REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Elena Ponomareva-Piquier, Chief of the Press and External Relations Section of the United Nations Office at Geneva, chaired the briefing which also heard from spokespersons and representatives from the World Food Programme, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the UN Refugee Agency, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Trade Organization.

Secretary-General's Travels

Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said the United Nations Secretary-General was continuing his voyage in North-East Asia. He had arrived yesterday in Seoul, Republic of Korea, on his first visit to his home country since becoming Secretary-General. Mr. Ban would return to New York on 9 July and would leave again for Paris on 12 July, as he had been invited by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to participate in the Paris Summit for the Mediterranean, which would take place on 13 July. The following day – Bastille Day – the Secretary-General would attend the French National Day Military Parade, which would for the first time include United Nations Blue Helmets from different parts of the world.

On 15 and 16 July, the Secretary-General would visit Germany, upon the invitation of Chancellor Angela Merkel, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier continued. During his stay, he would meet the Chancellor, the German Foreign Minister and other Cabinet Ministers in Berlin. The Secretary-General would return to New York on 16 July.

Director-General’s Agenda

Turning to Geneva, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said that, on Monday, 7 July, Sergei Ordzhonikidze, UNOG Director-General, would participate in the annual Tripartite Meeting between the United Nations Office at Geneva, the Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. This year, the meeting was hosted by the Council of Europe in Strasbourg and would focus on inter-cultural dialogue. The Tripartite Process, a framework of consultations among those three organizations, had been initiated in 1993 to provide a forum of discussions on issues of common concern.

The following day, Tuesday, 8 July, the Director-General would chair the opening session of the general meeting on cooperation between the United Nations system and the Organization of the Islamic Conference. The meeting, which would last from 8 to 10 July, was part of regular consultations between the secretariats of various entities of the two organizations to review areas of cooperation between them, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier concluded.

Geneva Activities

Also in Geneva, on Monday, the Human Rights Committee would open its ninety-third session, which would be held at Palais Wilson from 7 to 25 July 2008 to review reports submitted by the Governments of the United Kingdom, France, San Marino and Ireland on measures taken to implement the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. On the first day of the session, at 10 a.m., the 18-member Committee would adopt its agenda and programme of work. The Committee would also hear, in a closed meeting, from representatives of non-governmental organizations and intergovernmental organizations on the situation in the countries that it would review, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier said.

Outlining the provisional agenda, Ms. Ponomareva-Piquier noted that the Committee was scheduled to examine the sixth periodic report of the United Kingdom on Monday, 7 July and Tuesday, 8 July; the fourth periodic report of France on Wednesday, 9 July and Thursday, 10 July; the second periodic report of San Marino on Friday, 11 July; and the third periodic report of Ireland on Monday, 14 July and Tuesday, 15 July, in formal public meetings. The Committee would present its concluding observations on the implementation of the Covenant by these countries at the end of its three-week session on 25 July. Background press releases, in English and French, containing the Committee’s provisional agenda, were available in the Press Room.

Haiti

Alessia Barbezat of the World Food Programme (WFP) said WFP was rapidly expanding its operations in Haiti, reaching more hungry people thanks to the $23 million in funds raised through the WFP high food price appeal. WFP was currently assisting more than 800,000 people in Haiti, including 40,000 families in urban areas. Over the summer months WFP would provide hot meals to 200,000 school-age children to help prevent them from dropping out of school. Haiti was particularly vulnerable to the food price rises, as Haiti imported 50 per cent of its food, including its staple food, rice. In the months ahead, more and more people would receive food assistance – with 2.3 million people projected to be receiving aid by the end of the year. A press release was available in the back of the room.

Ethiopia

Following an urgent appeal from the Ethiopian Government for food and nutrition assistance, WFP would also be expanding its operations in Ethiopia, Ms. Barbezat said. WFP would step up emergency food assistance from the 3.2 million it was feeding in Ethiopia today to reach 4.6 million people. Ethiopian Deputy Prime Minister Addisu Legesse had told Parliament earlier this week that the Government needed an additional $430 million to address food shortages. A press release was available.

Honduras-UN Customs Agreement on Humanitarian Goods

Elisabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that today in Geneva the Government of Honduras and the United Nations had signed a customs agreement on measures to expedite the import, export and transit of relief consignments and possessions of relief personnel in the event of disasters and emergencies. Last year, a similar accord had been signed with Nepal, and OCHA hoped that these cases would serve as a model for other countries. A press release was available at the back of the room.

Ecuador Refugee Consultation

Jennifer Pagonis of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said that yesterday Ecuador had started a nationwide process of consultations with refugees and organizations that worked on their behalf. In doing so, Ecuador had become the first country in Latin America, and on of eight pilot countries worldwide, to take part in a global process of UNHCR-sponsored national consultations on needs. Refugees from all over the country were taking part in the two-day consultations in Quito, which would end today (Friday) with the adoption of a common plan of action to address the main challenges affecting refugees and local communities. Ecuador had the largest refugee population in Latin America, mostly coming from Colombia. Access to health, education, security and proper documentation were some of the main priorities identified as key areas to help refugees. A briefing mpte was available at the back of the room.

Other

Ms. Byrs noted that on 16 July in New York OCHA would launch its mid-year review – which provided an update on the state of funding of the joint United Nations humanitarian appeals launched in December 2007. An embargoed press release would be available, under embargo until 1 p.m. New York time on the day of the launch, as well as the complete document on www.reliefweb.int, also subject to the embargo.

Ms. Byrs also announced a revised United Nations appeal for Myanmar would be launched on 10 July from New York. On 21 July, in Singapore, the countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations would release the conclusions of their major assessment mission, which they had deployed in Myanmar.

Teresa Buerkle of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) said that, as previously announced, there would be a press briefing on the outcome of the Codex Alimentarius Commission at 12.30 p.m. today at the International Conference Centre Geneva. A media advisory had been sent out.

Anoush der Boghossian of the World Trade Organization (WTO) announced the WTO schedule for next week. Of particular interest, on Friday, 11 July, at 3 p.m. there would be a Trade and Development Committee special session on aid-for-trade. During the meeting, members would review the status of that initiative.

Turning to WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy’s schedule, Ms. der Boghossian said that today Mr. Lamy was in Berlin, where he would meet with Chancellor Angela Merkel, Cabinet Ministers with portfolios in Economics, Techhnology and Agriculture, and the President of the Federation of German Industries. Next week, on Thursday, 10 July, the Director-General would meet in Geneva with the European Committee of the United Kingdom’s House of Lord’s.

On 15 July WTO would launch its World Trade Report, 2008, on the theme “Trade and Globalization”, at 11 a.m. in Room CF-1. Presenting the report would be the Director-General and WTO’s Chief Economist, Patrick Low. The report would be available to journalists via the WTO website in the media newsroom, starting on 10 July, under embargo until 15 July, with hardcopies available on 14 July, Ms. der Boghossian said.