SECRETARY-GENERAL ARRIVES IN ITALY

Press Release
SG/T/2020

SECRETARY-GENERAL ARRIVES IN ITALY

ROME, 9 January -- Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, beginning his two-day official visit to Italy, arrived in Rome on Sunday at lunch time where he was received by the Minister of University and Scientific Research, Giorgio Salvini. The two reviewed a military guard of honour, at which the United Nations hymn together with the Italian national anthem were played.

Upon his arrival the Secretary-General briefed the International Fund for Agricultural Development President, Fawzi Al-Sultan; the World Food Programme Executive Director, Catherine Bertini; and the Food and Agriculture Organization Deputy Director-General, Howard Hjort, on his recent visit to Africa and the Middle East. He discussed with them the Organization's financial crisis and its impact on the image of the United Nations system as a whole.

After a tour d'horizon of all current United Nations operations and activities, including those in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Angola, Rwanda, Burundi, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, as well as the nutritional situation in Iraq, they reviewed this year's forthcoming United Nations events, including the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty, as well as the World Food Summit.

On the first day of his official visit to Italy, the Secretary-General had a one-hour meeting with the Italian Defence Minister, General Domenico Corcione, to whom he expressed the profound gratitude of the United Nations for Italy's continuous support and participation in United Nations peace- keeping operations, particularly the contribution to the Mozambique action and to the United Nations Iraq-Kuwait Observer Mission. He also thanked Italy for its contribution to the Brindisi Base and the United Nations Staff College of Turin. The Secretary-General paid a special tribute to the scores of Italian soldiers who lost their lives in the line of duty for the various United Nations operations.

Discussing the multinational Implementation Force (IFOR) in Bosnia, Defence Minister Corcione underlined the importance of the United Nations' continued involvement in parts of the former Yugoslavia and stressed that, for Italy, the United Nations umbrella gave legitimacy to the Italian participation in IFOR. He reminded the Secretary-General of the importance to Italy of the situation in that region because of its proximity to Italian territory.

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The Secretary-General then had a tete-a-tete meeting with His Holiness Pope John Paul II, whom he thanked for his continuous moral support to the United Nations and its activities, as witnessed by his recent visit to the United Nations on 5 October 1995, on the occasion of the Organization's fiftieth anniversary. Following his audience with Pope John Paul II, the Secretary-General had a meeting with the Vatican's Secretary of State, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, and the Secretary of State for Relations amongst States, Monsignor Louis Tauran, with whom he discussed the situations in ex- Yugoslavia, Africa and the Commonwealth of Independent States. They also discussed the role of the United Nations in social and economic matters.

This afternoon, the Secretary-General is scheduled to be the keynote speaker at a conference entitled "Italy and the United Nations", co-hosted by Foreign Minister Susanna Agnelli and the Mayor of Rome, Francesco Rutelli. The conference is intended for the Secretary-General to meet representatives of the top Italian non-governmental organizations.

Tonight, the Secretary-General and Mrs. Boutros-Ghali are guests of the President of the Italian Senate, Carlo Scognamiglio.

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