SECRETARY-GENERAL, CONTINUING VISIT TO MOSCOW, MEETS PRESIDENT YELTSIN AND OTHER RUSSIAN LEADERS
Press Release
SG/T/2053
SECRETARY-GENERAL, CONTINUING VISIT TO MOSCOW, MEETS PRESIDENT YELTSIN AND OTHER RUSSIAN LEADERS
19960516 Talks Cover Regional Conflicts, United Nations Reform, Role Of World Body in Peace and Development; Russia Is Thanked for Financial SupportMOSCOW, 16 May -- Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, on the second day of his official visit to the Russian Federation, held talks today with President Boris Yeltsin and Prime Minister Victor Chernomyrdin.
The Secretary-General and President Yeltsin had a 30-minute meeting at the Kremlin, followed by a working lunch. They were joined by Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov and Presidential Foreign Affairs Adviser Dmitri Ryurikov, as well as Russia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Sergei Lavrov. Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser to the Secretary- General Chinmaya Gharekhan and Under-Secretary-General Vladimir Petrovsky accompanied the Secretary-General.
President Yeltsin expressed his strong support for the Secretary- General's efforts to reform the United Nations and for the role of the United Nations in peace and development. The Secretary-General said he was grateful to the Russian Federation for its financial support, and in particular for paying its contribution to the regular budget in full.
The two leaders reviewed the situation in a number of regional conflicts, a solution to which the United Nations is involved in seeking, in cooperation with the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and the Russian Federation. They also discussed the situation in Tajikistan. President Yeltsin said he was particularly pleased with the agreement signed this morning between Russia and Georgia on the settlement of the Georgia-South Ossetia issue.
The President said he attached great importance to the forthcoming conference in Geneva on displaced persons and refugees from the CIS and the Baltic States. (The Secretary-General is to open the conference himself, on 30 May.)
The Secretary-General expressed his support for President Yeltsin's initiative to convene a third "International Peace Conference" on the eve of the twenty-first century.
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In the afternoon, the Secretary-General opened a round-table discussion on "Russia and the Untied Nations" organized by the Inter-Parliamentary Group of the Russian Federation. He then met the Chairman of the Federation Council, the upper chamber of the Russian Parliament, Egor Stroev.
At 6 p.m., the Secretary-General met Prime Minister Chernomyrdin. They, too, conducted a review of relations between the Russian Federation and the United Nations. Mr. Chernomyrdin said his country supported efforts to reinforce that relationship and to strengthen the world Organization.
The Secretary-General is due to address the CIS heads of State summit meeting tomorrow.
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