25 May 2001

The President today addressed the ongoing informal consultations of the Plenary on the special session of the General Assembly on HIV/AIDS. The President extended his deep appreciation to the two facilitators who have been chairing the informals, Ambassador Wensley of Australia and Ambassador Ka of Senegal. He went on to express hope that an agreed text on the declaration of commitment would be ready by the end of the week, as called for by Member States in Resolution 55/242. The text of the President's remarks is available on the "Statements and Messages" page.

Separately, the President met with H.E. Mr. Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Permanent Representative of Egypt, to discuss the open-ended informal consultations of the plenary on HIV/AIDS.

The President discussed issues related to staff security during his meeting with the representatives of the Standing Committee on Security and Independence of the International Civil Service.

In another meeting today, Mr. Holkeri discussed the follow-up to the outcome of the Millennium Summit and the process of Security Council reform with H.E. Mr. Ignac Golob, State Secretary and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia.