ENB:10:17
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PLENARY
Prepcom Chair Juan Somav¡a opened a brief Plenary session Friday afternoon, and announced that a representative from Denmark would discuss preparations by the host country and practical matters, such as accommodations for the Summit. The Secretariat then introduced the revised Programme of Action and Somav¡a himself presented the work plan for the second week.
A representative from Denmark alerted delegates to the brochure containing information on accommodations, transportation, credentials, etc., for the Summit. The Danish Government has arranged for a private congress service to help with hotel reservations. Participants should contact the DIS Congress Service Copenhagen A/S (Herlev Ringvej 2 C, DK-2730 Herlev DENMARK) as soon as possible with information on space and time requirements. The service will require final registration by the end of the year. Regular buses run between the conference center, the airport and the city, and shuttle services will also be arranged for conference participants. The shuttle service will include transportation to the NGO meeting site.
The brochure contains a list of countries for which visas are not required for entry into Denmark. For participants from nations not on the list, all Danish embassies and consulates will issue visas at no cost. The multi-purpose Bella Centre will be modified according to conference specifications. All governments will be provided, free of charge, with a delegation office, provided their request is received by 15 September 1994. The representative reminded governments to include Denmark-based diplomats who will attend the conference on their delegation registration.
The Danish NGO community has established a secretariat to facilitate NGO participation and to organize the parallel NGO Conference. NGOs can contact the NGO-Forum '95 (Social Summit Copenhagen, Njalsgade 13C, DK-2300 Copenhagen S DENMARK) for further information.
On a final note, the delegate noted that national planning missions are invited, however, the Danish government would appreciate advance notice so it can facilitate preparations.
Nitin Desai, Under-Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development, then introduced Working Paper No. 1, First revision of the draft Programme of Action (A/CONF.166/ PC/L.13/Rev.1). He noted that the Working Paper represents an effort by the Secretariat to synthesize the numerous written and oral submissions as well as the general debate. He explained that despite efforts to condense the document by removing descriptive sections, 40 new paragraphs had been added. He further noted that this was an unedited text and that an edited version, as well as texts in the other UN working languages, will be available on Monday.