You are viewing our old site. See the new one here

ENB:10:37 [Next] . [Previous] . [Contents]

THINGS TO LOOK FOR TODAY

PLENARY: The first meeting of the Plenary is scheduled to begin at 10:00 am today. United Nations Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali will open the session. After his opening remarks, delegates will then elect the President of the WSSD. The Prime Minister of Denmark, Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, will give opening remarks and move directly to the adoption of the rules of procedure (A/CONF.166/2) and adoption of the agenda (A/CONF.166/1). The Plenary will then elect the 27 Vice-Presidents, the Rapporteur and the Chair of the Main Committee. The President is likely to establish the Main Committee and announce the organization of work for the week. The general exchange of views will commence with statements by the Philippines (on behalf of the G-77/China), France (on behalf of the EU), Chile, Malaysia, Jordan, Venezuela, Slovakia, Mali and the Ukraine. The afternoon session should include statements by UNDP, Norway, Kuwait, Iran, WHO, Italy, Republic of Korea, Barbados, Senegal, Syria, Seychelles, Azerbaijan, Bolivia, Papua New Guinea and several NGOs.

MAIN COMMITTEE: The first session of the Main Committee will convene immediately after the opening Plenary. As announced by Amb. Somavía in the informal consultations that were held on Saturday 4 March, the Main Committee will continue negotiations of the outstanding issues in the draft Declaration and chapters I and V of the Programme of Action. An informal contact group will be established to take up chapters II, III, and IV. A separate working group will address the proposed commitment on education. These two groups will report back to the Main Committee by Wednesday night for formal adoption of their work. The Main Committee is expected to complete its work by Wednesday evening to allow for document translation in time for the arrival of the heads of State and Government. Look for a note by the Secretariat on organization and procedural matters, which will include a proposed timetable for the work of the Summit.

VOICES OF YOUTH: UNICEF is hosting an exhibit of the recommendations that youth around the world have submitted to world leaders through Voices of Youth, an interactive electronic system on the global Internet. Voices features more than 500 messages submitted from 30 countries on all continents. The on-line system is located in the NGO Forum, in the UN agencies section near the main entrance to the Global Village. [Return to start of article]