Following Chancellor Schr÷der's opening remarks, in which he welcomed the Secretary-General, congratulated him on his re-election, and outlined the topics they had discussed - including the G8, the Secretary-General's initiative against AIDS, and the need to see successful negotiations at the Bonn Climate Change Conference next week - the Secretary-General responded (The Chancellor's translated remarks to follow):
SG: Thank you very much, Chancellor. Let me say how happy I am to be back in Berlin and to thank you personally and the Government and the people of Germany for the support they have given me and the United Nations. We have a heavy agenda but I know we can always count on the leadership and strong participation of Germany in all our activities.
I am grateful that the member states re-appointed me and, therefore, it will be possible for us to continue our important work. I would also want to comment on the several issues that the Chancellor raised. First of all I want to thank you, Mr. Chancellor, for the contribution for the AIDS fund that you have announced. I hope it will inspire others to follow, and I must emphasize here that this is not a fund only for governments. It's a fund that is open to the private sector, to companies, individuals, foundations and others to make contributions. And I hope those with capacity to give, would give and give generously because this is a struggle that we are all engaged in.
On climate change, let me start by saying that I agree with everything that the Chancellor has said but I would want to add that climate change is occurring. It is real. We have enough evidence to know that it is happening. There's enough scientific evidence to wake us up and let us take action. We don't need to wait for perfect science to be able to act. Each day we fail to act we are putting the earth at risk. And I think leaders of today, including myself, have a responsibility to the young ones to ensure that we leave them a planet that is habitable. We leave them a planet that they can survive on. Unless we begin to act we will put their future at risk. I also trust that in the end the Japanese Government will join other likeminded governments to press ahead with the implementation of this protocol. Japan, as a host country, has a historic and special responsibility and I am sure they will live up to that. We need to have reliability and dependency in international relations and international undertakings and I am sure that it will happen. Let me say that Jan Pronk, the Dutch Minister who has been chairing this meeting, has done a great job and he needs all our help. I spoke to your compatriot Klaus T÷pfer yesterday, who is also pushing very hard, and we are all determined to work with the governments to ensure a successful conference in Bonn and implementation of the Kyoto Protocol.
One final comment on another problem: small arms. As we speak there is an important conference going on in New York on attempts to stem the traffic in illicit arms. I think it is important that that conference succeeds. Yesterday in my meeting with Defence Minister Scharping he informed me that Germany has already destroyed 1.5 million such weapons and I applaud Germany for that. I think it is important that we do everything to stem the flow because in today's world it is these weapons that are doing all the killing in the wars that are ravaging our world. They are the same weapons that are killing people in our cities, that get into the hands of drug dealers, terrorists, and we need to really contain this flow. The intention is to ensure that we make this world a better place for us. Do not be distracted by statements made by others that the UN wants to get weapons away from people who legally own them. One has a right to own a weapon maybe, but we also have a right to protect innocent peoples in our community. And I hope we will have a successful meeting in New York. Three years ago in a report I issued in Africa I recommended that Africa, which is the poorest continent, should encourage that no government in that region spends more than 1.5 per cent of its GDP on arms, and I think we all have a responsibility to try and curb the spread of these weapons.
[Question to Chancellor Schr÷der on Germany's wish for a permanent seat on the Security Council, to which he replied that Germany is willing to take on more responsibility but is not pressuring for this.]
Q: Mr Secretary-General, how do you judge the prospects of Klaus T÷pfer being re-elected as the Head of UNEP? My second question would be, what do you think about the work he has done so far?
SG: Klaus T÷pfer has been a dynamic leader of the UN Environment Programme. He came to us with lots of experience from Germany as a former Environment Minister, and provided such visionary leadership and dynamism to the Programme and has started very important initiatives that I would like him to continue. I have no doubt that Klaus T÷pfer will continue and his appointment will be supported unanimously by the member states. He is a great leader.
[Chancellor Schr÷der added expression of his respect and support for Mr. T÷pfer (in German).]
SG: Thank you. *****