SECRETARY-GENERAL'S VISIT TO WASHINGTON, D.C., 11-12 MARCH

Press Release
SG/T/2118

SECRETARY-GENERAL'S VISIT TO WASHINGTON, D.C., 11-12 MARCH

The Secretary-General departed to Washington, D.C on the morning of Wednesday, 11 March. He and his party had an unscheduled 30-minute meeting on arrival at 10 a.m at the Ronald Reagan airport with the United States Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs, Princeton Lyman.

At the White House, before meeting with United States President William J. Clinton, two sets of staff discussions were held simultaneously. The first was between the Secretary-General, Deputy Secretary-General Louise Frechette and Assistant Secretary-General John Ruggie, on the United Nations side; and the Special Assistant to the President for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs Richard Clarke, the Special Assistant to the President and Senior Adviser for Global Affairs Bruce Riedel, and the Acting Director for Intelligence Matters at the National Security Council Mary McCarthy, on the United States side.

A second and parallel discussion took place between Under-Secretary-General for Management Joseph Connor and Washington United Nations Information Centre Director Joe Sills, and Mr. Lyman's Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Mike Sheehan, and the Director of Global Affairs at the National Security Council Len Hawley.

The Secretary-General, accompanied by Ms. Frechette, Mr. Connor and Mr. Ruggie, then met with President Clinton at 12:45 p.m.

At 1:45 p.m., the Secretary-General and his team had lunch with National Security Adviser Sandy Berger. At 2:30 p.m., the Secretary-General and the Deputy Secretary-General attended an International Women's Day Event at the White House. The President, First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Attorney General Janet Reno and Saisuree Chutikul, from the Office of the Prime Minister of Thailand, also attended. The Secretary-General's remarks are available in Press Release SG/SM/6483.

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The Secretary-General and his team met at 3:45 p.m. and 4:30 p.m respectively with Senators Jesse Helms and Joseph Biden, the majority and minority leaders of the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee. That Committee had drafted the compromise legislation on the payment of arrears which in the end was not adopted last fall because of a controversy over a rider on abortion.

At 5:30 p.m., the Secretary-General and his team met with Secretary of State Albright and her senior staff at the State Department. Later, the Secretary-General and the Deputy Secretary-General were guests at a dinner hosted by Secretary Albright at 7:15 p.m. That dinner was also attended by Secretary of Defence William Cohen and Mr. Berger.

On Thursday, 12 March, Mr. Annan met at 8 a.m. on Capitol Hill with 18 members of the Senate Democratic caucus. The meeting was chaired by Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota, the Senate minority leader. Also in attendance were Senators Daniel Akaka, of Hawaii; Max Baucus, of Montana; Jeff Bingaman, of New Mexico; Max Cleland, of Georgia; Christopher Dodd, of Connecticut; Richard Durbin, of Illinois; Diane Feinstein, of California; Bob Graham, of Florida; Ted Kennedy, of Massachusetts; Robert Kerrey, of Nebraska; John Kerry, of Massachusetts; Frank R. Lautenberg, of New Jersey; Carol Moseley-Braun, of Illinois; Jack Reed, of Rhode Island; Harry Reid, of Nevada; Paul Wellstone, of Minnesota; and Ron Wyden, of Oregon. The Senators pledged their support for payment of United States arrears and congratulated the Secretary-General on his diplomatic mission to Iraq. They also discussed the situation in the Kosovo Province of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, as well as several United Nations peacekeeping missions, in particular in the former Yugoslavia -- the International Police Task Force (IPTF).

The Secretary-General addressed a press conference at 9:30 a.m. at the National Press Club. (See transcript in Press Release SG/SM/6482.)

The press conference was followed by a meeting with Defence Secretary Cohen, Joint Chiefs of Staff Vice-Chair General Joseph Ralston, Deputy Secretary John Hamre, Under-Secretary Walter Becker Slocombe, and Chief Iraq Adviser Alina Romanowski. This meeting took place at the Pentagon at 10:15 a.m. They discussed the situations in Iraq, Kosovo and Georgia.

Before his departure from Washington, the Secretary-General had a telephone conversation at the airport with Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Newt Gingrich and with the ranking minority member of the House Committee on International Relations, Lee Hamilton. The Secretary-General and his team left Washington, D.C. at 11:30 a.m.

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