TRANSPARENCY, FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION ESSENTIAL TO TACKLING ROOT CAUSES OF MANY

CHALLENGES, SECRETARY-GENERAL TELLS PARIS MEETING ON GLOBAL COMPACT

Following is the text of remarks by Secretary General Kofi Annan at the meeting with French President Jacques Chirac and business executives on the Global Compact in Paris today:

SECRETARY GENERAL PRAISES GHANA’S ‘STEADFAST’, 40-YEAR COMMITMENT

TO UN PEACEKEEPING, IN MESSAGE TO INAUGURATION OF ACCRA CENTRE

Following is Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s message for the inauguration of the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Centre, delivered by Alfred Fawundu, United Nations Resident Coordinator in Ghana, in Accra, 24 January:

SECRETARY-GENERAL WILL SEND ELECTION TEAM TO IRAQ, ONCE SATISFIED

WITH COALITION SECURITY ARRANGEMENTS

The following statement by Secretary-General Kofi Annan was issued today in Paris:

The Secretary-General arrived in Stockholm from Davos in the afternoon of 25 January, to attend the Stockholm Forum on Preventing Genocide.

The Secretary-General arrived in Davos on 22 January, for three days, to attend the World Economic Forum.

CONCERNED BY ‘DIFFICULT SITUATION’ IN SRI LANKA, SECRETARY-GENERAL

HOPES PEACE TALKS CAN RESUME IN NEAR FUTURE

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan:

SECRETARY-GENERAL SADDENED AT DEATH OF SVEN FREDERIKSEN, HEAD

OF EUROPEAN UNION POLICE MISSION TO BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan:

The Secretary-General is saddened to learn that Mr. Sven Frederiksen, the Head of the European Union Police Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, died earlier today in Sarajevo.

MAJOR-GENERAL ALAIN PELLEGRINI APPOINTED FORCE COMMANDER

OF UNITED NATIONS INTERIM FORCE IN LEBANON (UNIFIL)

Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced today the appointment of Major-General Alain Pellegrini of France as Force Commander of the United Nations Interim Force (UNIFIL) to succeed Major-General Lalit Mohan Tewari who relinquishes his post on 17 February 2004.

AT WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM, SECRETARY-GENERAL CALLS ON BUSINESS LEADERS TO EMBRACE

DEVELOPMENT CHALLENGES AND FIGHT POVERTY, UNFAIR TRADE, SECURITY THREATS

Following is Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s address to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, today:

Five years ago, here in Davos, I asked you, the world’s business leaders, to join the United Nations on a journey.

The Secretary-General this morning met with German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer in Baden Baden.