**Questions
and Answers
Question:
Forgive me, I didn’t quite catch it. There was a press conference at
two-something. I’d like to know the exact time, and I assume it’s
here, with Ambassador Lorenzo and two or three other people.
Spokesperson:
It will be at 4:15 p.m., an award.
Question:
4:15 p.m.?
Spokesperson:
Yes. It will be the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda; Miguel
d'Escoto Brockmann, President of the sixty third Session; and Ambassador
Francis Lorenzo of the Dominican Republic.
Question:
Thank you.
Spokesperson:
You are welcome. Yes, Mathew.
Question:
Michèle, in the last few days there have been some reports that the UN has
first had its operations looted in Sri Lanka and then has re-started its
humanitarian operations. What’s the status of UN programmes?
Spokesperson:
In Sri Lanka? I can get the information for you. I don’t have it
with me right now.
Question:
Okay. Also, yesterday at the stakeout the Foreign Minister of Serbia,
Vuk Jeremić, said that his country has asked the General-Secretary -- as
he called it so I am assuming that means Mr. Ban -- or the Secretariat to look
into the funds in the Kosovo Trust Agency; where the money has gone. Has
there been any letter from the Serbian Government? I want to confirm
that they made that request and what you’re doing about it.
Spokesperson:
Well, there should be a readout later this afternoon on the meeting between
the Secretary-General and the Serbian President. So, we’ll get that
for you. Any other questions? Okay, Mr. Abbadi.
Question:
Thank you, Michèle. As you indicated, Saudi Arabia has asked for an
urgent meeting of the Security Council to discuss the Israeli settlements.
The Secretary-General, as you know very well, has a very busy schedule.
Does he intend to participate in the discussions?
Spokesperson:
I don’t know yet, but I will find out what his schedule will be tomorrow.
Thank you so much.
Briefing
by the Spokesperson for the General Assembly President
Good
afternoon to everyone. Let’s go quickly, we don’t have much time.
Let me start by providing you with the latest figures that we have on
attendance.
For
the general
debate, we have 76 Heads of State and 35 Heads of Government. And
for today’s event
on the MDGs, we have 45 Heads of State and 31 Heads of Government.
Since
there are many things going on, and sometimes even at the same time, let me
flag to you only a couple of things and then I will take some questions.
One
is the data provided by the President of the General Assembly in his opening
remarks this morning, which are worth repeating, and I quote:
“For
every dollar that the developed countries spend on international assistance,
they invest 10 dollars in military budgets.
It
is calculated that the amount spent so far on the Iraq war could have paid for
a full course of primary schooling for all of the world’s children and youth
who are not in school.
The
price of a single missile is enough to build about 100 schools in any country
in Africa, Asia or Latin America.”
The
second issue that I wanted to mention to you is what I believe is one of the
highlights of today, which might pass without proper notice due to many
speeches and abundant information about the MDGs.
I
am referring to the launch of a joint initiative by the President of the
General Assembly and the Secretary-General to make global health a priority of
their respective mandates.
Both
mentioned today in their opening remarks at the MDGs high-level event that
they will work together and make use of their leadership to convene leaders of
UN health-related agencies and non-UN global health leaders from foundations,
the private sector and civil society, along with researchers and academics, to
take the necessary action in the immediate and long-term future to address
this pressing issue.
And
that is basically all I have for you today. Since we don’t have much
time, I am ready for any questions that you have.
**Questions
and Answers
Question:
Just briefly, the meeting at 4:15 pm with President d'Escoto and the Prime
Minister of Antigua and Ambassador Lorenzo; this (inaudible) special topic.
What was the topic of that meeting?
Spokesperson:
It is the status of the MDGs, but I can get some more information for you.
Question:
The President of Ukraine, Victor Yushchenko, brought up the fact in the
general debate that this year, Ukraine will mark the seventy fifth anniversary
of the great famine, which took the lives of millions of people, and stated
clearly it was not directed against any people or State. Since this item
was on the… (General Committee) of consideration by the General Assembly,
could you explain the procedure that was used that resulted in the
postponement of this item; naming the members of the General Committee?
Spokesperson:
Yes, there was a meeting of the General Committee, as I mentioned here before,
where they discussed which items need to be discussed in the agenda, and some
were approved. And on this one there was a discussion and the member
countries decided to postpone it. What does it mean to postpone? It
means that they are going to have more dialogue in order to reach a consensus,
or whether they have to go for votes to decide whether that item is going to
be included. Right now it is not included in the agenda, but it could be
included at any time. And if I remember well, because I am doing it by
heart, I think for that particular issue they put a deadline, which is the end
of this year. Mr. Abbadi.
Question:
Thank you. This meeting you mentioned previously, regarding health,
included the meeting between agencies and the private sector. Could you
give some more specifics? Are Governments also included in this meeting
and what are the specific goals to be achieved?
Spokesperson:
As I said, and I flagged that because I thought it was not going to be very
much noticed with so many things going on. As you all know, health is
fundamental to development, peace, security, and human rights. And
despite rapid technological advances and significant gains in certain areas,
major challenges remain. There are, in particular, three areas which
will continue to lag behind: one is functioning and affordable health
systems; the second is maternal health; and the third is the diseases of the
world’s poor, or more commonly defined as neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).
