SECRETARY-GENERAL'S VISIT TO PORTUGAL, 7 - 11 AUGUST
Press Release
SG/T/2148
SECRETARY-GENERAL'S VISIT TO PORTUGAL, 7 - 11 AUGUST
19980819 The Secretary-General arrived in Portugal on Friday, 7 August, having delayed his departure from New York by one day in order to participate in Security Council deliberations on Iraq which took place on Thursday. His first appointment was to close the United Nations World Youth Forum in Braga. "In this changing world of new challenges", he told the hundreds of assembled youth from all over the world, "we need, more than ever before, dedicated and talented individuals to enter public service". The choice will not be easy, he advised them, but "joining a winning team is an easy option"."It is precisely when an institution, a cause is struggling to find its way", he said, "that it needs the support of the best and most courageous people" (see Press Release SG/SM/6669).
The Secretary-General was greeted in Braga by the President of Portugal, Jorge Sampaio, who also addressed the Forum. Youth representatives from Ghana and Sweden then presented the Secretary-General with the Braga Action Plan they had developed. The plan was also to be given to a ministerial level meeting on youth, which the Secretary-General subsequently opened in Lisbon.
On arrival in Oporto, the Secretary-General spoke briefly to the press. After a luncheon in his honour hosted by President Sampaio, he and the President met with the press. The Secretary-General returned to Oporto in the evening, where Mayor Fernando Gomes hosted a dinner in his honour. He travelled to Lisbon that evening.
In Lisbon, the Secretary-General began his second day discussing the status of peace talks on East Timor, first with Bishop Ximenes Belo and then with José Ramos -- both Nobel laureates for their efforts to find a peaceful solution for the territory which Portugal pulled out of in 1975 and Indonesia subsequently occupied.
The Secretary-General also met with former Portuguese President Mario Soares, the Chairman of his panel of eminent persons on Algeria. The Chairman reported on the panel's two-week visit to Algeria and on the draft conclusions of the report, which the Secretary-General will make public later in the month of August. The Secretary-General also met with Algeria's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Abdallah Baali, on the same subject.
In the afternoon, the Secretary-General opened the First World Conference of Ministers Responsible for Youth. Referring to the Action Plan produced by the young people attending the World Youth Forum which he had closed in Braga the day before, the Secretary-General called on the Ministers to consider very seriously the suggestions it contains. "You have a mission to open up for them a maximum of perspectives and possibilities", he said, "for it is young people's hope and energy, their enthusiasm and willingness to experiment, that makes society move forward" (see Press Release SG/SM/6670).
In the evening, the Secretary-General attended a dinner hosted by President Sampaio in honour of the heads of delegations attending the Conference. Prior to the dinner, and again after it, he discussed the situation in Iraq with his Special Envoy, Prakash Shah, who briefed him on the situation there. He instructed Ambassador Shah to return to Iraq and urge the Government to cooperate fully with United Nations weapons inspectors.
On Sunday, 9 August, the Secretary-General visited what was billed as "the last exposition of the twentieth century", marking the five-hundredth anniversary of Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama's discovery of a sea route to India.
The exposition focuses international attention on the world's oceans as an ecologically fragile human resource, and celebrates 1998 as the "International Year of the Ocean", as originally proposed by Portugal and so declared by the United Nations and by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
The Secretary-General was joined by Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres for a tour of the Portuguese Pavilion. He then toured the critically acclaimed United Nations Pavilion and greeted United Nations staff there. In a statement, he reminded the staff that they had come to the Pavilion from all over the world to get the message across that "oceans are important". He welcomed the obvious interest in the exposition, and declared, "The public have come back to the UN. This is your Organization. I know for a while we were a bit too distant, a bit too bureaucratic and far away from the people".
"We want to engage you", he went on to say, "we want you to work with us . . . to make the UN what it ought to be."
He and the Prime Minister took questions from the press and then visited the landmines exhibit at the Red Cross/Red Crescent Pavilion. They then attended a lunch hosted by the Prime Minister.
That evening, the Secretary-General attended a reception hosted on his behalf by Hélène-Marie Gosselin, Commissioner-General of the United Nations Pavilion.
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The Secretary-General's first appointment on Monday, 10 August, was with Koffi Panou, the Foreign Minister of Togo, at the Foreign Minister's request. They discussed the recent elections in Togo.
The Secretary-General then went to the Foreign Ministry, where he met privately with Jaime Gama, the Foreign Minister of Portugal. Together they discussed Guinea-Bissau, East Timor, Angola and other issues. They then met with their full delegations and elaborated on those subjects.
After their meeting, the Secretary-General and the Foreign Minster held a press conference. The issues in addition to Iraq were all Portuguese- related: Guinea-Bissau, East Timor and Angola. The Secretary-General then went to a lunch hosted by the Foreign Minister.
At 5 p.m., the Secretary-General met with Issa Diallo, who was in Portugal to be briefed on his new assignment as Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Angola.
The Secretary-General's last appointment of the day was a private dinner with the Permanent Representative of Portugal and his wife, Ambassador and Mrs. Monteiro.
The Secretary-General concluded his visit to Portugal on Tuesday, 11 August. That morning, he visited the Portuguese Parliament, where he met with Antonio Almeida Santos, President of the Parliament, as well as with other key legislators. He then met with former President Mario Soares, in Dr. Soares' capacity as Chairman of the Independent Commission on the Oceans to discuss the work of the Commission. The Secretary-General made a statement to the Independent Commission on the Oceans (see Press Release SG/SM/6671). He also recorded a video message for the formal presentation of the Commission's report on 1 September 1998. After a luncheon hosted by Dr. Soares, he departed Lisbon for a summer holiday.
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