Global Policy Forum

By Jonathan Katzenellenbogen

United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has said that the World Summit on Sustainable Development should focus on five key areas where concrete results ,"can and must be obtained".

The five areas are: water and sanitation, energy, health, agriculture, and biodiversity, which Annan said could be remembered under the acronym, "Wehab". The summit, to which 193 heads of state have been invited and around 20000 delegates are expected, will be held at the Sandton Convention Centre from August 26 to September 4.

Agreement on the key issues ahead of time has become an important goal of UN officials to avoid the sort of rancour that surrounded last year's UN World Conference against Racism.

As part of the effort to lay the ground for the Summit, government is hosting an "informal seminar" that begins today. President Thabo Mbeki will address the seminar on Friday on the political momentum that is required for a successful summit. Deputy UK Prime Minister John Prescott as well as the most senior US diplomat working on the summit, John Turner, will also attend the seminar that will be closed to the press.

Annan's speech showed there was a "breakthrough" which would allow greater focus on goals for the summit that are achievable, said Jay Singh, a senior official in the department of environment and tourism in Pretoria, who is part of the SA policy planning team for the summit. A final agenda for the summit must still be agreed upon at a meeting in Bali, Indonesia, towards the end of this month.

But the speech delivered by Annan's wife, Nane, in New York yesterday shows that progress has been made on agreeing on the agenda. Annan was in Cyprus trying to push forward the Middle East peace process.

One of the sources of controversy has been the insistence of some developing countries that trade and finance issues be included, but industrial countries say these issues are being dealt with in separate forums. However, controversy could still arise on biotechnology, in the category of agriculture and biodiversity.

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