4 October 2000

The President continued with his series of meetings with the key players in the work of the General Assembly.

He was the guest of honour in a working luncheon today with a number of Ambassadors and the Deputy Secretary-General to brainstorm with them about how to improve the role of the General Assembly. This luncheon was hosted by the Permanent Representative of Singapore, H.E. Mr. Kishore Mahbubani.

Mr. Holkeri also met separately with the Deputy Secretary-General, Ms. Louise Frechette to discuss the implementation plan for the so-called Brahimi Report on UN peace operations. The President emphasized the need for the plan to be available for the consideration of the General Assembly as quickly as possible.

The President met with the Ambassador of Lesotho, H.E. Mr. Percy Metsing Mangoaela, the current chair of the African Group, who briefed him about the candidatures from the African group for the forthcoming Security Council elections, scheduled to be held in the General Assembly Plenary next Tuesday, 10th October. They also discussed the need to revitalize the African Working Group, which the President chairs.

Mr. Holkeri met with Mr. Nick Thorne, a member of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ). During their meeting the work programme and the role of the ACABQ were discussed. Mr. Thorne is the former deputy head of the United Kingdom Embassy in Helsinki, Finland.

The President met the Ambassador of Lao People's Republic, H.E. Mr. Alounkeo Kittikhoun to share views on the follow-up to the Millennium Summit and to discuss the upcoming Least Developed Countries LDC-III conference. Ambassador Kittikhoun also briefed Mr. Holkeri on the problems of landlocked countries.