ACTIVITIES OF SECRETARY-GENERAL IN SAUDI ARABIA, 9-11 NOVEMBER

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan arrived in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, from Cairo, Egypt, on Wednesday, 9 November.

He met that afternoon with King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud for more than an hour.  They had a wide-ranging discussion and exchange of views on Iraq and on Syria and Lebanon.  The Secretary-General also thanked Saudi Arabia for its generous support of the relief effort in Pakistan, including its bilateral contributions, and said he hoped it would serve as an example to other nations.

The Secretary-General that evening attended a working dinner with the Saudi Foreign Minister, Prince Saud Al-Faisal, and the two of them later held a joint press conference.

In his remarks, the Secretary-General said that he wanted Saudi Arabia, which holds a leadership position in the region, to urge the Government of Syria to cooperate fully with the investigation into the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

It was on that day that three hotels were bombed in Amman, Jordan.  In a statement issued by the Secretary-General’s spokesman in Jeddah, the Secretary-General sent his condolences to the families of the bereaved and to the people and Government of Jordan.  The statement recalled that, during his current tour of the Middle East, the Secretary-General had taken every opportunity to underscore the need for collective action against terrorism.  The statement concluded that in his recent meetings with Saudi and Egyptian authorities, the Secretary-General stressed the need for Member States to adopt a comprehensive convention against terrorism as soon as possible.  (See Press Release SG/SM/10206.)

On Thursday, 10 November, Mrs. Nane Annan visited Effat College, Saudi Arabia’s first independent women’s college, established in Jeddah in 1999.  Staff and students told Mrs. Annan about their courses and discussed the mission of the College, which aims to empower young Saudi women to become leaders in shaping the country’s goals and policies in the twenty-first century, as envisaged by its founder, the late Queen Effat.

The Secretary-General departed for Amman, Jordan, early on Friday morning, 11 November.