A/53/PV.2 General Assembly

I should like to inform members that the following representatives have been elected Chairmen of the six Main Committees of the Assembly and are accordingly members of the General Committee for the fifty-third session: First Committee: Mr. André Mernier (Belgium) Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee): Mr. Pablo Macedo (Mexico) Second Committee: Bagher Asadi (Islamic Republic of Iran) Third Committee: Mr. Ali Hachani (Tunisia) Fifth Committee: Mr. Movses Abelian (Armenia) Sixth Committee: Mr. Jargalsaikhany Enkhsaikhan (Mongolia) I congratulate the Chairmen on their election. Item 6 of the provisional agenda Election of the Vice-Presidents of the General Assembly

Pursuant to rule 31 of the rules of procedure, we shall now proceed to the election of the Vice-Presidents of the General Assembly. All members of the General Assembly are eligible in this election except those already represented in the General Committee, namely, those countries whose representatives have been elected to the presidency of the General Assembly or to the chairmanships of the Main Committees. In accordance with paragraphs 2 and 3 of the annex to resolution 33/138, the 21 Vice-Presidents of the General Assembly at its fifty-third session shall be elected according to the following pattern: (a) Six representatives from African States; (b) Five representatives from Asian States; (c) One representative from an Eastern European State; (d) Two representatives from Latin American and Caribbean States; (e) Two representatives from Western European and Other States; In accordance with paragraph 16 of annex VI to the rules of procedure, the election of the Vice-Presidents of the Assembly by secret ballot will be dispensed with when the number of candidates corresponds to the number of seats to be filled. We shall proceed accordingly. I shall now read out the names of the endorsed candidates: African States: Cameroon, Lesotho, Liberia, Morocco, Senegal, Uganda. Asian States: Brunei Darussalam, Myanmar, Syrian Arab Republic, Turkmenistan, Yemen. Eastern European States: Georgia. Latin American and Caribbean States: Nicaragua, Suriname. Western European and Other States: Germany, San Marino. Since the number of candidates corresponds to the number of seats to be filled in each region, I declare those candidates elected, in addition to the representatives of the five permanent members of the Security Council. The following States have therefore been elected to Vice-Presidencies of the General Assembly: Brunei Darussalam, Cameroon, China, France, Georgia, Germany, Lesotho, Liberia, Morocco, Myanmar, Nicaragua, the Russian Federation, San Marino, Senegal, Suriname, the Syrian Arab Republic, Turkmenistan, Uganda, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the United States of America and Yemen. I wish to take this opportunity to congratulate the States which have been elected Vice-Presidents of the General Assembly. The first meeting of the General Committee will be held on Friday, 11 September 1998, at 10 a.m., in Conference Room 2. Letter from the Chairman of the Committee on Conferences (A/53/298)

The Assembly will now turn its attention to document A/53/298, which contains a letter dated 19 August 1998 from the Chairman of the Committee on Conferences addressed to the President of the Assembly. As members are aware, the Assembly, in paragraph 7 of its resolution 40/243, decided that no subsidiary organ of the General Assembly should be permitted to meet at United Nations Headquarters during a regular session of the Assembly unless explicitly authorized by the Assembly. As indicated in the letter I have just mentioned, the Committee on Conferences has recommended that the General Assembly authorize, among others, the Executive Board of the United Nations Development Programme/United Nations Population Fund and the Committee on Relations with the Host Country to meet during the main part of the fifty-third session. Having been informed by the Secretariat that the meetings of these two subsidiary organs will begin as early as the first week of the fifty-third session of the Assembly, may I take it that the General Assembly adopts the recommendation of the Committee on Conferences?