ACTIVITIES OF SECRETARY-GENERAL IN SPAIN, 6-7 SEPTEMBER

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan arrived in Madrid, Spain, from Ankara, Turkey, in the evening of Wednesday, 6 September.

Upon arrival, the Secretary-General was invited by Foreign Minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos Cuyaubé to meet the Spanish diplomats attending the Fourth Convention of All Spanish Ambassadors posted around the world at the old headquarters of the Spanish Foreign Ministry, Palacio de Santa Cruz.

Addressing the diplomats, the Secretary-General said:

“I also want to say that it is fitting that I end my travels here in Madrid …without the technical support and cooperation of Spain the travels that I undertook would not have been possible.  I visited 13 countries in 15 days and in the Middle East [I] visited 11 countries in 11 days.  Without your support and the plane you put at my disposal, it would have been absolutely impossible.

“Let me say that, when Miguel met me and we talked about the trip, the first thing he said was congratulations, the [blockade] has been lifted and we were working on this throughout the trip in the last few days.  It is extremely important for the Government and people of Lebanon.  Now, Prime Minister Siniora and his Government and the people of Lebanon can resume recovery and reconstruction in earnest, now that they can have free movement of goods and people, and I want to thank all the Governments who cooperated with me to make the lifting of the blockade possible.  It is going to change the dynamics and the atmosphere, and we are determined to solidify the cessation of hostilities, build on it, create a permanent ceasefire and stabilize the situation between Israel and Lebanon and hopefully move on from there to the broader peace process in the region.  The Palestinians, the Syrians and all tracks, because, without resolving the basic issues, we are likely to face the kind of confrontation we saw only a few weeks ago.”

On Thursday morning he paid a courtesy call on his Majesty King Juan Carlos I at Palacio de la Zarzuela in the outskirts of Madrid.  He was accompanied by his Special Representative for implementation of Security Council resolution 1559, Terje Roed-Larsen, and Special Adviser for Political Affairs, Vijay Nambiar.  They discussed the Secretary-General’s tour of the Middle East in the context of Security Council resolution 1701, and the King congratulated the Secretary-General on the lifting of the blockade on Lebanon, which was to go into effect at 6:00 p.m., Beirut, local time that day.  They agreed that it was now important to tackle the Palestinian problem, which is the root cause of the crisis in The Middle East.  The Secretary-General briefed the King on his visit to Ramallah and his discussions with President Mahmoud Abbas.  Among other issues they also discussed the situation in Iraq, Iran and the nuclear agenda, bilateral issues between Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, Western Sahara, the issue of migration and ways to move forward on the Alliance of Civilizations.

The Secretary-General held talks with Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and Foreign Minister Moratinos at Palacio de la Moncloa in Madrid.  In addition to the situation in Lebanon and implementation of Security Council resolution 1701, they discussed migration and the bilateral issue between Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.  On migration, the Secretary-General agreed that it was important to cooperate with the countries of origin, such as in Africa, to fight poverty.  On Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, he hoped talks and statesmanship could be used in order to resolve this issue.  After the meeting the Secretary-General held a joint press conference with Prime Minister Zapatero at which he thanked the Prime Minister for Spain’s support for the United Nations and said he was very pleased that the Prime Minister had decided to recommend to Parliament that Spain send troops to an enhanced UNIFIL to help stabilize Lebanon.

In answer to a question about the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks against the United States on 11 September 2001 and the war against terror, the Secretary-General said “the UN’s position and my own position has been very, very clear in the fight against terrorism.  We have to be careful not to erode human rights and civil liberties.  I do not believe there is or there can be a trade-off between the effective fight against terrorism and the protection of civil liberties.”

Prime Minister Zapatero then hosted a luncheon for the Secretary-General and his delegation.

Earlier in the day, the Secretary-General met separately with Igor Ivanov, Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation and former Foreign Minister, and former Prime Minister of Spain, Felipe Gonzalez.

The Secretary-General and his team left Madrid at 5:00 p.m. for New York at the conclusion of a tour that took him to Belgium, Lebanon, Israel, Occupied Palestinian Territory, Jordan, Syria, Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey and Spain.