ACTIVITIES OF SECRETARY-GENERAL IN NICARAGUA, 13-15 MARCH

Secretary-General Kofi Annan arrived in Managua, Nicaragua, in the afternoon of Thursday, 13 March.  He was greeted by Foreign Minister Norman Jose Caldera Cardenal and presented with the keys of the city by Mayor Herty Lewites.

In the evening, he met with President Enrique Bolaños Geyer who described the progress Nicaragua had made over the past 10 years, despite the conflict and natural disasters of the past.  Fighting corruption and reducing poverty, he said, were his highest priorities.

The President handed the Secretary-General a letter formally proposing that the Olof Palme Conference Centre in Managua be transformed into a United Nations house to serve as a common United Nations headquarters in the country.  The Secretary-General said he would seriously consider the offer.

At the press encounter afterwards, the Secretary General referred to corruption “and the need for developing countries to get their act together, strengthen institutions and tackle corruption very seriously,” he said, adding, “of course, I’m not implying that corruption is all on the side of the poor.”

In response to a question, he went on, “corruption is to be condemned wherever it is found and it is something that undermines societies.”  He said that he hoped that at the financing for development conference in Monterrey, Mexico the following week, ways could be discussed to repatriate illicit funds to the countries from where they were stolen. 

After the press encounter, they proceeded to the National Theatre, where the President hosted a dinner in the Secretary General’s honour.  Before dinner, the President presented him with the Grand Cross of the Jose Dolores Estrada “Batalla San Jacinto” Order.

On Friday morning, the Secretary-General joined his wife Nane’s programme for a visit to a water project in a barrio outside Managua.  The project, funded by the European Union (80 per cent) and the United Nations Development Programme (20 per cent), will bring in safe drinking water and provide for sanitary disposal of waste water for about 15,000 people. 

Nane Annan, who is working on a new children’s book on the world’s water problems, said, “I am here because I believe that water is one of the most important things in life.”  She pointed out that a billion people in the world do not have access to safe drinking water while two billion lack proper sanitation.  “You know what that means,” she said, “and you have done something about it.”

The Secretary-General then attended a solemn session at the National Assembly, opened by Assembly President, Arnoldo Alemán Lacayo.  He was then given the Pedro Joaquin Chamorro Award, named for a national hero whom the Secretary-General, in his acceptance speech, described as “the martyr of public freedom.” 

He then met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Norman Josē Caldera Cardenal.  Their discussion focused on Nicaragua’s need for financial and technical assessment in the lead up to the Monterrey conference on financing for development.

The Foreign Minister then presided over a ceremony launching the first issue of a commemorative stamp honouring the Secretary-General.  “I must say it is a unique experience to see a sum of money put in one’s head,” the Secretary-General quipped, “and I am flattered that it is such a generous amount as 14 cordobas.”

The Minister then hosted “a family lunch” in his honour, with members of the Ministry and United Nations representatives in Managua.  Both the Minister and his wife had worked for parts of the United Nations family in the past.

After lunch, at his hotel, the Secretary-General met with chief opposition Leader, Daniel Ortega Saavedra.  He told the press afterwards, at an encounter at the lobby, that they had discussed economic developments in Nicaragua, the problem of corruption and the process of democratization.  He added that he encouraged all Nicaraguans to work together for the betterment of the country.  "That is the only way we can develop and strengthen this country," he said.  He then went to the offices of the United Nations. Development Programme, where he met briefly with United Nations agency heads in Nicaragua and chatted with United Nations staff.  In the evening, he flew to San Jose, Costa Rica.