ACTIVITIES OF SECRETARY-GENERAL IN AUSTRIA, 18-20 JULY

Press Release
SG/T/2197

ACTIVITIES OF SECRETARY-GENERAL IN AUSTRIA, 18-20 JULY

The Secretary-General arrived in Austria on 18 July. He began his official programme the following day with a meeting with Austrian President Thomas Klestil. He was accompanied by Pino Arlacchi, Director General of the United Nations Office in Vienna.

At a press encounter afterwards, the Secretary-General was asked about the United Nations relations with North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). "I think we went through a bumpy period there", he said, "when the NATO Alliance undertook military action without specific Security Council approval. But now that is a thing of the past", he added, "and now we are cooperating together on the ground".

He and the President then went to the Austria Centre to open the Third United Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNISPACE III). "Confronted with the vastness of the universe, we often feel our own insignificance", he observed in his opening speech. "What we should feel even more is the absurdity of the divisions in our small world." The Vienna Declaration, which the Conference is expected to adopt, he said "must be not just a form of words but a living force which will change the lives of future generations." He concluded by paraphrasing Neil Armstrong, the United States astronaut who first landed on the moon 30 years ago, saying that "the small steps you will take here in Vienna can lead to giant leaps for humankind" (Press Release SG/SM/7071).

In the margins of the UNISPACE III Conference, he met with the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohamed El-Baradei, to discuss the next steps in Iraq.

He then went to the Federal Chancellery to meet with the Austrian Chancellor Viktor Klima. They discussed the United Nations operation in Kosovo and the reconstruction effort there. Their talks also focused on the situation in West Africa, the war in Angola and the fight against drug trafficking. Their discussions continued over a lunch hosted by the Chancellor. Afterwards, they met with the press, where the Secretary-General said, in referring to the Kosovo situation, that the Security Council was needed to establish UNMIK and deploy KFOR and that "we are back on track and we should draw the right lessons from the Kosovo experience and strengthen the United Nations". He then went on to praise Austria's role in United Nations operations -- in areas of peacekeeping, development assistance, humanitarian affairs and political leadership.

After lunch, he went to the Parliament Building to meet with the President of the Parliament, Heinz Fischer. The President said he felt strongly that NATO should not have taken military action, as they did in Kosovo, without consulting the Security Council. He also asked about the Security Council reform efforts and in that context discussed the Parliamentarians input to the United Nations Millennium Assembly planned for September 2000. They also discussed Kosovo, Western Sahara, Iraq and the Middle East peace process.

Former Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim made a courtesy call in the late afternoon.

In the evening, the Secretary-General attended a ceremony for the Vienna Civil Society Award given for outstanding work in the fight against drugs and crime. He applauded the first winners of this award and was grateful for the joint efforts of the Government of Austria and the City of Vienna in establishing it with the United Nations. He said that the United Nations could not work alone and that this award served as a symbol of the value which it attached to cooperation with civil society in this area.

He then attended a dinner in his honour hosted by the Mayor of Vienna, Michael Haupl.

On 20 July, the Secretary-General began his day at a breakfast meeting with a dozen women Ambassadors to the United Nations based in Vienna. He enlisted their help in maintaining the roster of qualified women candidates for United Nations jobs. They also discussed women in post-conflict situations, trafficking in women and children, violence against women and other issues of mutual concern.

He then went to the Headquarters of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to meet with its Secretary-General, Jan Kubis, who had been his Special Representative for Tajikistan. The Chairman of the OSCE Permanent Council, Kai Eide, who had worked for the United Nations in Bosnia, also attended the meeting. Together they reviewed the institution-building role which the OSCE will play in the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK).

In remarks to the OSCE Permanent Council, the Secretary-General summed up the common objective in Kosovo. "Our aim is clear", he said, "to help create a secure, multi-ethnic, prosperous and democratically governed society for all Kosovars, regardless of ethnicity." He appealed to the OSCE to work closely with the United Nations to achieve this goal.

The Secretary-General attended a luncheon hosted by Pino Arlacchi, the Director General of the United Nations Office in Vienna, which also included 10 astronauts/cosmonauts in Vienna for the UNISPACE III Conference: Claudie Andre-Deshays (France); Franklin Chang-Diaz (United States); Pedro Duque (Spain); Chris Hadfield (Canada); Alexey Leonov (Russian Federation); Ulf Merbold (Germany); Chiaki Mukai (Japan); Dumitru Dorin Prunariu (Romania); Yury Romanenko (Russian Federation); and Franz Viehbock (Austria).

His last official meeting of this visit was with the Austrian Foreign Minister, Wolfgang Schussel. They discussed the post-conflict situation in south-eastern Europe -- the European Union role in Kosovo, stability in Vojvodina in northern Serbia and in the Sandjak in the south-west. They also touched on the security situation in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and in Montenegro.

The Foreign Minister had recently returned from a visit to Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan and they reviewed the situation in those countries.

The Minister asked what lessons had been learned in Kosovo regarding humanitarian assistance. They talked of applying rapid reaction principles to make the delivery of such assistance more efficient.

Austria had contributed police to the United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) and they reviewed the situation there. They also evaluated the peace prospects in the Middle East and touched briefly on Cyprus.

Afterwards, they met with the press, where the Secretary-General thanked the Foreign Minister for Austria's continuous support to the United Nations.

In the evening, the Secretary-General left Vienna for New York.

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