5 February 2001

The President made a statement at the second meeting of the Preparatory Committee on the Third United Nations Conference on Least Developed Countries. Mr. Holkeri noted that the upcoming LDC Conference will be the first major conference to take place after the Millennium Summit and is one of the major mechanisms in implementing the Millennium Declaration. In his statement, Mr. Holkeri emphasized that development can no longer be viewed as the business only of governments but is the collective business of all people. Unless we are able to effectively involve civil society, the private sector, the media, lawmakers and academia, we will deprive ourselves of their enormous potential. The full text of his remarks is available on the "Statements and Messages" page.

The President also spoke at a Rural Poverty Report 2001 launch luncheon, which was hosted by the President of International Fund for Agricultural Development, H.E. Mr. Fawzi H. Al-Sultan and the Secretary-General, H.E. Mr. Kofi Annan. In his remarks Mr. Holkeri noted that this report makes a significant contribution to the implementation of the Millennium Declaration in which heads of state and government pledged to halve extreme poverty by the year 2015. The vast majority of those living in extreme poverty live in rural areas and the Report identifies approaches that empower the rural poor to make better lives for themselves, their families and their communities. The full text of his remarks is available on the "Statements and Messages" page.

The President presided over the meeting of the Open-ended Working Group on Security Council Reform, the first meeting of the Group this year. In the meeting, the Group adopted a programme of work and had an initial exchange of views. President's opening remarks at the meeting as well as the Working Group's programme of work are available on the "Statements and Messages" page.

The President met with H.E. Dr. Ahmed Esmat Abdel Meguid, Secretary-General of the League of Arab States and H.E. Dr. Hussein Hassouna, Permanent Observer of the League of Arab States. They discussed the forthcoming High-Level Meeting of UN-Regional Organisations as well as ideas to improve the work of the General Assembly.

Later in the day Mr. Holkeri had a private dinner with Mr. Jukka Ruuska, President of Helsinki Exchange Group and with Mr. Juha Kaiponen, Senior Adviser of the Helsinki Exchange Group.