SG: Meine Damen und Herren, Guten tag sehr geehrte Frau Bundeskanzlerin ich freue mich hier zu sein heute

(Ladies and Gentlemen, good day Chancellor, I am happy to be here today)

It is a great honour and pleasure for me to visit Germany for the second time since I have taken office in January this year. I'm going to visit for the third time, early next week, to participate in the G-8 summit in Heiligendamm. You will see how much I like Germany. It's going to be the third visit in five months, and I appreciate very much Germany's contributions to the United Nations activities, and I commend highly the leadership of Federal Chancellor Madame Angela Merkel - for her leadership in the presidency of the European Union and the G8. I look forward to my own participation. I'm quite confident that under your leadership the world community will have great success during the forthcoming G8 summit meeting.

As you may know, this time I am visiting Berlin to attend a Quartet meeting here this evening. The situation on the ground is extremely volatile and I'm going to discuss this matter with my Quartet colleagues to facilitate the peace process in the Middle East, and to also prevent reoccurrence of such fighting in the field. I'm very much committed to contribute myself, as Secretary-General of the United Nations, to facilitate the ongoing peace process in the Middle East. While we have some guarded optimism on this ongoing peace movement in the Middle East, we need a concerted and common cooperation on the part of the international community to help both parties - particularly Arabs and Israelis, and more importantly between Palestinians and Israelis, so that they can live with a vision of two states living in peace and security.

In a few minutes, I am going to have a meeting with Chancellor Merkel on a number of issues, first of all as far as the [inaudible] political issues are concerned, such as the situation in Darfur, Lebanon, Kosovo and Somalia, I hope I will be able to discuss all these issues. In each, Germany has taken leadership, including maritime contributions in Lebanon and elsewhere. And also, I'd like to discuss in depth about climate change issues and millennium development issues.

I am very much grateful for your kind invitation for me to be able to participate in this forthcoming G8 summit meeting, and I hope that under your leadership again the international community will have great, great success during this forthcoming G8 summit meeting.

Thank you very much for your kind hospitality and cooperation and I look forward to working very closely with you, and look forward to meeting you in New York during the General Assembly in September this year.

Thank you very much, ich Danke Ihnen.