ACTIVITIES OF SECRETARY-GENERAL IN CZECH REPUBLIC, 16-18 JULY

Press Release
SG/T/2196

ACTIVITIES OF SECRETARY-GENERAL IN CZECH REPUBLIC, 16-18 JULY

The Secretary-General flew from Slovakia to the Czech Republic on the morning of 16 July. He began his official visit in Prague at a meeting with Foreign Minister Jan Kavan.

The Foreign Minister said that the Czech Republic felt strongly about United Nations reform and the need to strengthen the United Nations. He called for more financial discipline of Member States in making their United Nations payments in full and on time. They discussed sharpening the focus of the Millennium Assembly planned for September 2000 and also the implementation of the Security Council resolution on Kosovo.

Immediately after the meeting, the Foreign Minister and the Secretary-General participated in a signing ceremony of a Host Country Agreement which governs activities of the United Nations Information Centre in the country -- an agreement which, after long negotiations, had at last come to fruition.

At a press conference afterwards, the Secretary-General said he sensed that, in the wake of the Kosovo experience, Member States might be willing to take a fresh look at Security Council reform. He also thanked the Czech Republic for keeping its border open to refugees from Kosovo and for contributing civilian police to the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).

Asked about the referendum in East Timor, the Secretary-General said "We've had one or two incidents, but generally it has gone well in the region". He added, "The ballot will go forward. Attempts have been made to derail it, but we are unintimidated and we are unimpressed and we will give the people of East Timor free choice".

The Secretary-General then had a working lunch with the Czech Prime Minister, Milos Zeman, with whom he discussed a range of issues.

After lunch, he met with one of the Czech Republic's principal political figures, Vaclav Klaus, Chairman of the House of Deputies. After that, he had a session with Libuse Benesova, Chairwoman of the Senate. To both he expressed his thanks for the support of Parliamentarians for the work of the United Nations.

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He then returned to the Foreign Ministry, where he was awarded the Jan Masaryk Commemorative Medal, named for the former Czech Foreign Minister who led the Czech delegation to the San Francisco Conference that drafted the United Nations Charter. The Secretary-General said that Mr. Masaryk had been "a shining example of true internationalism, in an age when others misused that noble word to suppress the freedom of small nations".

In the evening the Secretary-General attended a reception in his honour hosted by the Foreign Minister.

The Secretary-General began his day on 17 July with a one-on-one meeting with the President of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Havel. In the early afternoon, he met with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights in the Former Yugoslavia, Jiri Dienstbier, and later he had a meeting with the Minister of Defence, Vladimir Vetchy.

The Secretary-General departed for Vienna on the morning of 18 July.

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