Six months after the first global conference on the millennium bug, experts from over 170 countries met at the United Nations to assess progress in dealing with Year 2000 problems and preparations for coping with possible computer glitches.
NEW YORK: (AP)- "We are meeting as we did last December to work on the last headache of the 20th century and to ensure that it does not become the first crisis of the 21st century," said Pakistan's U.N. Ambassador Ahmad Kamal, who chairs the U.N. working group dealing with Y2K problems.
Carlos Braga, director of the World Bank's Y2K program, said it was encouraging that over 100 developing countries had now initiated national programs, compared with less than 10 in January 1998. "In spite of all our efforts it's impossible to guarantee that there will be no disruptions due to the Y2K problem. With less than 200 days remaining until the century date change, this outlook is unlikely to change significantly," Braga said.
At a press conference, Y2K coordinators from Europe, Asia, the Americas and Australia provided a glimpse of some of the problems and challenges they face. Mario Tagarinski said the 29 countries in East and Central Europe and Central Asia need independent assessments of their Y2K problems-and help to fix them. One country, Yugoslavia, hasn't even been heard from on the millennium bug issue, he said. At the other end of the spectrum, Venezuela has invested $200 million to ensure oil is delivered on time and the country's Y2K oil expert, Ivan Crespo, said all critical components in the oil industry will be fixed by August.
