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30 September 1999

The General Assembly is in the eighth day of its general debate, which is scheduled to conclude on Saturday, 2 October. Among the 18 speakers today will be President Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique and the Prime Ministers of Belize, the Solomon Islands, Niger and Nepal.

Assembly President Theo-Ben Gurirab will not be presiding today, using the time to meet, separately, with the Foreign Ministers of New Zealand, Senegal, Singapore, Ecuador, Tunisia and the Republic of Korea, and with the Secretary-General of the Organization of African Unity, Salim Ahmed Salim. Copies of his appointments for today are available in room 378 and on the Internet.

As I reported, yesterday the President hosted the first in a series of monthly luncheons for the Chairmen of the Main Committees and Secretariat officials. He said the meetings would provide opportunities to discuss informally matters relating to the work of the Assembly in plenary and the Main Committees, and he pledged his full cooperation. Copies of his statement were made available after the luncheon.

In connection with the 1999 International Year of Older Persons, the ninth annual commemoration of the International Day is taking place today in Conference Room 4. Next Monday and Tuesday, 4 and 5 October, the Assembly will hold four meetings in a follow-up to the International Year, the central theme of which is "Towards a society for all ages". The objective of the Year, which ends on 31 December, has been to promote the United Nations Principles for Older Persons, which deal with the independence, participation, care, self-fulfilment and dignity of older persons. The General Assembly launched the International Year on 1 October 1998. A press kit is available at the documents counter.

I reported yesterday on meetings next week of the Third, Fourth and Fifth Committees as they begin their substantive work. On Tuesday, 5 October, when the Under-Secretary-General for Management, Joseph Connor, makes a statement to the Fifth Committee, this will be followed by an address by Secretary-General Kofi Annan on improving the financial situation of the United Nations (item 122). Committee Chairman Penny Wensley (Australia) has requested that participation at that meeting be at the highest level.

Also in connection with the Fifth Committee, a story in yesterday’s New York Times gave the impression that the elections for five seats on the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) would take place next week. The Fifth Committee secretariat has informed me that the date is 5 November. Of the five seats that will become vacant, two are from the Group of Western European and other States, and one each from Africa, Eastern Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean. The document on the appointment of ACABQ members is A/54/101/Rev.1.

For those interested in the number of participants in the just concluded special session on the sustainable development of small island developing States, the Department of General Assembly Affairs and Conference Services is preparing a final list, but here are the statistics: there were 129 speakers in the debate in plenary, among them 3 Heads of State; 1 Vice-President; 2 Heads of Government; 6 Deputy Prime Ministers/Foreign Ministers; 38 Foreign Ministers; 13 other Ministers; 7 Vice-Ministers; 44 Chairmen of delegation; 12 observers, including Palestine; and 3 non-governmental organizations. Additional speakers were heard in the Ad Hoc Committee of the Whole. When the list is finalized, we will make it available.