Secretary-General's press encounter after breakfast meeting with
Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission (unofficial transcript)

It is a great pleasure for me to visit the European Commission and I had a very good breakfast meeting with President Barroso and Commissioners Ferrero-Waldner and Louis Michel and other distinguished colleagues from the European Union.

In no other parts of the world are the challenges more acute than in developing countries including Somalia, Afghanistan, Darfur, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad, the Central African Republic and Sri Lanka.

These are the situations that I discussed with President Barroso this morning.

First of all, I thanked the European Union for hosting the Somalia donors' conference and for its committed support and leadership and generous contributions to the development of the Somali security institutions and to the UN-backed African Union Mission to Somalia.

Both President Barroso and I agreed that restoring security and stability to Somalia is vital to the success of its reconciliation effort and for the survival of its unity government.

I stressed that despite the European Union's support, much remains to be done.

In that respect, I encouraged the European Union to keep contributing both financially and otherwise to the building of a strong Somali government and also to continue to assist AMISOM.

I also informed President Barroso that I have recommended to the Security Council that we adopt an incremental approach to setting up an eventual UN peacekeeping operation in Somalia.

That is, once circumstances and conditions are appropriate.

Last but not least, we discussed Somalia's disastrous humanitarian situation, and the need to protect international shipping, particularly humanitarian vessels, from pirates.

We considered various ways to respond to these combined threats jointly, immediately and efficiently.

With that in mind, I thanked President Barroso, the European Union and Commission for its contribution to the fight against piracy through the EU anti-piracy operation ATALANTA.

On Afghanistan, I sought greater European Union support for the UN Mission's efforts in improving donor coordination and aid-effectiveness.

I noted that the Conference in The Hague was a success.

It created a new dynamism for our efforts in Afghanistan and reconfirmed the UN's central role in coordinating international assistance and supporting the Afghan Government and the Paris Agenda.

President Barroso and I also exchanged views on recent developments in Afghanistan.

He briefed me on the EU's electoral observation mission in that country.

For my part, I told him that while restoring security is paramount to the success of our efforts in Afghanistan, the challenges we are facing in that country cannot be addressed by military means alone. These military means must be accompanied by a political and civil surge.

We must now support wider regional cooperation on practical issues and mobilize untapped resources for economic development and capacity-building in the region.

As President Barroso said we also discussed the global economic crisis, food security and challenges posed to the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals.

These challenges are inter-linked, requiring global and comprehensive solutions.

Climate change needs to be addressed urgently. I have asked for the leadership of the European Union, playing a role of a locomotive, pulling ahead of every country and pushing from behind. This is very, very important. We count on the European Union's continued and committed support on this matter. In this regard I would like to inform you that the UN has launched the 'Seal the Deal' campaign toward Copenhagen in December.

I thanked President Barroso for the European Union's continuing leadership role in pushing the climate change agenda forward.

We reaffirmed the stronger UN-EU partnership on these crucial challenges.

Before concluding, I would like to reiterate my welcome to the release of the UN Envoys, Ambassador Fowler and Mr. Guay, and other hostages. My special thanks go to the Governments of Canada, Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso for their persistent and patient efforts to securing the release of these hostages. I can't overemphasize the importance of ensuring the safety and security of UN staff.

I am going to dispatch my Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs tomorrow ?

to join these released people, Ambassador Fowler, Mr. Guay and other hostages to sympathize and to meet them. I sincerely hope that the family members will be united with them soon and I would like to really thank the endurance of the family members in these very difficult times.

But I will stop here and take your questions.

Thank you very much.

Q: Given the reality on the ground in Somalia, the strength of the insurgency and the kidnapping of foreigners and Somalis this week –two Medecins sans Frontières workers –and indeed the little territory the government controls at the moment; what are the prospects of actually developing a Somali security force that could gain the confidence of the Somali public and have any chance of containing the piracy?

SG: This is part of a two track approach - first, to strengthen the AMISOM capacity and at the same time to train and strengthen the capacity of Somali national forces and police. This is a very important element. As President Barroso said and everyone agrees, the situation will continue to be very difficult but with this political and financial support to Somali and AMISOM forces, I sincerely hope that we will be able to control the situation there. There is a tendency among the people on the ground not to give any support to those insurgent forces. This is an encouraging tendency. This is something we have to encourage. This should be Somali lead. This ownership should be the Somali people?of their future. But at this time since they are very much limited in their capacity it is crucially important that the International Community continues to support so they will be able to maintain and manage the situation on their own.