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agenda item 52
"Strengthening the United Nations"
Open-ended informal consultations of the plenary
Concluding remarks by H.E. Mr. Jan Kavan, President
of the 57th session of the UN General Assembly

14 November 2002

I would like to thank all of you who have actively participated in this fruitful dialogue, for your comments and questions raised in the course of the informal consultations.

I am also very grateful for the opportunity to have with us the Deputy Secretary-General, Mrs. Louise Frechette, who - together with other high ranking officials from the Secretariat - provided responses to your queries.

We have devoted a good amount of time, five plenary meetings and four informal consultations, to consider the UN reform proposals of the Secretary-General. We have heard numerous statements and interventions on the subject and I believe that all proposed actions are now much clearer for all of us. I was particularly pleased to realize that all delegations that expressed their concerns and reservations to some proposed actions, did so in a constructive manner often suggesting possible solutions. . It seems to me that we have already found a common ground of understanding on many issues. Still I am convinced that we will need to spend more time together in trying to come to a consensus.

The Vice-President, H.E. Mr. Abdul Mejid Hussein and I, made good notes of your concerns and suggestions and we will reflect them in our non-paper. We have begun drafting the non-paper that will be, with the assistance of the facilitators, completed by the middle of next week. Immediately afterwards, it will be distributed to all delegations.

As many of you realize, the time-table that I outlined last time, is extremely tight. Therefore, I appeal to you to dedicate your attention to consulting your capitals and also within the respective groups as soon as you have received the non-paper. As you know, our next informal consultations are scheduled for 27 November. I am looking forward to your participation and our continued cooperation.

Thank you for your attention. This meeting is adjourned.