A/55/PV.2 General Assembly

I should like to inform members that the following representatives have been elected Chairpersons of the six Main Committees of the Assembly and are accordingly members of the General Committee for the fifty-fifth session: First Committee: Mr. Mya Than (Myanmar) Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee): Mr. Matia Mulumba Semakula Kiwanuka (Uganda) Second Committee: Mr. Alexandru Niculescu (Romania) Third Committee: Mrs. Yvonne Gittens-Joseph (Trinidad and Tobago) Fifth Committee: Mr. Gert Rosenthal (Guatemala) Sixth Committee: Mr. Mauro Politi (Italy) I congratulate the Chairpersons on their election. 00-63085 (E) ````````` 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-fifth 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) Three representatives from Latin American and Caribbean States; (e) One representative from Western European and other States; (f) Representatives of the five permanent members of the Security Council. 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 the names of the endorsed candidates: African States: Burkina Faso, Comoros, Gabon, Guinea, Mozambique, Tunisia. Asian States: Bhutan, Kuwait, Maldives, Uzbekistan, Yemen. Eastern European States: Belarus. Latin American and Caribbean States: El Salvador, Haiti, Suriname. Western European and other States: Turkey. 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: Belarus, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, China, Comoros, El Salvador, France, Gabon, Guinea, Haiti, Kuwait, Maldives, Mozambique, the Russian Federation, Suriname, Tunisia, Turkey, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the United States of America, Uzbekistan and Yemen. I wish to take this opportunity to congratulate the States which 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 fifty-fifth session of the General Assembly has now been fully constituted in accordance with rule 38 of the rules of procedure. The 1st meeting of the General Committee will be held on Wednesday, 6 September 2000, at 8 p.m. Letter from the Chairman of the Committee on Conferences (A/55/312)

The Assembly will now turn its attention to document A/55/312 containing a letter dated 16 August 2000 from the Chairman of the Committee on Conferences addressed to the President of the General Assembly. Members are aware that, pursuant to section 1, 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 recommended that the General Assembly authorize, among others, the Executive Board of the United Nations Development Programme/United Nations Population Fund, as well as the Working Group on the Financing of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, to meet during the main part of the fifty-fifth session. Having been informed by the Secretariat that the meetings of these two subsidiary organs will begin early in the fifty-fifth session of the Assembly, may I take it that the General Assembly adopts the recommendation of the Committee on Conferences for these two subsidiary organs?

Before adjourning the meeting, I should like to briefly recall a few organizational matters concerning the Millennium Summit of the United Nations, which, under sub-item (b) of item 61 of the provisional agenda of the fifty-fifth session, will take place from 6 to 8 September 2000, in accordance with General Assembly resolutions 53/202 of 17 December 1998, 54/254 of 15 March 2000, 54/261 of 10 May 2000 and 54/281 of 11 August 2000. Owing to the unique symbolic moment of the Millennium Summit, the Head of State of the country of the President of the fifty-fourth session of the General Assembly and the Head of State of the country of the President of the fifty-fifth session of the Assembly will jointly preside over the Summit. The Summit is composed of six plenary meetings on the basis of two meetings a day, as well as four interactive round-table sessions. The morning plenary meetings will be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., and the afternoon plenary meetings from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. At the opening meeting, tomorrow morning, the first speakers will be the two co-chairpersons of the Millennium Summit, the Secretary-General, and the head of State of the host country of the Organization. In order to accommodate all speakers at the Millennium Summit, statements should not exceed five minutes. As for the four round tables, the round table to be held on Wednesday, 6 September, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. will be chaired by His Excellency Mr. Goh Chok Tong, Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore. The round table to be held on Thursday, 7 September, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. will be chaired by His Excellency Mr. Aleksander Kwasniewski, President of the Republic of Poland. The round table to be held on Thursday, 7 September, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. will be chaired by His Excellency Mr. Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías, President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. The round table to be held on Friday, 8 September, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. will be chaired by His Excellency Mr. Abelaziz Bouteflika, President of the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria. I should further like to inform members that the round tables will take place in Conference Rooms 5 and 6, at the garden level. Each head of State or head of Government or head of delegation attending the round tables may be accompanied by two advisers. Accredited representatives and observers not attending the round tables will be able to follow the proceedings of the round tables via closed-circuit television in the overflow room, that is in Conference Room 3. I remind Member States that the flag of Tuvalu will be raised at a ceremony that will take place in front of the delegates’ entrance immediately following this meeting.