Quartet Meeting, SecCo ministerial debate on Mideast situation, settlements – Daily press briefing by the Spokesperson for SecGen (excerpts)

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICES OF THE SPOKESPERSON FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

AND THE SPOKESPERSON FOR THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT

The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Michèle Montas, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, and Enrique Yeves, Spokesperson for the President of the General Assembly.

Briefing by the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General

Good afternoon, all.  I see that there are a few of you here.

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**Quartet

This afternoon at 3:30, here at Headquarters, there will be a meeting of the principals of the Middle East Quartet.  Participants will include the Secretary-General; United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov; the High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union (EU), Javier Solana; European Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner; French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, on behalf of the EU Presidency; and Quartet Representative Tony Blair.

The principals are expected to issue a joint communiqué at around 5 this evening.  They will then head to Conference Room 4 for a press conference.  Copies of the communiqué will be brought to you in Conference Room 4.

Later this evening, the Secretary-General will host an Iftar dinner, also here at Headquarters. In addition to the Quartet principals, the Secretary-General of the Arab League and 12 Arab foreign ministers will be in attendance.

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**Security Council

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Now, Council members are holding an open debate on the Middle East, concerning the question of Israeli settlements.

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Thank you all.  Yes, George?

**Questions and Answers

Question: A quick question, the Security Council meeting on Israeli settlements –- that was starting this morning at 10 am –- so it should be over just about now?

Spokesperson:  It’s still going on.

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For information media • not an official record