The Secretary-General arrived in Paris from the Netherlands on the evening of 24 November, meeting next day with French President Jacques Chirac and Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin.

  On the morning of 21 November, the Secretary-General and his wife Nane flew from Zagreb to Amsterdam, and they had a private lunch with Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands at The Hague.

In the morning of 20 November, the Secretary-General flew to Zagreb, where he was greeted on arrival by Croatian President Stjepan Mesic.

                                                  SG/SM/8537

EVENTS IN AFGHANISTAN PROMPT OPTIMISM, BUT ‘STEADY DETERMINATION’ REQUIRED

TO SEE TASK THROUGH, SAYS SECRETARY-GENERAL TO TALKS IN GERMANY

Following is the statement of Secretary-General Kofi Annan delivered by the Special Representative for Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, to the 2002 Bonn talks on Afghanistan in Petersberg, Germany, on 2 December:

Note to Correspondents

PANEL TO DISCUSS FUTURE OF INTERNATIONAL CIVIL SERVICE, 4 DECEMBER

Fifty-seventh General Assembly

Plenary

64^th and 65th Meetings (AM&PM)*

SUPPORT EXPRESSED IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY FOR EFFORTS

TO RESOLVE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT

Delegates also Note Need for Normal Relations Between Israel, Syria and Lebanon

                                                                  UNEP/129

MULTIFACETED, INTEGRATED, PROACTIVE DISASTER MANAGEMENT URGENTLY NEEDED,

SAYS SECRETARY-GENERAL IN MESSAGE TO BUDAPEST MEETING

Following is Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s message to the high-level meeting on Sustainable Flood Management, delivered on his behalf by Klaus Toepfer, Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme, in Budapest,

30 November to 1 December:

                                                                  SG/SM/8534