The idea is to convene a meeting not only with world leaders, but also
with civil society and everybody who is involved in these issues, to try to
tackle the issue and make a very immediate plan of action to try to solve
the…
Question:
Is this a high-level meeting and where would it take place and when?
Spokesperson:
The idea is that, as it stands now, because we’re working on it, is that
during the sixty third session of the General Assembly; on the first step
there will be a meeting on “Strengthening Global Health: The Health MDGs and
Beyond”, which should be convened here most likely by the end of 2008 or the
beginning of 2009. And then later on, as a second step, there would be a
high-level debate, probably by June 2009, to try to call for a General
Assembly resolution.
Question:
Sorry, does this concern specific diseases or is it a general meeting?
Spokesperson:
No, as I said before, it is global health. It is specific on global
health. If you read both speeches today of the President of the General
Assembly and the Secretary-General, they both refer to this issue and they
both have agreed that they are working together to use their leadership to try
to really tackle this issue as one of the immediate steps, obviously under the
umbrella of the MDGs. Matthew?
Question:
A follow-up to Anne’s question about the debate about the Ukraine famine
memorial resolution. Can you either confirm or deny that there was an
incident during the debate of that item in which the President of the General
Assembly ended up clearing the room due to back-and-forth points between the
US and Russia?
Spokesperson:
I can confirm that there was absolutely no incident.
Question:
No incident whatsoever?
Spokesperson:
No incident whatsoever. I was there. I was present. I’ve
read your story. I think it really does not reflect at all what happened
there. There was…
Question:
Can you describe…?
Spokesperson:
Let me finish, please. There was a normal debate, as any other meeting,
with different positions. They did not reach an agreement and then after
further discussions they decided to postpone the item. Let me make it
very clear, because I have seen some of these reports. The President of
the General Assembly did not call any security guards, nobody at that meeting
called any security guards, and there was absolutely no need to call any
security guards. So I don’t know how that information got out,
because, as I said, I was informing you daily on the daily situation and it
was a normal meeting. It happened with other items where they did not
reach an agreement and decided to postpone it. They could have decided
to vote and they did not vote.
Question:
A follow-up question. Did the Ambassador of Kazakhstan call the
interruption of her by the US representative an outrage? And how many
points of order were there back and forth between the US and Russia?
Spokesperson:
Well, that I can check for you. I have to check on the notes. But,
as I said, there was a dialogue and they had different opinions and mainly it
was more on procedure than on the substance. But let me also make this
very clear: it was only on procedural matters, but I can check a little
bit more on that for you. But as I said, there was absolutely no
incident and nobody was calling any security guards, and certainly not the
President of the General Assembly.
Question:
When they’re talking of procedure, yesterday at the stakeout, the Foreign
Minister of Serbia said that they’re asking for the resolution to send the
matter of Kosovo to the International Court of Justice to be considered as
soon as possible after the general debate. Are you aware of that
request? Who decides when it will be scheduled and put on the agenda?
Spokesperson:
The General Assembly does. I can find out more details for you. As
soon as the general debate ends, they start planning what are the topics and
when and in which committees they are going to be discussing it.
Question:
In the General Committee, or where is that decision…?
Spokesperson:
As I said, the General Committee was only to decide which items were going to
be discussed and where. In other words, they will decide now whether it
goes to the First Committee, the Second Committee, the Third Committee, so
we’ll have a full agenda. So basically, just to give you an idea, if
the Third Committee meets in one week, they will make their own programme and
then we will know which are they items and when are they going to discuss
them.
Question:
First, I wanted to know, you read out some statements by Miguel d’Escoto; I
was wondering where we can get copies of his full address. And the
second question is the four o’clock meeting President d’Escoto will be at,
is that also going to have one of the… is one of the other speakers the head
of the Group of 77?
Spokesperson:
On the first issue, about where you can find all the speeches, you can go to
the President of the General Assembly web page, which is under the UN web
page. And there you have all the speeches available. On the
second, I’ll find out for you and I’ll let you know later.
Question:
Since you tell us, Enrique, that you were present at this exchange over the
Ukrainian famine resolution, do you recall off hand which of the American
ambassadors it was that was speaking on that issue for the US.
Spokesperson:
I can check that for you later on.
Question:
I mean, whether it was Ambassador Khalilzad or Ambassador Wolff.
Spokesperson:
It wasn’t Ambassador Khalilzad.
Question:
It was not Khalilzad? So it was either Ambassador Wolff or (inaudible)
or some other person?
Spokesperson:
Correct.
Question:
Also Russia, can you state who was the Ambassador for Russia?
Spokesperson:
The Permanent Representative.
Question:
Permanent Representative?
Spokesperson:
Yes.
Question:
Ambassador Churkin?
Spokesperson:
Yes.
Question:
Thank you.
Spokesperson:
My pleasure. So you don’t have any more questions? Let’s leave it
for the next press conference of Spain.
