ACTIVITIES OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL IN SWITZERLAND, 8-10 OCTOBER

Press Release
SG/T/2202

ACTIVITIES OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL IN SWITZERLAND, 8-10 OCTOBER

The Secretary-General arrived in Geneva in the evening of Friday, 8 October.

On Saturday morning, he had a series of meetings, starting with Djibril Diallo, head of the Public Affairs Division of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), who briefed him on plans for the UNDP's NetAid Concert scheduled for that evening.

The Permanent Representative of Burundi to the United Nations in Geneva, Nzanze Terrence, discussed with the Secretary-General the situation in his country. Walter Gyger, the outgoing Permanent Observer of Switzerland to the United Nations Office in Geneva, then paid a farewell call.

The High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata, briefed the Secretary- General on the humanitarian situation in Kosovo, where he would visit on 13 to 14 October. They also reviewed the refugee situation in East and West Timor.

His last meeting of the morning was with the former Environment Minister of Finland, Pekka Haavisto, who is Chairman of the Balkans Task Force created by the United Nations Environment Programme/Habitat. Mr. Haavisto presented the Task Force Report on the environmental impact of NATO bombing of Serbia, Kosovo and Montenegro, which took place from March until June of this year. Klaus Topfer, the Executive Director of UNEP/Habitat, phoned the Secretary- General in connection with the report, which was to be made public in Geneva and New York on Friday, 15 October.

The Secretary-General then attended an official luncheon in his honour hosted by the Secretary-General of the United Nations International Telecommunications Union (ITU). Afterwards, he addressed the opening of the Eighth World Telecommunication Exhibition and Forum, an event hosted by the ITU every four years. This was attended by 130 communications ministers and over 400 heads of private communications companies.

“With their power to create new opportunities”, the Secretary-General said, “telecommunications are a tremendous force for integrating people and nations into the global economy -- the only real hope we have of overcoming poverty”.

“With this power to promote openness and transparency”, he went on, “telecoms are leaving tyrants, polluters and ineffective governments fewer places to hide. And with their power to inspire global dialogue, telecoms are making us more comfortable with diversity and more aware of our interdependence”. (See SG/SM/7164 of 11 October.)

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He then toured the ITU exhibit, at which dozens of companies and nations displayed cutting-edge communications technology.

In the evening, the Secretary-General joined the UNDP Administrator Mark Malloch Brown for the NetAid Concert in the General Assembly Hall of the United Nations’ Palais des Nations. This concert, together with two others, one in London and one in New Jersey, was broadcast live on the Internet to engage millions of people in the fight against poverty. United States actor Michael Douglas, appointed by the Secretary-General as a Messenger of Peace, hosted the Geneva event.

Addressing the global audience, the Secretary-General recalled the poverty of almost half the world’s population. Now every one of us can change that, he said, “with a click of the mouse on the NetAid Website”. See (SG/SM/7166 of 11 October.)

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