TRANSCRIPT OF PRESS CONFERENCE BY SECRETARY-GENERAL KOFI ANNAN AT HEADQUARTERS, 12 JANUARY 1998

Press Release
SG/SM/6433

TRANSCRIPT OF PRESS CONFERENCE BY SECRETARY-GENERAL KOFI ANNAN AT HEADQUARTERS, 12 JANUARY 1998

THE SPOKESMAN: Ladies and Gentlemen, the Secretary-General would like to introduce you to the first-ever Deputy Secretary-General.

THE SECRETARY-GENERAL: Good morning. Let me begin by wishing all of you a happy New Year, because this is the first time I've seen most of you.

I am very pleased this morning to introduce the first Deputy Secretary- General of the United Nations, Louise Fréchette. Some of you knew her when she was here with us at the United Nations. I also know that some of you said I was looking for the most qualified woman to take this job. There you are wrong. I was looking for the best person to take the job, and she happens to be a woman. And I am very happy that we have someone who comes to us with the qualifications of Ms. Fréchette.

She has had a varied career in the Canadian Foreign Ministry. She started here in New York about 25 years ago, so in a way it is homecoming for her. She has had stints at the Canadian Mission in Geneva, as Ambassador to Argentina and Ambassador to the United Nations here in New York. She has also had experience in economic policy and has served as Associate Deputy Minister of Finance and Deputy Minister of Defence. And of course she comes with all the linguistic skills: speaking English, French and Spanish. For those who often worry about linguistic balance, you don't need to worry this time.

Let me present Louise Fréchette. And Louise, you may want to say a few words and maybe take some questions.

MS. FRÉCHETTE: Yes, I will say a few words if you don't mind. First of all to thank you very much, Mr. Secretary-General, for offering me this wonderful opportunity, and to say that I consider it a great honour to have been chosen for this job.

I accepted without any hesitation, frankly, for two reasons. First, because I'm a great believer in the United Nations. As the Secretary-General has indicated, my career in the foreign service brought me in contact with the United Nations many times in the course of my 25 years. And I have no difficulty affirming that I think that the United Nations is an indispensable organization, and therefore it's a great honour to be here.

But I have a second reason for accepting with pleasure, and it is the great admiration and respect I have for you, Mr. Secretary-General, and for the people who work in the United Nations. I have come across a large number of extremely competent and dedicated people who do a lot of very good work for the Organization, and I am very proud to join with what I consider to be a very good team.

- 2 - Press Release SG/SM/6433 12 January 1998

As usual, the United Nations has a great challenge, and its biggest challenge is to keep up with the times, to be ready for the problems of tomorrow rather than to look backwards. And I must say I'm struck by the amount of change that has taken place in the three years that I've been away from New York. So I've been very much looking forward to joining the team and working together with Mr. Annan on this job.

With your permission, Mr. Secretary-General, I would like to repeat in French what I have just said. I don't think I should be so bold as to do the same thing in Spanish, but I would like to say it in French.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary-General, I should like to reciprocate, on behalf of the United Nations correspondents, your best wishes for the new year, challenging as it is going to be. I should like to mention that we are getting off to a flying start as far as news is concerned. Your first presentation is producing considerable news, as you can tell from the audience, which is considerably higher than it normally is.

Ms. Fréchette, best wishes to you. I hope that you will follow the Secretary-General's trail, meeting with the press as often as possible and being quite forthcoming.

My first question is: you mentioned the challenge of the times; in the context of your new duties, what do you consider the greatest challenge facing you now?

THE DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL: As you know, the resolution that the General Assembly adopted creating this job makes a special reference to areas of development and economic issues in general. I think there is great challenge for the United Nations in defining its role in the future on these issues of development. There is no doubt that there is a crying need for greater attention to be paid to developmental issues, as well as to those cross-cutting issues that affect all countries -- the so-called global issues. I think the real challenge for the United Nations, among many, and certainly for myself, given the fact that I will pay special attention to these areas, is to help define the proper role for the United Nations on these kinds of issues.

QUESTION: I break in on news that is happening. I must ask the Secretary-General, if I may, his opinion on what is going on today in Iraq, where Baghdad once again says it will determine whether a weapons inspection team is acceptable or not. And they are saying they are going stop a team led by Scott Ritter, the American. They say the team is unbalanced: too many British, too many Americans.

- 3 - Press Release SG/SM/6433 12 January 1998

THE SECRETARY-GENERAL: Let's see if there are others who have questions for Ms. Fréchette, and then I will come back to your question, if you don't mind. I am not ducking it -- I will come back to you.

QUESTION: Your job has been pretty clearly defined in the language that creates the post. But I wonder in what ways you might define it personally. What will you bring to the job, as the first person ever to hold such a position, that will be sort of your own personal lasting legacy for those who follow?

THE DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL: I think what I bring to the job is, first, a fairly good knowledge of the United Nations, although I think I have a lot of catching up to do, a lot has happened since I left. I have been involved at various stages in my career with many aspects of economic policy: trade policy in the Foreign Ministry and a relationship with the international financial institutions when I was in the Department of Finance. I bring a fairly broad background on economic issues, generally speaking. And I think I have in the last few years learned a great deal about the management of large organizations, which I am sure will be relevant to my job in the United Nations Secretariat.

