Back to Home Page

Back to General Assembly

9 DECEMBER 1999

The General Assembly, this morning, approved the second report of the Credentials Committee (A/54/475/Add.1), thereby accepting the credentials of an additional 53 Member States – 33 of them still need to submit formal credentials -- for a total of 186. The two States not included are Somalia and Yugoslavia.

The Assembly adopted a resolution on cooperation between the United Nations and the Economic Cooperation Organization (A/54/L.55), introduced by Azerbaijan. In the text, the Assembly expressed satisfaction at the enhanced pace of mutually beneficial interaction between the two organizations; invited ECO and the United Nations Development Programme to continue to enhance and strengthen their ongoing cooperation in the area of capacity-building; and called for further contacts and participation between ECO and the specialized agencies, programmes and intergovernmental bodies of the UN system.

The report of the Secretary-General (A/54/168) provides information about the status of the cooperative relationship between ECO and the following United Nations agencies during 1998 and 1999: UNDP, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the Food and Agriculture Organization, the United Nations Population Fund, the United Nations International Drug Control Programme, the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and the World Trade Organization.

The Assembly deferred five items -- 54 to 58 -- to the next session, deciding to include them in the provisional agenda of the fifty-fifth session. They deal with the 1986 aerial and naval attack against Libya by the United States; armed Israeli aggression against Iraqi nuclear installations; consequences of the Iraqi occupation of and aggression against Kuwait; implementation of the resolutions of the United Nations; and launching of the global negotiations on international economic cooperation for development.

The Assembly deferred, until Monday, consideration of the item on the global implications of the year 2000 date conversion problem of computers (A/54/525, A/54/L.61).

As the final item of the morning, the Assembly is concluding its debate on the causes of conflict and the promotion of durable peace and sustainable development in Africa.

This afternoon, the Assembly takes action on nine reports of the Sixth Committee. Those Legal Committee reports (A/54/607, 608, 610-616) cover: the convention on jurisdictional immunities of States and their property; the United Nations Programme of Assistance in the Teaching, Study, Dissemination and Wider Appreciation of International Law; report of the International Law Commission on the work of its fifty-first session; report of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law on the work of its thirty-second session; report of the Committee on Relations with the Host Country; establishment of the International Criminal Court; report of the Special Committee on the Charter of the United Nations and on the Strengthening of the Role of the Organization; measures to eliminate international terrorism; and review of the Statute of the United Nations Administrative Tribunal.

Tomorrow, the Assembly takes up the item entitled "Dialogue among civilizations. It will also consider two items on Afghanistan: emergency international assistance for peace, normalcy and reconstruction of war-stricken Afghanistan; and the situation in Afghanistan and its implications for international peace and security.

At this morning’s meeting, it was announced that the plenary will take up agenda item 38, "Question of equitable representation on and increase in the membership of the Security Council and related matters" on Thursday, 16 December, in the morning. Yesterday afternoon, the President informed the members that the Assembly will consider the reports of the Third Committee on Friday, 17 December. For anyone doing the math, it is obvious that the Assembly will not be recessing on the 14^th. The latest programme of work is available on the racks today, A/INF/54/3/Add.5.

This afternoon, the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) will take action on three draft resolutions dealing with enhancing international cooperation towards a durable solution to the external debt problem of developing countries (A/C.2/54/L.71), business and development (A/C.2/54/L.70) and implementation of the first United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty, 1997-2006 (A/C.2/54/L.69).

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary), at a morning meeting, is discussing relevant chapters of the report of the Economic and Social Council. It is also considering the programme budget implications of five draft resolutions. One report (A/C.5/54/L.38) indicates that Assembly adoption of draft resolution A/54/L.36, calling for the extension of the mandate of the International Civilian Mission in Haiti (MICIVIH) for the first part of 2000 and the subsequent establishment of the International Civilian Support Mission in Haiti (MICAH) until 6 February 2001, would cost $10,353,200 for MICAH and $1,180,100 for MICIVIH. Other reports state that adoption of a Third Committee draft on the use of mercenaries (A/C.3/54/L.90) would cost $184,600 (A/C.5/54/36); that adoption of a draft on the situation in Central America (A/54/L.24/Rev.1) would cost $187,700 (A/C.5/54/34); that the adoption of a draft resolution (A/C.6/54/L.7/Rev.1) allowing the International Law Commission to meet at Geneva in 2000 would cost $105,200 (A/C.5/54/35); and that adoption of a First Committee draft (A/C.1/54/L.42/Rev.1) on convening a United Nations conference on the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons in June/July 2001 would cost $723,100, plus $448,900 for summary records (A/C.5/54/31). The observations of the Committee on Conferences concerning the question of summary records appear in A/C.5/54/31/Add.1.

Also this morning, the Committee is beginning its discussion of eight sub-items under the questions relating to the proposed programme budget for the biennium 2000-2001. They pertain to construction of additional conference facilities at Addis Ababa; unforeseen and extraordinary expenses; proposed abolition of two General Service posts under income section 3; internal and external printing practices of the Organization; temporary assistance requirements for 2000-2001 meetings; rental of United Nations premises by press and other entities; section 26, Public information; and use of general temporary assistance for specific positions.

Concerning the appointments of Assembly President Theo-Ben Gurirab, this morning he met with the Charge d’affaires of Yugoslavia, Ambassador Vladislav Jovanovic, and then with the Permanent Representative of Portugal, Ambassador Antonio Monteiro. He will have lunch with the Coordinator of the Regional Programme of UNDP’s Africa Bureau. This evening, he will attend a dinner in his honour, hosted by the Permanent Representative of Belgium, Ambassador Andre Adam.