Remarks upon arrival at UNHQ, - on Iraq (unofficial transcript)

Q: Obviously you are aware of what Mr. Powell has been saying in the region. I wonder if he has communicated to you any of the ideas and the thoughts that are being discussed in terms of easing sanctions, and whether you have your own notion of what are "smart sanctions"?

SG: Let me say that on some of the ideas that Secretary of State [Colin] Powell has raised in the region, during his visit here he did hint at it without going into details, emphasizing the fact that the objective of the sanctions was not to hurt the Iraqi people, that they were not the targets, and one has to find a way of strengthening the disarmament regime and giving relief to the Iraqi people. So I am not surprised with the comments coming out of the region.

Q: Has there been follow up of the ideas as they have been shaped up?

SG: I think obviously he has had discussions in the region. He is meeting the French Foreign Minister in Brussels today. There are lots of discussions going on in capitals, and within the [Security] Council. I am sure that the Council members will need to work together on this and come to some consensus on how to proceed.

Q: Are smart sanctions part of this [inaudible]

SG: I think that would have to be for the [Security] Council to decide. I think as they review all these issues they will have to determine how to proceed, and I would not want to prejudge or preempt what the Council members may do, but obviously as you know there is lots of reflection and discussions going on, and I hope that out of all this will come something constructive.

Q: At the end of yesterday's meeting the Foreign Minister [Mohammed Saeed Al Sahaf] was very strong in his remarks about refusing to reaccept any weapons inspectors, under any circumstances; his insistence on involving Israel in monitoring - do you sense that the Iraqis are moving more towards some sort of flexibility or away from it after your talks with them?

SG: I think it is too early for me to get into that. But as I said we had good discussions, in a good atmosphere, and we are going to continue. I hope we will be able to tackle all the key issues, to be able to move forward. But I don't want to get into this at this stage.

Q: What do you think about the proof that he said he presented to you, on disarmament?

SG: We did discuss disarmament issues, and the way they saw it. They made a comprehensive presentation, indicating how they saw the facts, and also put forth quite a lot of their grievances as to how the regime has worked or not worked.

Q: The Iraqi side seems to be putting a lot of importance on the monitoring of the whole region, to make it a zone free of weapons of mass destruction. Do you foresee approaching the Israelis, approaching other countries in the region, talking to them about this point, that the Iraqis seem to be focussing a lot of importance on?

SG: I think when it comes to regional security arrangements, it should not be an issue only for the Iraqis. We should all be interested in it. That is the only way one can assure long-term regional security for that region. I think it is an objective that we should all work for, and I myself have had an occasion to raise this in the [Security] Council and in other fora, that we should think, in the long term, of security arrangements and a nuclear free zone for the region, and in fact the Council had indicated this in one of the resolutions.

Q: So you support, Mr. Secretary-General, the activation of paragraph 14 of Resolution 687, which speaks about making sure the disarmament of Iraq is a step within efforts to rid the region of weapons of mass destruction?

SG: I have no doubt that we need to work on a regional basis to ensure long term security in the region.

Q: Mr. Secretary-General, will you formulate a common policy at the end of these talks? Will there be some sort of statement that will tell us what the pending issues are and what you have achieved in terms of progress?

SG: I think after the talks obviously I will brief the Security Council and the Council will factor into its own discussions and decision-making my discussions with the Iraqis, but the decision will be up to them. If the question is, if at the end of the talks, we will be able to make a statement to the press, an indication of where we are, we will be able to make a statement. I don't know how much detail we can go into, but we will give you a statement.

Q: It's going well?

SG: It's going well. Thank you. *****