SECRETARY-GENERAL MEETS WITH CHINESE ACADEMICS AS HE CONTINUES FIVE-DAY MISSION TO CHINA
Press Release
SG/T/2038
SECRETARY-GENERAL MEETS WITH CHINESE ACADEMICS AS HE CONTINUES FIVE-DAY MISSION TO CHINA
19960327 (Received from the Spokesman travelling with the Secretary-General.)BEIJING, 27 March -- United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros- Ghali today spent the fourth day of his five-day mission to China meeting with Chinese academics and representatives of United Nations agencies working in China.
He also met Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohammed Said Al-Sahaf, who is visiting China. The two held a constructive discussion on the status of the current negotiations on the implementation of the oil-for-food formula. The third round of the negotiations on the implementations of Security Council resolution 986 (1995) will resume in New York on 8 April.
In an address to some 200 university professors and United Nations watchers from around China, at a gathering organized by the United Nations Association of China, the Secretary-General outlined the various reforms he had undertaken since taking office. "But no effort at reform can succeed as long as the primary concern of the Organizations is mere survival", he said, describing the acute financial crisis facing the world body.
He emphasized the importance of peace-building, as a "link between urgent efforts to deal with conflicts and the long-term struggle for development". He cited, as examples of the United Nations' unique role in peace-building, the pioneering work of United Nations personnel in "micro- disarmament", the collection and disposal of the small arms responsible for most of the deaths in current conflicts. He also cited the dangerous task of mince clearance undertaken around the world by United Nations staff and said the United Nations had taken "the lead in calling for a ban on these hideous weapons".
Later, the Secretary-General held a free-wheeling discussion with the representatives of all United Nations agencies operating in China on coordination within the United Nations system, and the effect of the new budgetary constraints on their programmes.
On Thursday, 28 March, the Secretary-General flies to Seoul on the second leg of his Asian tour.
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