SECRETARY-GENERAL ATTENDS `GROUP OF SEVEN' SUMMIT IN LYON

28 June 1996

Press Release
SG/T/2072

SECRETARY-GENERAL ATTENDS `GROUP OF SEVEN' SUMMIT IN LYON

19960628 LYON, France, 28 June -- Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali arrived in Lyon, France, at midday today, to take part in the annual summit meeting of heads of State and government of the "Group of Seven" most industrialized countries. That is the first time that a Secretary-General of the United Nations takes part in a summit meeting of the "Group of Seven".

At 12:30 p.m., the Secretary-General opened an exhibit on the United Nations, which was organized by the Department of Public Information (DPI), in the presence of the Mayor of Lyon, Raymond Barre, and other senior French authorities.

At 7:30 p.m., the Secretary-General will attend a dinner hosted by the Foreign Minister of France Hervé de Charette in honour of the foreign ministers of the Group of Seven countries and the United Nations Secretary-General. The dinner will be attended by the Foreign Minister of Canada, Lloyd Axworthy; the Foreign Minister of Germany, Klaus Kinkel; the Foreign Minister of Italy, Lamberto Dini; the Foreign Minister of Japan, Yukihiko Ikeda; the Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom, Malcom Rifkind; and the Secretary of State of the United States, Warren Christopher.

At 10 p.m., the Secretary-General will take part in the summit's segment on the issue of development assistance and increasing the efficiency of such aid. That segment will also be attended by the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Michel Camdessus; the President of the World Bank, James Wolfensohn; and the Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Renato Ruggiero.

The heads of State and government attending the summit meeting in Lyon, which is hosted by President Jacques Chirac of France, are the following: Prime Minister Jean Chretien of Canada; Chancellor Helmut Kohl of Germany; Prime Minister Romano Prodi of Italy; Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto of Japan; Prime Minister John Major of the United Kingdom; and President William Clinton of the United States.

- 2 - Press Release SG/T/2072 28 June 1996

In April this year, the Secretary-General wrote to the leaders of the "Group of Seven" requesting their support for the United Nations System-wide Special Initiative on Africa, which was launched in March. The Initiative brings together the efforts of the entire United Nations system, including the World Bank and the IMF, in meeting the critical challenges facing Africa today, with particular emphasis on areas such as education, clean water, health, food security and governance.

The Initiative reflects the concerns of the "Group of Seven", expressed in the Halifax Communiqué of June 1995, on extreme poverty and the marginalization of the poorest countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, and its call for increased resources for basic social programmes and other measures to attack the roots of poverty.

In this context, the Secretary-General will chair, on 2 July in Geneva, a donor consultation meeting with the United Nations system to discuss ways of implementing the Special Initiative.

The Secretary-General will inform the leaders of the "Group of Seven" about the progress achieved so far with regard to the reforms of the United Nations system.

The Secretary-General is accompanied in Lyon by the Under-Secretary-General for Administration and Management Joseph Connor; the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, Vladimir Petrovsky; and the Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Rubens Ricupero.

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