The Conference will be preceded by a briefing on organizational matters on 13 May 2001, at the Centre Borschette, located at:

Both buildings are located near the Rond-Point Schuman.

To facilitate the reception of delegations on arrival and departure, a Reception and Information Desk will be set up at Brussels National Airport. VIP facilities will be available for dignitaries. The date of arrival and flight number of Heads of State or Government and heads of delegation should be communicated directly to Protocol (see section 16 below):

A railway service links Brussels Airport with the Midi-Zuid station in downtown Brussels every 20 minutes. From the station, rapid and free public transport (buses) connecting to the hotels, European Parliament buildings and the Solvay library will be available to the participants.

There is no particular need for participants to take specific health precautions.

Participants may bring all personal effects without paying customs duties.

Details on customs procedures on the importation and exportation of certain goods (e.g. tobacco and alcoholic beverages) can be found on the website of the Belgian Ministry of Finance: www.minfin.fgov.be.

A visa for entry into Belgium may be required. Participants concerned are strongly advised to seek information on requirements applicable in their case from Belgian diplomatic or consular missions in their home countries. In some countries where no Belgian representation exists, missions from other European Union member States will have to be contacted. Where a visa is required, applicants are strongly advised to apply at least six weeks prior to departure for Brussels. All visas for participants duly invited by the Secretary-General of the Conference will be free of charge.

The Belgian authorities will do their utmost to facilitate access procedures for all participants.

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A Media Centre is available for the exclusive use of accredited correspondents and is located on the ground floor of the European Parliament building. The Media Centre will be equipped with appropriate electrical power outlets for personal laptops, typewriters, Telephones, Fax facilities, closed-circuit television and a press documentation counter. Accredited media correspondents will also have allocated seating in meeting rooms during public sessions.

Media accreditation forms will be distributed throughout the UN system a few months prior to the Conference, or they can be obtained from United Nations Headquarters in New York (see address below). Completed application forms must be accompanied by a letter of assignment issued on official headed paper and carrying the original signature of the Editor or Bureau Chief.
 

They should be mailed or faxed before 7 May 2001 to:

The interactive debates, general statements, parallel events and civil society events will be public. Unless otherwise decided, all other meetings will be private. The interactive debates will take place in the Plenary Hall and the general statements will be made in Room 4B01. There will be limited seats for the press and observers in designated areas in the Plenary Hall.

The dates of arrival and departure and flight numbers of Heads of State or Government and Heads of Delegation should be communicated directly to:
(i) the Protocol Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Belgium,
(ii) European Commission Protocol and
(iii) the United Nations.

This information should be forwarded as soon as possible to:

For purposes of pre-registration and accreditation and the issuance of security badges, until 6 May 2001 the credentials of all participants should be communicated in writing using the attendance form as soon as possible to:

It would be appreciated if every effort could be made to submit credentials by 27 April 2001.

As from 7 May 2001, all communications relating to registration and accreditation should be addressed to:

On-site registration at the European Parliament building for all participants will take place daily as of 10 May 2001, from 9.00 a.m. to 6.30 p.m. To register and to obtain photo ID badges, all participants should go to the Registration Counter with their passport and their credentials.

A limited number of parking spaces will be reserved for delegations in the European Parliament building parking grounds. Special parking stickers must be obtained from the European Parliament Security Division:

The conference premises of the European Parliament building will be the main venue for the Conference. The meeting rooms consist of the Plenary Hall, Main Committee Room, and general debate and parallel events rooms, as well as a few medium-sized rooms for regional groups and small meeting rooms for informals. A fully equipped press conference room and space for exhibitions and a cybercafé will be also available. The Conference secretariat offices will also be located at the European Parliament building.

The detailed programme of the Conference will be issued in a separate document. A daily Journal, which will include announcements of other events, will be issued during the Conference and made available at each of the meeting locations and hotels.

