ACTIVITIES OF SECRETARY-GENERAL IN TUNISIA, 13 - 16 NOVEMBER

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan arrived in Tunis on Sunday, 13 November, to attend the World Summit on the Information Society.

He was welcomed on Monday by the Tunisian President, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, with whom he held wide-ranging discussions, including on freedom of the press and expression in the context of the information society.

On Tuesday morning, the Secretary-General met with his senior advisers, and discussed the World Summit of the Information Society, which was due to open the following day.

In the afternoon, the Secretary-General met with the Mayors of Bilbao and Tunis -- respectively, Juan Jose Ibarretxe and Abbas Mohsen -- who presented him with the outcome document of the Second World Summit of Cities and Local Authorities on the Information Society, which took place in Bilbao earlier in 2005.

He then met with representatives of United Nations agencies attending the Summit, as well as with the Secretary-General of the International Telecommunications Union, Yoshio Utsumi.

The Secretary-General held a number of bilateral meetings on Tuesday afternoon.

He met with Israeli Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom.  During their discussion, which lasted more than 30 minutes, they touched upon a number of issues, including the recently reached accord between the Palestinians and Israel on establishing crossing points.  In discussing the general situation between Israelis and Palestinians, the Secretary-General stressed the need for Israel to do whatever it could to facilitate the holding of the Palestinian elections.  The Foreign Minister briefed the Secretary-General on the latest political developments in Israel.

Noting the Foreign Minister’s presence in Tunisia, the Secretary-General also encouraged Israel to continue its efforts to reach out to Islamic countries.  After their meeting, the Secretary-General was asked about Iran’s nuclear programme, and he said, “The issue is being discussed by the atomic agency in Vienna and a meeting is being planned for the 24th of November and I think we should leave them to settle this issue.”

The Secretary-General also met with the Prime Minister of Djibouti, Deleita Mohamed Deleita.  Their discussions focused on the current tensions between Ethiopia and Eritrea, and the worsening security situation in Somalia.  The Prime Minister briefed the Secretary-General on his country’s efforts to have a calming influence on those situations.

His last appointment of the day was with the Prime Minister of Qatar, Sheikh Abdulla bin Khalifa Al-Thani.  The Secretary-General briefed him on his recent visit to Baghdad and they also discussed the Syria/Lebanon file.

On Wednesday morning, the Secretary-General spoke at the opening of the World Summit on the Information Society, saying that it must be “a summit of solutions” that would lead to information and communication technology being used in new ways to benefit all social classes.

He emphasized that the United Nations does not want to “take over” the Internet, but to protect and strengthen it to ensure that its benefits are available for all.  And he stressed the importance of freedom and openness to the information society, saying that, without the right to receive and impart information through any media, regardless of frontiers, the information revolution will be stillborn.  (See Press Release SG/SM/10216.)

Speaking at a press conference later, he noted the intense debate over free speech and human rights at this Summit.  The Secretary-General said that, when such a discussion takes place, “it can only be beneficial to the society concerned and other societies around the world”.

Delegations in Tunis had reached an agreement on Internet governance late the previous night, just ahead of the Tunis phase of the World Summit on the Information Society.  The agreement, which would make up part of the Summit’s outcome document, contained a number of breakthroughs, according to the Summit spokespeople.  For example, it recognized that all Governments have equal roles and responsibilities when it comes to Internet governance.

It asked the Secretary-General to convene and invite participants to a new democratic and transparent Internet governance forum, which would have no oversight function and would not replace existing arrangements, but would allow for dialogue between stakeholders.  Delegates also agreed that, while the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) would still be in charge of technical management of the Internet, individual countries would now manage their own country-code top-level domains.

Throughout the day, on the sidelines of the World Summit, the Secretary-General held a series of bilateral meetings.

He met with Huang Ju, Executive Vice-Premier of China, with whom he discussed avian influenza.  The Secretary-General thanked the Chinese authorities for all the measures they had taken to deal with this disease, saying that international cooperation is the most efficient way to fight it.

The Secretary-General met with President Mahmoud Abbas.  The President briefed him on the recently agreed measures to ease the movement of goods and people in and out of the Gaza Strip and West Bank.  They also discussed the upcoming elections in the Palestinian Authority.

The Secretary-General told reporters afterwards, “The Palestinians are talented people, but they need help.  They need material help and support to get the job done.”

The Secretary-General also had a tête-à-tête meeting with President Emile Lahoud of Lebanon.  They discussed the implementation of UN resolutions dealing with the situation in Lebanon and Syria.  The President said he understood the need for all to cooperate with United Nations resolutions.

The Secretary-General assured President Lahoud that the Security Council wants to get to the truth and find the perpetrators of the attack that killed former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and others.  The Security Council, the Secretary-General told the President, is conscious of the need for stability in the region.

Prior to an official lunch, the Secretary-General also met with Swiss Federal President Samuel Schmid and the President of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ivo Miro Jovic.

Immediately following the group photo of Heads of State and Government attending the Summit, the Secretary-General organized a short trilateral meeting with Palestinian Authority President Abbas and Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shalom.

The Secretary-General congratulated them for the agreement reached the previous day between Israel and the Palestinian Authority regarding the movement of Palestinian goods and people in and out of the Gaza Strip.  He hoped that all sides will press ahead with implementing that agreement, adding, “This is only a beginning of better days to come.”

His other scheduled meetings that day were with President Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria, President Ely Ould Mohamed of Mauritania, President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, President Omer Hassan Al-Bashir of the Sudan, Laurens Brinkhorst, Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands, and Paul Twomey, President/CEO of ICANN.

In his statement to the closing session of the World Electronic Media Forum, the Secretary-General commended broadcasting unions, United Nations entities and other partners for making the second WEMF possible.  He urged journalists present to find the words and images that would draw attention to the “silent, daily tsunami of poverty, hunger, disease and environmental degradation”.  (See Press Release SG/SM/10213.)

He also made comments later at a “One Laptop per Child” media event.  (See Press Release SG/SM/10217.)

The Secretary-General departed later that day for Pakistan.