DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INFORMATION/NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION BRIEFING TO FOCUS ON SECRETARY-GENERAL"S MILLENNIUM REPORT, MILLENNIUM EVENTS

Press Release
PI/1236

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INFORMATION/NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION BRIEFING TO FOCUS ON SECRETARY-GENERAL’S MILLENNIUM REPORT, MILLENNIUM EVENTS

The Department of Public Information (DPI) will conduct a live videoconference on the just-released Report of the Secretary-General to the Millennium Summit and on the preparations for the Millennium Forum on Thursday, 6 April, in Conference Room 3, from 10:30 to 11:45 a.m.

This multi-site video briefing will focus on three key United Nations meetings highlighting the United Nations agenda for the year 2000 and beyond. September meetings include the General Assembly's Millennium Assembly and the Millennium Summit, which is expected to be the largest single gathering of heads of State ever held. The Secretary-General’s Millennium Report, “We the Peoples: The Role of the United Nations in the 21st Century”, one of the most comprehensive presentation of the mission of the United Nations in its 55 year history, will be considered by the Millennium Summit. The Millennium Forum is a companion event being organized by civil society organizations at the request of Secretary-General Kofi Annan, from 22 to 26 May, at United Nations Headquarters, with 1,600 representatives of civil society from all parts of the world participating in the five-day event.

Representatives of non-governmental organizations assembled in New York, the United Nations offices in Geneva and Vienna, as well as at the Resource Center for the United Nations, a non-governmental organization in San Francisco, will engage in an exchange of information with the New York panellists. Speakers include: Michael John Powles, Permanent Representative of New Zealand to the United Nations and Facilitator of the General Assembly President for the Millennium Assembly; Techeste Ahderom, Co-Chair, Millennium Forum; Afaf Mahfouz, Acting Co-Chair, Millennium Forum; and Andrew Mack, Principal Officer, Executive Office of the United Nations Secretary-General. Paul Hoeffel, Chief of the NGO Section, DPI, will moderate the videoconference.

For further information, please contact Helene Hoedl in New York, tel: (212) 963-7709; Elena Ponomareva at the United Nations office in Geneva, tel: (41-22) 917 2325; Janos Tisovszky at the United Nations office in Vienna, tel: (43-1) 26060-3329, and Rosemary Van Der Laan at the Resource Center for the United Nations in San Francisco, tel: (925) 930-9422.

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