21 September 2000

On the second to last day of the General Debate, the General Assembly heard statements by Foreign Ministers or other representatives from Yemen, Mongolia, Comoros, Georgia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Tajikistan, Cyprus, Micronesia, Grenada, Afganistan, Iraq, Burundi, Maldives, Zimbabwe, Bahamas, Argentina, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Niger and Marshall Islands.

During her meeting with the President, the First Lady of Colombia, H.E. Mrs. Nohra Puyana de Pastarana made an appeal to the President for information on institutions where children who have been affected, either psychologically or physically, by war can receive rehabilitation. Both the First Lady and the President agreed that children who have voluntarily or against their will taken part in combat and seen atrocities should receive urgent help in order for them to develop into responsible citizens of tomorrow. The Permanent Representative of Colombia also attended the meeting.

The President received a gift of a peace-box from the Permanent Representative of New Zealand, H.E. Mr. Michael John Powles, during their meeting. The carved, decorated box contains a scroll of signatures from children in New Zealand asking "May peace roll along like the scroll in this peace-box. Make war no more." A photograph of their meeting can be viewed on the "Photos" page.

The President had lunch with the Chair of the Second Committee, Mr. Alexandru Niculescu, the Deputy Permanent Representative of Romania and the Latin American and Caribbean regional member of the bureau, Minister Mauricio Escanero of Mexico. The President thanked the Chair of the Committee for reminding the committee of the previous decisions of the General Assembly regarding timely and efficient conduct of the work of the committee, including the need to rationalize its work. Mr. Niculescu briefed the President on the forthcoming work, including the Financing for Development process, the item on the Development Strategy, and information and communications technology.

The President met with the Executive Coordinator of the Financing for Development process, Ambassador De Rojas, who briefed the President on a number of topics, including work with the institutional partners - World Bank, World Trade Organization and International Monetary Fund - as well as the forthcoming non-governmental organization and private sector hearings. It was noted that no member state of the UN had yet officially made an invitation to host the proposed high-level meeting on financing for development. The President also mentioned his plans to meet with the heads of the Bretton Woods institutions in Washington DC when further discussions about the process of Financing for Development could be held.

Later on the day Mr. Holkeri was one of the guests of honour in a dinner, hosted by the Permanent Representative of Finland, H.E. Ms. Marjatta Rasi.