Press conference following a meeting between Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Prime Minister Jean ChrTtien (Unofficial transcript)

Rt. Hon. Jean ChrTtien: Mes chers amis j'Ttais trFs heureux de recevoir le secrTtaire gTnTral cet aprFs-midi, monsieur Annan. Nous avons eu une trFs bonne discussion - lui, moi et le ministre des Affaires TtrangFres. It was a good meeting. It was very appropriate for us to meet him today because of the very intensive activities that he is involved in trying to help and to organize a government that will be adequate to face the situation in Afghanistan after the departure of the Taliban. We discussed that. We've discussed G8. We've discussed, you know, the topics of the G8 next summer, the African file and so it's always pleasant to work with him because he's a good friend of Canada and we have always supported the United Nations a hundred percent and he's doing a great job and on behalf of Canadians I want Mr. Secretary-General to congratulate you again for receiving a well-deserved nomination, the Nobel Prize winner and you know the United Nations and yourself deserve it and in particular you because you have been an extremely devoted international public servant and we are very proud to be a friend of you.

SG: Thank you very much, Mr. Prime Minister. It is really great to be back here in Canada once again and to have the opportunity of exchanging ideas with you and as the prime minister has said we had a chance to discuss the fight against terrorism and the foundation that the UN is laying against that struggle in the Security Council and with all the conventions that have been approved by the General Assembly which gives us all a common legal framework to fight this scourge. We also talked about the UN's responsibilities in Afghanistan, about one, helping the Afghan leaders form a broad-based interim administration to administer the country until such time that a permanent government will be installed. We are pressing ahead and stepping up our humanitarian activities even though we have some difficulties to ensure that we go through the winter with the capacity and the ability to reach all those in need and of course down the line we will be involved with the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the country and I think we'll pause here and take your questions since we don't have much time. And Prime Minister, once again let me thank you for your strong support for the United Nations and for what I've been trying to do at the UN and through you the Canadian people for the sustained strong support and the leadership they show at the UN. Thank you.

JC: Thank you, Secretary-General.

Q: Was there any discussion of a long term peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan after the stabilization force and whether or not Canada would be involved in that?

JC: We've discussed what kind of support or groups that will be established there. There is three possibilities. One could be the peacekeeping traditional UN missions. One could be a multinational force and a third one might be a local established one and it is in the process at this moment. As you know, we will be involved in the interim group with the others who are willing to send troops there but there will be a need for a more permanent solution and we've discussed that, the secretary-general and myself and the minister.

Q: (Inaudible) dans quelle faton vous Otes prOt a participer, le Canada pour aprFs la, une fois (inaudible) stabilisT.

JC: Bien a ce moment ici la question ne se pose pas. Chaque fois qu'il y a eu des requOtes qui nous ont TtT prTsentTes des Nations Unies, la plupart du temps nous avons rTpondu positivement. Nous ne sommes pas a ce moment ici a ce stage-la encore. Nous sommes participants a l'activitT actuelle qui Ttait -- par les AmTricains et le groupe qui est intervenu en Afghanistan et nous apprOtons a envoyer des troupes sur le terrain a ce moment ici mais pour une solution a moyen et long terme il y en est pas -- il n'est pas question prTsentement qu'est-ce qui pourrait Otre la contribution du Canada et est-ce que nous pourrions le faire.

Q: Do you know how much the reconstruction campaign in Afghanistan is going to cost and how should such a campaign be administered?

SG: I cannot give you a figure of how much the reconstruction or rehabilitation will cost. What I can tell you, that is going to be a long term effort which will require a sustained political will and the resources required to make it effective. We are beginning to do our planning and in fact on Tuesday, the 20th, there's going to be a meeting in Washington on the issue of reconstruction of Afghanistan where some of the preliminary plans will be discussed. What I can say is whatever plans we come up with is going to be for the long term and we will need lots of resources.

Q: How would you compare it with the Marshall Plan in terms of scope? Is that the kind of scope that you're contemplating?

SG: I will not exclude it.

Q: Monsieur Annan, (inaudible) secrTtaire gTnTral des Nations Unies, quel est (inaudible) G20 et la place de l'Afrique? Est-ce que l'Afrique a une place dans ce domaine justement?

SG: Il y a un pays africain qui est la. Il y a l'Afrique du Sud et je crois que l'Egypte est la aussi si je ne me trompe pas. Mais en tout cas on aura l'occasion de discuter des problFmes africains parce qu'ils sont la pour discuter la pauvretT, la question des financements du dTveloppement et tout ta touche l'Afrique. Donc mOme si les pays africains ne sont pas la, les problFmes seront discutTs.

Q: What impact do you think that the return of President Rabbani will have on building a coalition government in Afghanistan?

SG: Well, we would -- we are trying to get all the Afghan parties together and by the Afghan parties I mean the Northern Alliance, the group in Rome with (inaudible), the group in Cyprus and the Peshawar group that met in Pakistan. Obviously we hope all Afghan parties and leaders will understand the need to form a broad-based government and set up an administration in Kabul that will be acceptable by all. If they do not do that and one group tries to control power and assert itself, it is going to create problems down the line and I would hope that Mr. Rabbani also is aware of this since he knows intimately the history of his own country. So we will be pressing ahead trying to get them to discuss a broad-based government in which power will be shared by all the groups and I would hope everyone will cooperate.

JC: The last question.

Q: Prime Minister, are we spreading our troops too thin by going to Afghanistan, a thousand people and then maybe peacekeeping after?

JC:No. You know we do what we can do. We have the troops to do what has been needed and all the time we have been able to do the job and the Canadian soldiers have always done an excellent job wherever they are invited to go. And yes, we're sending one thousand more to Afghanistan and I'm sure that they will perform extremely well and we'll be very proud of them. Merci beaucoup. Thank you very much.

SG: Thank you.*****