The Chronicle interview.

• Position: Jan Kavan

Jan Kavan, who was elected President of the fifty-seventh session of the United Nations General Assembly, served as the Czech Republic's Deputy Prime Minister for Foreign and Security Policy from 1999 to 2002 and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1998 to 2002. He is currently a Deputy in the Czech Parliament.

Mr. Kavan studied journalism at Charles University in Prague and became one of the leaders of the 1960s student movement there. Following the Soviet invasion in 1968, he was placed on the Communist Party's blacklist of "representatives and exponents of the rightist movement". After nearly twenty years in exile, during which he actively assisted Czech anticommunist activists, he returned to the Czech Republic and was elected to Parliament. He wrote over a hundred articles for the daily press and specialized periodicals in the United States, the United Kingdom and other European countries, edited two books on Czech opposition movements and contributed to four books on this subject, which were published in the 1980s. He has also received a number of medal and awards for his contribution to human rights and democracy in his country.

Sanjay Sethi of the Chronicle spoke with Mr. Kavan on 24 September.

For the first time in its history, the United Nations General Assembly elected its President three months before the opening of the session over which he would preside. How has the preparation helped you for the tasks ahead?

The adoption of General Assembly resolution 56/509, in which it decided that its President, Vice-Presidents and the Chairmen of the Main Committees would be elected at least three months before the opening of the regular session, was certainly a step forward in our continuous process to revitalize the work of the Assembly. This early election has far-reaching implications. It is not a pure procedural modification, but has also mainly organizational and functional consequences. It has allowed a smooth transition between the successive presidencies, and thus encouraged all staff members of my office to function in a much more efficient manner.

In the weeks following my election, I held numerous consultations with representatives of different countries to share with them my priorities and get a sense of their objectives and expectations for the fifty-seventh General Assembly. Thus we established direct relations that are conducive for constructive deliberations. I also had the opportunity to exchange views and discuss various aspects of my future work with my predecessor, President Han Seung-soo. Those discussions enabled my team and me to prepare ahead of time for the presidency.

I must also emphasize that I used this time, before assuming fully my functions, for consultations with the Secretariat about the schedule of meetings for the Assembly. In this regard, unprecedented progress was achieved; for the first time, the General Assembly has a comprehensive draft programme of work available at the beginning of its session.

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