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29 September 1999

The General Assembly resumed its general debate this morning, with President Theo-Ben Gurirab presiding. Among the 19 speakers today will be the President of Guinea-Bissau and the Prime Ministers of Samoa and Malaysia.

Last night, at the conclusion of its twenty-second special session, the Assembly adopted a resolution entitled "Declaration and State of progress and initiatives for the future implementation of the Programme of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States". Over the two-day session, the Assembly heard over 130 speakers.

In other action, the Assembly decided to take note of a letter dated 24 September from the Permanent Representative of Canada addressed to the President of the General Assembly, annexed to which is a bracketed draft resolution on the Caribbean Sea, and to transmit them to the Assembly at its fifty-fourth session for further consideration by the Second Committee (A/S-22/6).

In closing the special session, the Assembly President said Member States had adopted two important documents unanimously. The consensus was clear and focused on implementation. But without funds, resources and the sustained goodwill of rich nations and multilateral financial institutions, the way forward was uncertain. He called for action in implementing the documents just adopted, adding that Rio’s "Agenda 21" and the Barbados Programme of Action set out priority areas and strategies for implementation which were as urgent and relevant today as when they were adopted in 1992 and 1994, respectively. This was a call to the international community to complete the task. The business of the small island developing States was the business of the whole of humanity, he said, citing an African parable which says that "a shepherd’s work is not done until he has accounted for the last few missing cows". The message from Member States, observer groups and non-governmental organizations, to the brothers and sisters of the small island developing States, is that "We are with you", the President concluded. Copies of that statement will be available later today in room 378.

This morning, the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) elected the rest of its bureau and approved its work programme, as orally revised. In so doing, it decided to consider the item on Implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development on 27 instead of 11 October. The related documents are A/C.2/54/1 and L.1.

Several of the Main Committees will begin their substantive work next week. The Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) will meet on Monday, 4 October to take up decolonization and related issues. At two meetings, also on 4 October, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) will consider reports related to the financing of the UN peacekeeping mission in Angola, the UN Iraq-Kuwait Observer Mission and the UN Mission in East Timor. The Under-Secretary-General for Management, Joseph Connor, will make a statement to the Fifth Committee on 5 October, on the financial situation of the UN. The Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) will meet on Wednesday, 6 October, to take up the item on social development. The programmes of work and schedules for each Main Committee can be found in the respective L.1 document. The addenda to some of those documents report on the status of preparation of documentation.

Copies of the Assembly President’s appointments for today are available in room 378. He met this morning with Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. They discussed the need for greater unity within the Non-Aligned Movement and the "Group of 77" developing countries and China. The Prime Minister briefed the President in depth on East Timor, and the two shared ideas on Kosovo. On UN reform, they agreed that Member States should forge ahead in reforming those things that were possible in the near term. The President will host a luncheon for the Chairmen of the Main Committees. This afternoon, he will meet with Foreign Minister Win Aung of Myanmar, and President Malam Bacai Sanha of Guinea-Bissau. Last evening the President attended a reception in his honour, hosted by the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN). Copies of that statement are also available in room 378.