Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg will 5-6 April head the first meeing of the UN high-level panel to propose measures to enhance UN work in the poorest countries. The panel meeting will take place in New York. The Prime Minister and some panel members will then continue to Segovia in Spain, to meet leaders of UN organisations.

Mr. Stoltenberg is co-chair of the UN panel together with Pakistan's Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Mocambique's Prime Minister Luisa Diogo. Panel proposals will be presented in time for the UN Assembly General in September.

Among the panel's members are British Minister of Finance Gordon Brown, former President Ricardo Lagos of Chile and former President Benjamin William Mkapa of Tanzania. The panel was appointed earlier this year in accordance with the wish of the UN summit in September 2005.

To the editor:
Press contact during Mr. Stoltenberg's stay in New York and Segovia is State Secretary Torbjørn Giæver Eriksen, tel. +47 99 54 19 11. As of today the programme looks as follows:

Tuesday 4 April:
Arrival in New York in the early afternoon. Preparations.

Wednesday 5 April:
09.00: opening of first meeting day, at the Millennium UN Plaza Hotel in New York.

Thursday 6 April:
09.30: opening of second meeting day, at the Millennium UN Plaza Hotel in New York.
Prime Minister Stoltenberg will be available for press in the afternoon.
Departure from New York for Segovia in the evening.

Friday 7 April:
Arrival in Segovia.
Meeting with leaders of UN organisations.

Saturday 8 April:
Meeting with leaders of UN organisations continues.
Departure for Oslo.