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27 SEPTEMBER 1999

The General Assembly opened its twenty-second special session this morning, convened to review and appraise the implementation of the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States.

Elected as President was the current Assembly President, Mr. Theo-Ben Gurirab, Foreign Minister of Namibia. Addressing the special session, the President said that since the 1994 Barbados conference, convened to address the unique challenges facing small island developing nations, those States had made remarkable efforts to tackle their special ecological and economic vulnerabilities and to put in place policies and measures to implement the Barbados Programme of Action.

"During the next two days", he continued, "the urgent task before the Assembly is to assess those efforts; review constraints that impede progress; examine new problems confronting small island States; and agree on practical steps that need to be taken by the international community towards implementing development strategies. Let us make use of this ideal opportunity to renew and strengthen further global partnership with small island developing States. In this way, we can make a contribution towards the realization of the sustainable development objectives of these embattled but courageous countries". Copies of the President’s statement are available in Room 378.

The Secretary-General also addressed the special session. Fred Eckhard will tell you what he said.

Concerning the work of the session, the President drew attention to the report of the Commission on Sustainable Development, which acted as the preparatory body for the special session (document A/S-22/2 and Add.1). The report contains two draft texts for the consideration of the Assembly: the first is a draft declaration; the second text is entitled "Status of progress and initiatives for the future implementation of the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States".

The Assembly adopted organizational arrangements for the special session, adhering to the same membership as the fifty-fourth session with regard to Vice-Presidents, Chairmen of the Main Committees, the Credentials Committee and the General Committee.

The Assembly established an Ad Hoc Committee of the Whole, chaired by John Ashe (Antigua and Barbuda). As to the agenda, the Assembly decided to consider all nine items directly in plenary, while also allocating item 8 to the Ad Hoc Committee to consider the two draft texts. That Committee will meet this afternoon and tomorrow to finalize negotiations on the two texts, which the Assembly is expected to adopt at its conclusion. The draft declaration contains one bracketed paragraph; the status of progress text contains brackets in paragraph 15 (l) dealing with hazardous and radioactive wastes. The reports of the special session are in documents A/S-22/1 to A/S-22/7.

style="text-indent: 2em"In other action, the Assembly decided that the length of statements should not exceed five minutes; and also decided on the participation of observers, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations and representatives of United Nations programmes and others in the UN system.

Today, the Assembly will hear 57 speakers in three meetings: 25 this morning, 23 this afternoon and nine tonight. The Journal lists the names and titles of all the speakers. Over the two-day session, the Assembly is scheduled to hear over 130 speakers.

In connection with the special session, there will be a press conference, in this room, at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, 28 September, when UNEP’s Executive Director, Klaus Toepfer, will launch a report on Environment Outlook for Small Islands.

Concerning the work of the regular session, the President, on Saturday, drew attention to document A/INF/54/3, which contains a tentative programme of work and schedule of plenary meetings for the period from Wednesday, 29 September, to the end of November.

This morning, the Sixth Committee (Legal) met and elected the rest of its bureau and organized its work for the session. It also elected chairmen for three working groups. The Committee then suspended its work so that the Working Group on Measures to Eliminate International Terrorism could meet from today through 8 October.