Back to Home Page

Back to General Assembly

21 September 1999

On the second day of general debate, presided over by President Theo-Ben Gurirab, the General Assembly this morning heard addresses by Presidents Alberto Fujimoro of Peru, William Jefferson Clinton of the United States, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe and Alvaro Arzu Irigoyen of Guatemala.

In his address, Mr. Fujimori spoke about the need to combat drug trafficking and terrorism, which he considered the greatest threats to good government. Mr. Clinton stressed the need to address global poverty, global warming, AIDS and other deadly diseases, to stop mass killings and displacement, to protect children from nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction. He also said the United States had the responsibility to meet its commitment to the United Nations, and he promised to do his best to succeed this year with regard to Washington’s arrears. Mr. Mugabe called, among other things, for action on Africa’s debt problem and for Security Council reform. President Arzu reported on the changes that have taken place in his country since the 1996 peace accord.

Also taking part in the general debate are the Foreign Ministers of the Russian Federation, Ghana and Finland.

This afternoon, the Assembly will hear addresses by Presidents Hugo Chavez Frias of Venezuela and Carlos Saul Menen of Argentina. The Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic and the Foreign Ministers of the following nine States will speak: Mali, Japan, Austria, Ukraine, Morocco, Uzbekistan, Sweden, United Arab Emirates and Spain.

Copies of the Assembly President’s appointments for today are available in room 378 and on the Internet. He met this morning with President Clinton of the United States, who was accompanied by, among others, Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright, National Security Adviser Sandy Berger and US Permanent Representative Richard Holbrooke. They discussed the successful outcome of the Security Council mission to East Timor, the intention of the United States to pay attention to upcoming UN peacekeeping operations in Africa, Washington’s total commitment to the Organization and to resolving its arrears problem. Also this morning, the President met, separately, with the Foreign Ministers of the Slovak Republic, Ukraine and Spain. Those discussions centred on Security Council reform. There was general agreement that such reform was needed, and that the political will was required. The President said that while he was against any quick fix, he was also opposed to unnecessary foot-dragging on Security Council reform.

This afternoon, the Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee (Third Committee) and the Administrative and Budgetary Committee (Fifth Committee) are holding organizational meetings at 3 p.m. On the racks are the relevant documents relating to their proposed programme of work and the status of documentation. Tomorrow, 22 September, the Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee) will meet at 10 a.m. to organize its work. The Disarmament and International Security Committee (First Committee) will do the same at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, 23 September.

The Preparatory Committee for the special session on implementing the outcome of the World Summit for Social Development and Further Initiatives is scheduled to meet this afternoon, following the adjournment of the Third Committee meeting.