U.N. Sees Millennium Summit as Very Much Working MeetingThe United Nations said on Thursday that the upcoming Millennium Summit will be a very much working one rather than mere celebrations or commemorations.Briefing the press on the largest-ever gathering of world leaders, U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette, said more than 150 heads of State or Government are expected to gather at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from September 6 to 8 for the Millennium Summit. They will tackle some of the world's most pressing problems, including how to pull millions of people out of abject poverty, strengthen the United Nations in the 21st century, protect the global environment and reverse the HIV/AIDS epidemic, the Deputy Secretary-General told the press. She said the Millennium Summit is convened at a time when the world is going through a dramatic change in relations and new direction should be adapted for the United Nations so as to meet the challenges of the new era. In addition to making formal speeches at the summit, the world leaders will participate in one of four interactive round-tables with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Millennium Report as the main topic, each to be chaired by a nation nominated from a different region. They were expected to be the heads of the State or Government from Algeria, Poland, Singapore and Venezuela, she said. The Summit will adopt an outcome document that is being prepared through consultations in the General Assembly under the leadership of current Assembly President Theo-Ben Gurirab of Namibia, the deputy Secretary-General said. A meeting of the Security Council at the heads of State level will also be held during the Summit on September 7 to focus on peacekeeping issues, especially in Africa. The Council debate is expected to draw on the work of a special United Nations panel chaired by Lakhdar Brahimi, set up by the Secretary-General to consider how to strengthen peace operations, she said. Heads of State or Government have also been invited by the Secretary-General to take the opportunity of the Summit to sign or deposit instruments of ratification for multilateral treaties they may not yet have joined, especially 25 core treaties representing key United Nations objectives, she said. The Millennium Summit, proposed by the Secretary-General in his 1997 report "Renewing the United Nations: A program for Reform", was officially mandated in December 1998 by the U.N. General Assembly. The Assembly, convinced that the turn of the century is a unique and symbolically compelling moment to articulate and affirm an animating vision for the United Nations in the new era, decided to designate its 55th Session as the Millennium Assembly and to hold a Millennium Summit. |
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