ACTIVITIES OF SECRETARY-GENERAL IN WASHINGTON, D.C., 13 FEBRUARY

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan travelled to Washington, D.C., on Monday, 13 January.

After a private lunch with United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the Secretary-General went to the White House for a meeting with President George W. Bush.  During the meeting, which lasted close to an hour, the Secretary-General and the President discussed a wide range of issues, including United Nations reform, the Middle East, Iraq, Iran and the Sudan.  The two later posed for photographs and took questions from the press.  On the Sudan, the Secretary-General said he was “very happy that we have agreed to work together on the Darfur issue...an issue where all Governments have to play their role”.  On reform, the Secretary-General said that he and President Bush agreed on the need to reform the human rights machinery and that “it should be done as soon as possible”.

Before returning to New York, the Secretary-General met with Senator Richard Lugar, the Chairman of the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee.