Kofi Annan this
morning opened the
11th ministerial meeting of the
UN Conference on
Trade and Development (UNCTAD), in
Sao Paolo, Brazil, congratulating UNCTAD on its fortieth anniversary.

said
that the world has what it takes to improve living standards for all people,
but too often lacks coherence in its approach, as well as a
development-friendly trading regime. He called for a successful conclusion
to the Doha negotiations, and urged nations to take advantage of the
opportunities offered by South-South trade cooperation and integration.

Sergio Vieira de Mello,
saying that his death
last year in Iraq
"was a tragedy for Brazil, for the United Nations and for the world."

The Secretary-General
arrived
in Brazil on Saturday, and that day attended a special ministerial meeting
to mark the fortieth anniversary of the Group of Seventy-Seven developing
nations.

He noted
that "the sad truth is that the world today is a much more unequal place
than it was 40 years ago" when the G-77, which now has more than 130
members, was founded. He said, "If these years have taught us anything, it
is that opportunities for development need to be more equally distributed."

Also on Saturday, the Secretary-General had a half-hour meeting with
Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, during which they discussed
Iraq
and areas of common concern in the Latin American region. The
Secretary-General expressed his deep gratitude for Brazil’s contribution
toward their common efforts in Haiti.

On Sunday, the Secretary-General met with the Civil Society Forum
attending the UNCTAD session,
telling
them, "It is people mobilized as you are, more
than any government initiative or scientific breakthrough, who can overcome
the obstacles to a better world." He said that next week, he will release
the report of the high-level panel, headed by former Brazilian President
Fernando Henrique Cardoso, on how the United Nations can get the most out of
its expanding ties with civil society.

In a separate program, Nane Annan on Sunday spoke at an UNCTAD panel
exploring the importance of indigenous creative industries – such as music,
publishing and photography – to development. She highlighted the
cross-fertilization of cultures around the world and the contribution of
women's small-scale economic activities, like weaving, basketry and pottery,
to the preservation of local cultures. Brazilian musician and Minister of
Culture Gilberto Gil chaired the panel.

The Security
Council held today an open debate on
the protection of civilians in armed conflict. At the debate,
UN Emergency Relief
Coordinator
Jan Egeland
told Council members that meeting that the tenth anniversary of the Rwanda
genocide provided "a chilling impetus for us to reflect on ways to better
protect vulnerable civilian populations."

Egeland highlighted the continuing problems of gaining humanitarian
access to some 20 million people who are cut off from aid in ten conflicts
around the world, and the security threats that humanitarian workers face in
going about their work.

Egeland added that the United Nations believes the time is right for the
Security Council to consider adopting another resolution on the protection
of civilians in armed conflict, noting that the Secretary-General’s recent
report sets out a number of recommendations to this end.

Mohamed ElBaradei, the
Director-General
of the International
Atomic Energy Agency,
said
today that while progress is being made in understanding the extent of
Iran’s nuclear program, investigations are still underway into whether all
of Iran’s
nuclear-related activities have been fully declared.

He described
Iran’s engagement with the IAEA as
less than satisfactory, and noted that Iran needs to be proactive and fully
transparent.

ElBaradei made the comments in a meeting with the Agency’s
Board of Governors
in Vienna. The meeting covered a broad range of issues, including the
Agency’s annual report and a number of other issues.

The
Secretary-General
called
on the nations of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) to
respond favorably to the Iraqi Interim Government’s request for support, in
a message delivered by his Special Adviser,
Lakhdar Brahimi.

He said that the OIC has an interest in helping
Iraq
to surmount the many challenges it faces, including the creation of adequate
conditions for elections and the convening of a national conference.

In the message, the Secretary-General also draws attention to the
appalling suffering in
Sudan’s Darfur region, and he
asked for support in persuading Sudan to neutralize and disarm the brutal "Janjaweed"
militia and to allow humanitarian supplies and equipment to reach the
population without further delay.

The UN special rapporteur dealing with executions,
Asma Jahangir,
finished her visit to
Sudan on Sunday with a
press conference
in which she said she received numerous accounts of extra-judicial and
summary executions carried out by government-backed militias and the
security forces in Darfur.

She said she is also deeply concerned about the current humanitarian
situation in Darfur, where millions of civilians are in desperate need of
assistance. She said, "The crisis is not over, and the right to life of all
these people is seriously threatened."

Carol Bellamy

, the executive
director of UNICEF,
the UN Children’s Fund,
arrived in Darfur,
Sudan,
this past weekend. On Sunday, she met local officials in Darfur’s regional
capital Nyalla, and today she went to El Geneina in west Darfur to visit
UNICEF relief sites.