Yamoussoukro, 12 July 2009....... The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Côte d'Ivoire, Y.J. Choi, met with Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo in Yamoussoukro, Côte d'Ivoire's political capital on 12 July 2009, as part of his periodic consultations with the protagonists of the Ivorian peace process

At the end of the encounter, Mr. Choi said he had come to congratulate the Ivorian Government for having organized the identification and voter registration operation which ended on 30 June 2009, with the agreement of all the protagonists in the Ivorian crisis-resolution process. "About 6,500,000 persons were identified or registered without major incident. This is a historic and strategic progress which constitutes a solid basis to accelerate the crisis-resolution process," he declared.

On the issue of the presidential election scheduled for 29 November 2009, Mr. Choi said that it constituted an "exceptional window of opportunity". "The money to finance the election has already been raised and there is a very strong political will, so my concerns relate to the technical, management and planning challenges which lie ahead. These are challenges that should not be underestimated because it is just as important as the financial and political challenges with regard to respecting the date of 29 November," he added.

The Special Representative announced that he would be meeting with the Chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) in the next few days to discuss UNOCI's support in order to ensure that the deadline of 29 November is respected.

The meeting will be held a few days before the presentation in New York of the UN Secretary-General's 20th report on the UN Operation in Côte d'Ivoire.