September, in Conference Room 3 to take up the organization of the session, adoption of the agenda and the allocation of 166 provisional items, five supplementary items, plus an additional item requested by the Secretary-General, on the financing of the UN Mission in East Timor, for a total of 172 items.

A reminder: the Assembly President will hold a press conference at 11 a.m. on Thursday, 16 September, here in Room 226.

A final note: as of this afternoon, you can find information about the fifty-fourth General Assembly presidency on the UN Homepage on the Internet. The address is: www.un.org/ga/54.

Question: There was a move about two years ago to cut back the agenda and let the General Assembly focus more on themes. I notice that now we are back to 172 items. When did this happen and how?

Spokeswoman: I think this is another case of “mission creep”. Every year there are requests from Member States for the inclusion of more items in the agenda, and, gradually, the number of items increase. But from time to time, the Assembly makes an effort to pare them down.

Question: Why is it the Western European and other States have only one Vice-President in the General Committee while Africa has five and Asia has five?

Spokeswoman: This is done according to a formula approved by the Assembly. You have to bear in mind that four of the five permanent members of the Security Council represent Western and European countries – France, the United Kingdom and the United States from the former group, and the Russian Federation from the latter. If you add up the numbers, you therefore get a total of two General Committee members from Eastern European, and five from Western European and other States.