Texts of general statements delivered at the Conference which are remitted to the secretariat will be reproduced and distributed during the Conference in the language version(s) in which they are provided to the secretariat. There will be no facilities within the secretariat for typing, translation or reproduction in the other working or official languages of the Conference. There will be no distribution of statements in the meeting rooms.

The documentation of the Conference, which will be issued in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish, will consist of:

1. Pre-session documents, which will be distributed before the opening of the Conference. All delegations should bring their copies with them, as in conference venues away from headquarters, participants are entitled to receive only up to five complete sets of these documents in the language of their choice per delegation. Subsequent requests for copies will be met as long as stocks permit. A limited number of copies relevant to the agenda item under discussion will also be made available in the meeting room.

2. In-session documents, which will, in accordance with instructions received from delegations, be distributed to them in the number of copies and the language of their choice through the "pick-up boxes" at the Documents Distribution Counter.

Simultaneous interpretation will be provided in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish for the interactive debate, the Committee of the Whole and general statements. For the parallel events and civil society events, simultaneous interpretation will be provided in Arabic, English, French and Spanish.

Any representative may, in accordance with rule 53 of the rules of procedure of the Conference, make a speech in a language other than the above six languages. In this case, the representative must provide either interpretation services or a written text of the speech in one of those six languages. Interpretation into the other five languages of the Conference may be based on the interpretation or translation supplied by the representative.

It would assist the interpreters if copies of statements to be delivered in Plenary could be provided in advance to the Conference Room Officer assigned in each of the meeting rooms.

The NGO Forum Plenary will be held in the Charlemagne building of the European Commission from 10 to 12 May 2001 at:

The NGO Forum during the Conference will be held from 14 to 20 May 2001 at :

More details about the NGO Forum and NGO-related matters can be obtained from

Participation in the Conference will be open to the participation of the following in accordance with the rules of procedure of the Conference:

1. Representatives of States members of the United Nations and of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development;
2. Representatives of the European Union Institutions as host of the Conference;
3. Representatives of organizations that have received a standing invitation from the General Assembly to participate in the sessions and the work of all international conferences convened under its auspices in the capacity of observers;
4. Representatives of the specialized and related agencies;
5. Representatives of intergovernmental organizations in consultative status with the United Nations and UNCTAD;
6. Representatives of interested United Nations organs;
7. Representatives of non-governmental organizations in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council and UNCTAD;
8. Representatives of other intergovernmental organizations specially invited by the Secretary-General of the Conference;
9. Representatives of non-governmental organizations approved and invited by the Preparatory Committee to attend the Conference;
10. Other persons invited by the Secretary-General of the Conference.

Within the limits of the space and services available, every effort will be made to accommodate regional groups and other delegations which may wish to meet informally.

In the Plenary Hall, it will be possible to provide three seats for each member State. Additional seats will be available in the public gallery for other members of delegations. In the Committee rooms, there will be one seat at the table. Representatives of the specialized agencies, intergovernmental organizations, and non-governmental organizations will have one seat at the table in all meeting rooms.

Delegations will be seated in French alphabetical order.

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The weather in May in Brussels is normally mild with occasional showers. Medium-weight clothing will therefore be sufficient.

The monetary unit is the Belgian franc, made up of 100 centimes. Notes are issued in denominations of 100, 200, 500, 1000, 2000 and 10,000 francs, and coins of 1, 5, 20 and 50 centimes. 40.3399 Belgian francs are equivalent to one euro.

Travellers. cheques, credit cards and foreign currency notes of all major currencies are accepted. Banking facilities will be available in the European Parliament building where the LDC III Conference will be hosted.

An on-site service will provide all first aid facilities at the European Parliament building. Ambulance services will be on site should transfer be required to the local hospital. All costs incurred at hospitals or for other medical care will be at each delegate. s own expense.

Brussels has a full range of hotels of different categories, and many embassies accredited to the European Union and to the Belgian Government have specific accommodation arrangements with designated hotels.

A limited number of rooms are being made available to participants at the Belgian franc/euro rates quoted in the Hotel booking form.

