A/54/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-fourth session: First Committee: Mr. Raimundo Gonzalez (Chile) Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee): Mr. Sotirios Zackheos (Cyprus) Second Committee: Mr. Roble Olhaye (Djibouti) Third Committee: Mr. Vladimir Galuška (Czech Republic) Fifth Committee: Ms. Penny Wensley (Australia) Sixth Committee: Mr. Phakiso Mochochoko (Lesotho) 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-fourth session shall be elected according to the following pattern: (a) Five representatives from African States; (b) Five representatives from Asian States; (c) One representative from an Eastern European State; (d) Three 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: Algeria, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Seychelles. Asian States: Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq, Tajikistan, Thailand. Eastern European States: Lithuania. Latin American and Caribbean States: Bolivia, Cuba, Grenada. Western European and Other States: Iceland, Monaco. 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-Presidency of the General Assembly: Algeria, Bolivia, China, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Cuba, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, France, Grenada, Iceland, Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq, Lithuania, Monaco, Nigeria, the Russian Federation, Seychelles, Tajikistan, Thailand, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America. I wish to take this opportunity to congratulate the States that have been elected Vice-Presidents of the General Assembly. With the Chairmen of the six Main Committees and the 21 Vice-Presidents elected, the General Committee for The first meeting of the General Committee will be held on Wednesday, 15 September 1999, at 10 a.m., in Conference Room 3. Letter from the Chairman of the Committee on Conferences (A/54/313)

The Assembly will now turn its attention to document A/54/313, which contains a letter dated 2 September 1999 from the Chairman of the Committee on Conferences addressed to the President of the Assembly. Members are aware that, pursuant to section I, paragraph 7 of Assembly resolution 40/243, no subsidiary organ of the General Assembly should be permitted to meet at United Nations Headquarters during the main part of 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 Committee on Relations with the Host County and the Executive Board of the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Population Fund to meet during the main part of the fifty-fourth 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-fourth session of the Assembly, may I take it that the General Assembly adopts the recommendation of the Committee on Conferences regarding these two subsidiary organs?