ACTIVITIES OF SECRETARY-GENERAL IN WASHINGTON, 25 SEPTEMBER 1999

Press Release
SG/T/2201

ACTIVITIES OF SECRETARY-GENERAL IN WASHINGTON, 25 SEPTEMBER 1999

The Secretary-General departed New York for Washington on the afternoon of Saturday, 25 September.

In Washington, he delivered a speech as part of the Programme of Seminars held in conjunction with the World Bank/International Monetary Fund Annual Meetings. The Secretary-General spoke on the subject of “Meeting the Challenge of Youth Unemployment. Needed: 2 Billion Jobs.”

In his speech, the Secretary-General said that the fact that millions and perhaps billions of people are either unemployed or underemployed, amounts to a scandal which must be overcome as a matter of priority in the new century. The developing countries will have to re-orient their strategies towards job creation, while developed countries will have to facilitate the flow of capital to developing countries.

Ultimately, he said, the international community can either give young people the tools they need to fulfil their potential, or it can leave them to nurse their sense of frustration and misery. “It is up to us”, he said. For the text of this speech, see Press Release SG/SM/7147.

The speech was introduced by World Bank President James D. Wolfensohn, who joined the Secretary-General in a question and answer session afterwards.

Before returning to New York in the early evening, the Secretary- General met with Mr. Wolfensohn, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator Mark Malloch Brown, and World bank Senior Vice-President for Development Economics and Chief Economist Joseph E. Stiglitz.

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