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:

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

                                                                  SG/SM/8533

SECRETARY-GENERAL, IN MESSAGE FOR FIFTH ANNIVERSARY OF OTTAWA CONVENTION,

LOOKS TO TOTAL ELIMINATION OF LANDMINES, CONTINUED CARE FOR VICTIMS

This is the text of a message by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the ceremony in Ottawa marking the fifth anniversary of the opening for signature of the Ottawa Convention banning anti-personnel landmines (delivered on his behalf by Martin Barber, Chief, United Nations Mine Action Service):

SECRETARY-GENERAL CONDEMNS MOMBASA TERRORIST ATTACKS

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