Note No. 5666

                                                            4 May 2001

Note to Correspondents

BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC TRUCE FOUNDATION

TO MEET AT UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS ON 8 MAY

On Tuesday 8 May the Board of Directors of the International Olympic Truce Foundation (IOTF) will meet at United Nations Headquarters.  The Secretary-General will address the opening of the meeting and will attend a brief ceremony for the presentation of a sculpture dedicated to the Olympic Truce.

The presentation of the sculpture will take place at the Visitors Entrance at 46^th Street and First Avenue at 9:45 a.m.  The Secretary-General will address the opening of the IOTF Board Meeting at approximately 10 a.m. in Conference

Room 5.  The Secretary-General’s remarks will be recorded for broadcast media, and the Department of Public Information (DPI)  will provide photo coverage.  Visual media wishing to cover the opening of the meeting should contact the Media Accreditation and Liaison Unit.  The rest of the meeting will be closed to the press.

Among IOTF Board members attending the meeting will be Juan Antonio Samaranch, President of the International Olympic Committee, who serves as Chairman of the Board, and George Papandreou, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Greece, who serves as Vice-Chairman.

Mr. Papandreou and Mr. Samaranch will brief the press in room 226

at 3 p.m.

The IOTF was formed in 1999 following a Memorandum of Understanding reached between the Government of Greece and the International Olympic Committee(IOC).  The Foundation was established to promote the Truce and to further the goal of the Olympic Movement “to build a peaceful and better world by educating the youth of the world through sport, practised without discrimination of any kind” in the spirit of mutual understanding, friendship, solidarity and fair play.

The members of the IOTF Board are a group of between 15 and 30 individuals selected by the IOC which is legally designated as “Founder” of the IOTF.  The meeting is taking place at United Nations Headquarters at the request of Greece.

 The Foundation also oversees the work of the International Centre for the Olympic Truce, established through cooperation between the IOC and the Government

                                    - 2 -                   Note No. 5666

                                                            4 May 2001

of Greece to carry out research,  activities in conflict prevention and resolution  and communications campaigns related to the Olympic Truce. 

        The Truce, a revival of an ancient Greek tradition, is formally defined as the period from the seventh day before the opening of each Olympic Games until the seventh day following the closing of the Games.  The United Nations General Assembly first endorsed it in 1993, urging Member States to observe the Olympic Truce and calling on the Secretary-General to promote it.  Since then, the Assembly has adopted three further resolutions on the Olympic Truce which have been among the most widely-sponsored resolutions in the Assembly’s history.  The Millennium Declaration also urged Member States to observe the Olympic Truce.    

The sculpture to be presented, two-metre tall curved bronze stela bearing the emblem of the Olympic Truce, is to be temporarily displayed at United Nations Headquarters on appropriate occasions.  The sculpture, by Spanish artist Rosa Serra, commissioned for the International Olympic Truce Foundation by Irwin Belk, a former member of the United States Olympic Committee.

* *** *