ACTIVITIES OF SECRETARY-GENERAL IN SPAIN, 13 - 15 OCTOBER
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan flew on Thursday, 13 October, to Salamanca, Spain, from Lisbon, Portugal, on a visit aimed at addressing the Ibero-American Summit and holding meetings with the leaders gathered in the historic town in the north-western part of the country.
After arriving at around midday, he held bilateral meetings with Chilean President Ricardo Lagos Escobar and Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Norman Jose Caldera Cardenal.
In the evening, he met with Spanish Prime Minister José Luís Rodriguez Zapatero and separately with King Juan Carlos.
On Friday morning, the Secretary-General addressed a group of business and civil society leaders, saying that he was glad that the Governments were using the Ibero-American Summit to explore ways of working with business and non-governmental organizations.
He told them that Ibero-American cooperation -- with the participation of business and civil society -- is essential in order to tackle global problems.
“Ibero-American cooperation, with the participation of business and civil society”, he said, “is essential if we are to tackle global problems and create global public goods such as security, financial stability, environmental stewardship and a truly fair international trading system.” (See Press Release SG/SM/10165.)
He then attended a reception hosted by members of the business and civic organizations in honour of Their Majesties King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia.
In the afternoon, the Secretary-General addressed the opening of the fifteenth Ibero-American Summit at the Palacio de Congresos, praising the gathered leaders for their “groundbreaking” efforts to promote development and strongly urged them to build on the outcomes of last month’s World Summit in New York.
“With your engagement, we can equip the United Nations with a truly accountable, efficient and effective Secretariat; we can get the new Peacebuilding Commission and the new Human Rights Council up and running; we can forge a united and effective response to threats as diverse as genocide, terrorism, and natural disasters; and, above all, we can press ahead with a global partnership for development in which everyone lives up to their commitments in a spirit of mutual responsibility and accountability”, he said.
“Let us persevere”, he said, “and let us do it together.”
The Secretary-General also offered his deepest sympathy and condolences to the leaders whose countries have been hit by tragedy with the recent hurricanes. “I have appealed to the international community to give, and give generously, and to work with them for recovery and reconstruction”, he said.
Referring to the terrible inequalities that continue to scar the world, he said that Latin America is a microcosm of the world’s challenges, hopes and perils. “When I think of this delicate balance of tremendous promise and urgent peril in today’s world, I think particularly of the nations of Latin America. Because yours is a region that truly hangs in that delicate balance. It is, in many ways, a microcosm of the world in which we live, and it is, therefore, a place in which all that the United Nations stands for is put to the test.” (See Press Release SG/SM/10164.)
On the sidelines of the Summit on Friday, he met with President Alejandro Toledo Manrique of Peru, as well as Vice-President Ana Vilma de Escobar of El Salvador and Vice-President Eduardo Stein of Guatemala.
In the evening, he attended a dinner hosted by King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia.
On Saturday morning, the Secretary-General met with the Mayor of Salamanca, Don Julian Lanzarote, and then held bilateral meetings with President Eduardo Rodriguez Veltzé of Bolivia, President Hugo Chávez Frías of Venezuela, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil, and President Vicente Fox of Mexico, as well as with the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barosso.
The Secretary-General left Salamanca on Saturday afternoon for New York.