ACTIVITIES OF SECRETARY-GENERAL IN POLAND, 26-28 JUNE
The Secretary-General arrived in Warsaw on the evening of Monday, 26 June. He began his official visit to Poland on Tuesday morning. He first had a bilateral meeting with the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Korea.
He then went to the Parliament building to address a conference entitled Towards a Community of Democracies. At the Parliament, he met one-on-one with the Polish Foreign Minister, Bronislaw Geremek. In addressing the conference, he welcomed the decision by the Organization of African Unity taken in Algiers last year to no longer receive as equals African leaders who come to power through unconstitutional means. I look forward to the day when the General Assembly of the United Nations will follow Africas lead, he said, and apply similarly stringent standards to all its members. (See Press Release SG/SM/7467.)
In the margins of the conference he met with the Foreign Minister of India Jaswant Singh and with United States Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, initially with their delegations and then the three of them privately. The main subject of their discussions was the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Sierra Leone. The Secretary-General then had a one-on-one meeting with Secretary of State Albright.
At a press encounter afterwards, he said that he welcomed the results of the Zimbabwe elections. The people have spoken, he added; We must respect their will and I rejoice for them. Asked whether todays conference was a move towards global government he replied, I wouldnt go as far as global government, but I think we are learning to govern together, to govern better.
He then visited the World Forum on Democracies, a meeting of non- governmental organizations taking place in parallel with the Democracy Conference. He praised the work of civil society as essential to the success of meeting United Nations goals, then took some questions from the audience.
He went to the United Nations offices in Warsaw and inaugurated UN House, where several United Nations agencies now work together, following one of his reform proposals. He chatted there with about 40 United Nations staff members.
He then attended a luncheon hosted by the Polish Prime Minister, Jerzy Buzek, and met privately with the Prime Minister in the margins of that luncheon.
Later in the afternoon he met with the President of Poland, Aleksander Kwasniewski. After that meeting the President awarded the Secretary- General with the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland.
The Secretary-General then laid a wreath at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
In the evening, he attended a State dinner in his honour hosted by the President.
The Secretary-General began his Warsaw programme on Wednesday, 28 June, with a session with Polish Foreign Minister Bronislaw Geremek, with whom he reviewed United Nations objectives of the Millennium Summit in September. They spoke of humanitarian issues, the fight against international crime, conflict prevention and the role of civil society in the United Nations. Afterwards, they had a brief encounter with the press.
The Secretary-General then went to the Polish Parliament, or Sejm, for a meeting with the Speaker of the Parliament, Maciej Plazynski. They discussed the upcoming meeting in New York in August of parliamentarians, the importance of parliamentarians participating in the United Nations and United Nations conventions and treaties still not ratified by Member States.
He also met with the Speaker of the Upper House, Alicja Grzeskowiak, whom he urged to attend the August meeting of parliamentarians, saying the views of women make a qualitative difference to any debate. Their talks also touched on human rights, debt relief and humanitarian intervention. He and the Speaker then briefly sat in on a session of the Upper House.
Following that, he had a formal meeting with Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek. They focused on environmental issues, which the Prime Minister has specialized in for 30 years, on the upcoming Millennium Assembly and on the democratic transition in Poland. They each made a statement to the press afterwards.
The Secretary-General was then the luncheon guest of the Foreign Minister.
Later in the afternoon, the Secretary-General left by plane for Budapest, where he was to begin an official visit to Hungary on Thursday, 29 June.