[STATEMENT REPEATED IN FRENCH]

QUESTION: Mine is a bit of a light question. With the $15,000 a year, you will be paid less than your secretary. How will you survive in New York?

THE DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL: I beg your pardon.

QUESTION: Fifteen-thousand dollars is your allowance for a whole year, annually. Your secretary will be paid more than that. How will you survive in New York?

THE DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL: I think $15,000 is an allowance for hospitality, which I think is quite generous.

QUESTION: That was your own figuring here, in regard to [inaudible]?

THE DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL: I think there is some information available about the composition of my office. I will have a small number of people that will be assigned to me personally. But, at the same time, I think the Secretary-General has made it clear that we will be working as a team with his team on the thirty-eighth floor. So I think the arrangements, as they are being foreseen, are more than adequate to support me in my job.

THE SECRETARY-GENERAL: But I am happy that you were worried about her conditions. We believe we are overworked and underpaid, and thank you for making that point.

- 4 - Press Release SG/SM/6433 12 January 1998

QUESTION: Yes, I am afraid I also have an Iraqi-related question.

QUESTION: How do you see this new post defining or redefining the post of Chef du cabinet?

THE SECRETARY-GENERAL: First of all, let me say that when you have somebody like Ms. Fréchette joining a unit, and this is often something we do not often realize -- when one person comes in everybody's job changes, including mine. I have had to decide what functions, what authority, I will give her to make her job meaningful. And that, of course, would also affect the work of the other people in the office. And so, the work of the Chef du cabinet will change somewhat, but not that drastically.

The coordination of the office when I am away, of overseeing the activities of the Organization, will fall to Ms. Fréchette. In the past, in the absence of a deputy, the Chef du cabinet had to do quite a lot of juggling and had to make sure that the place runs and that things were coordinated. That, for example, will go to Ms. Fréchette, and there will be other adjustments to be made. And my own functions would also change.

QUESTION: Ms. Fréchette, one of the things that has changed in the years you have been away from here is, of course, the reduction in the number of peacekeeping operations and, in general, the appetite for peacekeeping, if one is to judge. Would you welcome a discussion about where peacekeeping is going or what other kind of tools the United Nations might use?

THE DEPUTY SECRETARY-GENERAL: I think it has to be part of the — the word that comes to mind in French is réflexion -- thinking about the experience gained with peacekeeping in the early nineties. When is this the most appropriate tool? What are the tools that we need to manage and to respond to crises and, more importantly, to anticipate and prevent crises? And, yes, I think there has to be continuing dialogue. And perhaps this is the best time to do it, while the demand is not so high as it was some years ago when I was here.

THE SECRETARY-GENERAL: I would want to add that there have been a couple of very interesting reports on the role of peacekeeping and the role of the Council. Lord Carrington led a group that did a report recently, and also the Carnegie Foundation has come up with its report on preventive action in deadly conflict, and I think there will be an event here on 5 February to discuss it. I hope one can encourage the Council to take advantage of those two reports as a basis for all of us to discuss and review where we are, where we go and what changes and adjustments can be made. So I do agree with Ms. Fréchette that the kind of reflection that we need to do really should cover the points you raised in your question.

- 5 - Press Release SG/SM/6433 12 January 1998

Richard [of CNN], you asked about Iraq. Let me say that I have also followed the news. I am going to be meeting with Richard Butler later on in the day. And, as you know, he is due in Baghdad on 19 January to discuss with the Iraqi authorities the question of access.

I hope that the Iraqi authorities will not do anything precipitous and will wait for Mr. Butler to get there to raise whatever issues they have with him. We have been engaged in dialogue. Mr. Butler is going there, and my advice to them would be to wait and discuss these issues with him and not take any precipitous action.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary-General, you just said that you hoped that Iraq would not take any precipitous action. Right now, Iraq says the team cannot pursue its inspections tomorrow with Scott Ritter leading it. So has the United Nations decided to halt any inspections until Butler gets there?

THE SECRETARY-GENERAL: No, we have not decided to halt any inspections. The teams are on the ground, and as you know, they have been able to continue with their work, with the cooperation of the Iraqis, since November. This is the first hiccup we have confronted since then, and, as I said, I am going to be discussing with Mr. Butler to say no decision has been taken to halt, and I hope that this can be worked out in an acceptable manner. But in any event, Mr. Butler will be going there, and after I have spoken to him today, first of all to get a full report on the exact composition of the team in place and the nature of the Iraqi complaint and its validity.

QUESTION: Mr. Secretary-General, I was wondering when we can expect a decision from you about General Dallaire appearing before the Arusha Tribunal.

THE SECRETARY-GENERAL: The Legal Office has reviewed it, and I think we have had correspondence with the court, and I do expect my decision to be coming fairly shortly. Unfortunately, I just came back from leave today, and it is one of the issues that I will be looking at. But it should not take too long. We should be making that decision within that period. Thank you very much.

* *** *