ACTIVITIES OF SECRETARY-GENERAL IN SWITZERLAND, 25 - 29 JANUARY
Secretary-General Kofi Annan departed Japan on Thursday, 25 January, and travelled to Switzerland, where he would participate in the World Economic Forum meetings in Davos.
He arrived in Zurich and spent the day on Friday closely monitoring the peace talks between the Israelis and the Palestinians. He made contact by phone with a number of leaders from the region and outside, including Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.
In Davos on Saturday, he began a series of meetings, which included President Vicente Fox of Mexico; President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria; and Amre Moussa, Foreign Minister of Egypt. He also met with John Chambers, President and CEO of Cisco Systems; and José Maria Figueres Olsen, the Secretary-General's Special Representative on Information and Communication Technologies, to review progress on efforts to bridge the global digital divide.
On Saturday evening, he attended two receptions, one of which was organized by the Global Fund for Children's Vaccines in honour of Bill Gates, and another before the International Organization Networking Dinner. He then attended an off-the-record media leaders dinner organized by the Forum.
On Sunday, Mr. Annan had a breakfast meeting with Swiss President Moritz Leuenberger, during which they discussed, among other topics, the subject of Swiss-United Nations relations.
Early on Sunday evening, the Secretary-General addressed the plenary session of the World Economic Forum, whose theme was "Globalization: What Is at Stake?” In his speech, the Secretary-General appealed to business leaders to join the Global Compact he launched two years ago in Davos aimed at getting the private sector to play a more responsible role. He warned, "If we cannot make globalization work for all, in the end, it will work for none." (See Press Release SG/SM/7692.) He also announced the appointment of Goran Lindahl of Sweden, who recently stepped down as the chief executive of ABB (Asea Brown Bovery), a Swiss-based industrial firm, as a special advisor on the Global Compact to lead the corporate recruitment effort. Mr. Annan later took part in a question- and-answer session with other Forum participants.
His meetings on the sidelines of the Forum on Sunday included his first ever with President Vojislav Kostunica of Yugoslavia. Topics covered included the situation in southern Serbia, relations with the United Nations mission in Kosovo, the issue of Albanian prisoners and missing Serbs, and a constructive discussion on the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.
He continued discussions on the Middle East by meeting former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres, and for nearly two hours with Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat. Afterwards, at a midnight press conference, the Secretary-General told reporters, "Now that we are moving forward, I would urge that we all dwell on the positive and build on it, rather than focus on some of the negative aspects."
Additional meetings held on Sunday were with Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, Chief Executive Officer of Nestlé; Philip Jennings, General Secretary of the Union Network International (comprising 800 unions with 15.5 million members); and other trade union leaders. He dropped into an "Informal Gathering of World Economic Leaders" and attended a private luncheon with CEOs from Europe and the United States on the Global Compact.
The Secretary-General departed Davos on Monday afternoon, 29 January, for a two-day visit to Stockholm, Sweden.