Participants are advised to reserve their hotel rooms as early as possible and not later than 10 April 2001..To see a map of Brussels please click here.

The City of Brussels. public transport network (underground, bus and tramway) will be available for all the participants to the Conference. Special bus lines connecting to hotel zones mentioned in annex A and Conference premises will run during the event. Upon arrival at the airport, participants will receive information concerning the public transport network in and/around Brussels. Affordable taxi services are also available. In addition to the public transport facilities, private cars with or without drivers, vans and buses are available for hire on a commercial basis.

Enquiries regarding lost property should be addressed to the Security Desk within the European Parliament building.

A post office service will be available at the European Parliament building for postal, cable, telex and Fax services. Sufficient Telephones operated by both card and cash will be available on site. All of the above services will be for each delegate's own account.

Offices of the tourist and air travel agencies located within the European Parliament building will assist delegations in making arrangements for local and international travel, and also for tours in Belgium.

Electricity in Brussels is generally 220 volts (50 cycles). There are different kinds of plugs and sockets in use. Travellers with computers, shavers, tape recorders and other appliances should carry a plug adapter kit.

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The European Commission, the European Parliament and the Government of Belgium have established a Conference Committee for LDC III which is responsible, in consultation with the Secretary-General of the Conference, for all the arrangements required for the functioning of the Conference.

MEDIA AND PRESS ACCREDITATION:

before 7 May 2001:
MEDIA ACCREDITATION AND LIAISON UNIT (LDC III)
(Attention: Ms. Sonia Lecca)
Department of Public Information
United Nations - Room S-250
New York, N.Y. 10017, U.S.A.
Fax:(+1- 212) 963-46-42

after 7 May 2001
MEDIA AND PRESS ACCREDITATION (LDC III)
(Attention: Ms. Sonia Lecca)
European Parliament Press Service
Rue Wiertz, 43
B-1047 Brussels, Belgium

Press: Telephone: (+32.2) 284-20-54 Fax:(+32.2) 284-21-28

Audiovisual: Telephone:(+32.2) 284-48-17 Fax:(+32.2) 230-12-06

REGISTRATION AND ACCREDITATION:

CREDENTIALS - LDC III CONFERENCE
UNCTAD (Attention: Mrs. Al-Rahal)
Palais des Nations (E-8103)
1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Fax: (+41-22) 907-00-56

PARKING PLACES FOR DELEGATIONS
European Parliament -Security Division
Rue Wiertz, 60
1047 Brussels, Belgium
Telephone: (+32.2) 284-32-00
Fax: (+32.2) 284-49-96

PRE-REGISTRATION, ACCREDITATION AND SECURITY BADGES
The European Parliament
B-1040 Brussels, Belgium
Fax:(+32.2) 284-69-24

PROTOCOL:

1. MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, PROTOCOL - LDC III
Place du Petit Sablon, 8
1000 Brussels, Belgium
Telephone:(+32.2) 501-46-18
Fax: (+32.2) 511-20-01 Attention: Daniel Leroy

2. EUROPEAN COMMISSION, PROTOCOL -LDC III
Bâtiment Breydel
Avenue d. Auderghem, 45
1040 Brussels, Belgium
Telephone:(+32.2) 295-23-24
Fax:(+32.2) 295-59-57 Attention: Sabine Goddeeris

3. UNITED NATIONS, PROTOCOL - LDC III
Palais des Nations
Geneva, Switzerland
Telephone: (+41.22) 907-57-27
Fax:(+41.22) 907-00-56

SECRETARY OF THE CONFERENCE:

Mr. Awni Behnam
Secretary of the LDC III Conference
UNCTAD secretariat
Palais des Nations
1211 Geneva 10
Telephone:(+41 22) 907-57-27
Fax:(+41 22) 907-00-56

QUICK LINKS:

• City of Brussels (Official web site)

• Belgian Tourist Offices abroad

• European Union

• Hotel Reservation

• Weather in Belgium