8 March 2001

The President today addressed the International Women's Day event at the United Nations Headquarters. The theme for the event was "Women and Peace: Women Managing Conflict" and in his statement Mr. Holkeri quoted studies which have shown that women's participation in conflict prevention and peacekeeping operations improves the efficiency of the operations as well as enhances the impact of the outcomes. The full text of his statement is available on the "Statements and Messages" page.

The President met with the Secretary-General of the United Nations, H.E. Mr. Kofi Annan. Their discussion focused on the President's recent initiatives on improving the working methods of the General Assembly. The work of the open-ended working groups on Security Council reform and on Africa was also touched upon. They also discussed the follow-up to the Millennium Summit and the special session on HIV/AIDS.

A number of issues was discussed during the meeting between the President and H.E. Mr. Yukio Satoh, Permanent Representative of Japan.

The President also met with H.E. Mr. Sotirios Zackheos, Permanent Representative of Cyprus, to discuss the work of the open-ended working group on Security Council reform.

The President attended a luncheon hosted by Mr. Timo Relander, Director General of the Statistics Finland.

Later in the day the President gave an interview to Mr. Christian Dan, who represents Radio Romania International.