General Assembly invites East Timor to upcoming forum on sustainable development

The United Nations General Assembly today invited the newly independent Democratic Republic of East Timor, which has applied for membership in the UN, to participate in an upcoming summit on sustainable development issues.

In a resolution adopted without a vote, the Assembly welcomed East Timor's independence on 20 May and invited the new nation, pending its admission to membership in the UN, to participate as a State in the World Summit on Sustainable Development, scheduled to be held from 26 August to 4 September in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The Assembly also agreed that East Timor could take part in the fourth session of the Summit's preparatory committee, which is starting next week in Indonesia.

In other action, the Assembly adopted a resolution requesting its Special Political and Decolonization (Fourth) Committee to continue its efforts for a comprehensive review of the whole question of peacekeeping operations and all their aspects.

The resolution said the Special Committee should also review previous proposals and consider any new ones in order to enhance the UN's capacity to fulfil its responsibilities in that field.

The Assembly also urged Member States, the UN Secretariat and relevant UN bodies to take all necessary steps to implement the proposals, recommendations and conclusions of the Special Committee.

Meanwhile, on the recommendation of its Administrative and Budgetary (Fifth) Committee, the Assembly appointed Kenshiro Akimoto of Japan to serve the remainder of the term of office of another Japanese official in the Committee on Contributions.