ACTIVITIES OF SECRETARY-GENERAL IN SWITZERLAND, 26 JUNE - 1 JULY

Secretary-General Kofi Annan arrived in Geneva on Thursday, 26 June, where he began a series of meetings, including one with the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Jakob Kellenberger.

The following day, he met with representatives of the United Nations Staff Council in Geneva and also addressed United Nations staff in that city, focusing mainly on the difficulties that the United Nations has faced in recent months following the Iraq conflict.

The Secretary-General then hosted a luncheon for the various United Nations agency heads in Geneva, and discussed with them a wide range of topics, including Liberia, the Middle East, Iraq and United Nations reform.  Afterwards, he met with two of the agency heads:  Godwin Obasi, who will leave his post as Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization later this year; and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers.

On Monday, the Secretary-General addressed the High-Level Segment of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) at the opening meeting of the 2003 session.  In his statement, he underlined the fact that the challenge was now not to decide what to do, but rather, simply, to do it.  He also said that the Doha programme was more than just another round of trade negotiations, but aimed to eliminate the unfair competition faced by farmers and producers in poor countries.  It could provide a powerful engine of growth, thus, facilitating the attainment of the Millennium Developments Goals.

Before addressing ECOSOC, the Secretary-General delivered a statement welcoming the ceasefire announcement made today by Palestinian groups.  He hoped that the groups, the Government of Israel and the Palestinian Authority would do everything necessary to ensure that the ceasefire represented a full and complete end to violence and terror, and was a turning point in breaking the cycle of violence between Palestinians and Israelis.  The Secretary-General commended the Government of Egypt for its sustained efforts to help bring about this ceasefire.

He then had meetings with José Maria Figueres-Olsen, his Special Representative on Information and Communications Technologies; John Negroponte, Permanent Representative of the United States to the United Nations; and Martti Ahtisaari, his Special Envoy for the Humanitarian Crisis in the Horn of Africa.

The Secretary-General took a few questions from journalists before attending a luncheon hosted by Gert Rosenthal, President of ECOSOC.  He took this opportunity to commend ECOSOC once again for choosing to focus on the key subject of rural development, which lay at the heart of the hopes of achieving the Millennium Developments Goals.  He stressed the fact that, as the Secretariat was strongly committed to giving the best possible support, ECOSOC figured prominently in the new round of change and reform that he had set in motion last year.

In the afternoon, the Secretary-General chaired a meeting on migration and asylum issues at which the participants were:  Jan Karlson, Swedish Minister of Cooperation for Development; Ruth Metzler-Arnold, Swiss Minister of Justice and Police; and delegations from Brazil, Morocco and the Philippines led, respectively, by Ronaldo Mota Sardenberg, Permanent Representative, Mohamed Bennouna, Permanent Representative, and Frank R. Cimafranca, First Secretary.

The Secretary-General then visited the International Labour Organization (ILO) to attend the second meeting of his High-Level Panel of the Youth Employment network, where he noted that investing in decent and productive work for young people was both a strategy for economic and social development and a concern at the heart of the quest for national and collective security.  He said that the tragedy of youthful lives misspent in crime, drug abuse, civil conflict and even terrorism was too often seen.

During the Secretary-General’s one-day official visit to Bern, Switzerland, on 1 July, he met with Micheline Calmy-Rey, Swiss Foreign Minister.  Their meeting was followed by a ceremony at which the Secretary-General was awarded the first “Ole Prize” of the Children’s Parliament of the City of Bern.  “With this prize”, he said to the six children-parliamentarians, “you are not only honouring me but the whole United Nations and its work for a more peaceful, healthier, and fairer world.”

The Secretary-General then held a working session with President Pascal Couchepin of the Swiss Confederation.  They discussed the situation in Iraq and, in particular, the role of the United Nations in the region, Afghanistan, the Middle East, and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

In a press encounter afterwards, the Secretary-General again appealed for a robust force to be deployed in Liberia “to create space and time for peace negotiations to be completed and lead Liberia out of its misery”.

In responding to a question regarding the Middle East, he said that he was encouraged by the developments in the last 72 hours.  “We see it as a beginning, but we have quite a long way to go”, he said, adding “the decision of the Palestinian groups to agree to a ceasefire is important.  I want to see a situation where all these movements and groups are transformed into political parties to play a role in democratic Palestine”.

The Secretary-General then departed for a break before travelling to Maputo, Mozambique, on 7 July to attend the African Union Summit.