14 September 2000

During today's General Debate, presided over by Mr. Holkeri, statements were made by the Foreign Ministers or other representatives from Lebanon, Norway, United Kingdom, Libya, Germany, Syria, Ireland, Sweden, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Jamaica, Lithuania, Saudi Arabia, Netherlands, Algeria, Costa Rica, Romania, Jordan, Greece, Spain and Guinea.

Mr. Holkeri discussed a wide range of issues, in particular the scale of assessments and the financial situation of the United Nations, during his meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Spain, Mr. Joseph Piqué.

During his meeting with the President, the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Jaber Al Sabah, brought up his Government's decision to increase its contribution to the United Nations peacekeeping budget and his Governments central role in the financing of the UN Iraq-Kuwait Observation Mission (UNIKOM). Environmental issues, including the effects of the Gulf war, were also discussed. The Foreign Minister then extended an invitation to the President to visit Kuwait.

The President also met briefly the Crown Princess Viktoria of Sweden.

The President met with the Permanent Representative of Thailand, Mr. Asda Jayanama, who is the Co-chair of the Preparatory Committee for the High-Level International Intergovernmental Event on Financing for Development. The President wished success to the preparatory process and expressed hope that the question of the venue of the Event could be resolved as soon as possible.

Minister Counsellor Aira Paivoke from the President's Office participated in a panel on Population Ageing. The Panel, co-sponsored by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the non-governmental organisations (NGO) Committee on Aging, the Association of Former International Civil Servants and the NGO Committee on the Status of Women, took place in the Dag Hammarskjold Auditorium. The intervention by Ms. Paivoke - one of six speakers- is available here.

Full text of the intervention