Press encounter following luncheon hosted by Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Thorbjorn Jagland (unofficial transcript)

SG: Thank you very much, Mr. Minister, and I am also extremely happy to be back in Norway again and, as you also know, Nane and I have had a very invigorating walk in the mountains, and today we have had a good round of discussions, which pulled me back to reality from the glorious beauty of the mountains, and in addition to what the Foreign Minister said to you, we did discuss the crisis in Africa - the Democratic Republic of Congo, the situation in Burundi, Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Western Sahara, and on the Middle East and also the Iraqi issue I would want to thank the Foreign Minister and Norway for the work they are doing and the leadership position that they have played; they have played a major role in our efforts to settle the Middle East crisis. As you know, the Foreign Minister was also a member of the Mitchell Commission that came up with a recommendation that the entire international community has embraced and the two parties have accepted. Now the challenge is to get the two parties to focus their energies on the implementation of the Mitchell Report in its entirety and that is the challenge for us, the international community, and we are going to continue trying.

Q: Secretary-General, you have compared the AIDS pandemic in Africa with the third world war, but then you need to fight that war with the best medicines and what can be done to solve this, especially then relating to the big pharmaceutical companies.

SG: I think there are quite a few things that can be done. What is required is for us to recognize the magnitude of the crisis, have the will and the determination to tackle it. I think we have enough resources in the world to tackle it if the will is there. In my call of action I have five points, that we should try and give assistance to everyone affected with AIDS, and we should do everything to ensure that those who are vulnerable and likely to be infected know what to do to protect themselves, particularly the young, and we should encourage scientific research for vaccine and cure, and here I must also thank Norway for their contribution to the Global Vaccine Initiative, and of course the question of child to mother infection, which is the most cruel of all transmissions, and finally to do something to help the orphans. There are 13 million orphans today, and the numbers are growing, and I think what we can do is that if we have the resources we can get the communities involved, the women's organizations, and countries have demonstrated that it can be done - look at Uganda - Uganda and Senegal have made tremendous strides. What we need is for leaders to speak out, to lead, to break their silence, and to break the discrimination that surrounds this disease. Where AIDS is concerned, silence is dead, and I want everyone to come out, but governments alone cannot do it. We need to mobilize entire societies, governments, private sector, civil society foundations, individuals; we can all make a contribution and I hope everyone would also contribute and contribute generously to the Global AIDS Fund, which will be used to assist the poor countries in tackling this disease, and it is a global problem, it is spreading fast in Asia, in the former Soviet republics and in the Caribbean, so we need to really get busy.

Q: But the big pharmaceutical companies?

SG: The big pharmaceutical companies have now realized that while their intellectual property is necessary for them to do research, to provide the incentive, the medication must also be accessible to the poor, and they've made great efforts to reduce their prices. I've met with them last time in April and we've set up another meeting in October, to see how far, what we have achieved and what we can do better. So they have reduced the prices, in some instances they are giving away the medication freely, and we need to engage them as well as other constituencies to tackle this disease.

Q: A colleague of mine just came from Uganda, where he spoke to the President and he criticized you very much for not having done enough in Rwanda in 1994, and he also said that he thinks you should resign because of this. What do you think about that?

SG: Your friend said that or the President Kagame said that?

Journalist: The President said it to my colleague.

SG: Well, I would be surprised, because the President and I work very closely on lots of issues, and we were together in Lusaka and we are often on the phone. I think that on the Rwanda issue, two reports have come out, actually three - several reports. One is by the UN, one is by the OAU eminent persons and one by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and I think they tell a very interesting story. Mistakes were made, and in this war situation mistakes will be made and do occur. The important thing is to try to draw the right lessons and ensure that in the future those mistakes do not reoccur. It is very easy for people with a hindsight, with a cold and merciless knowledge and judgement of hindsight to appear so clever, and let those actors in the field appear like [inaudible] fools, but things are a bit more complicated than that and I expect historians to put it in some proper perspective, and I will be seeing President Kagame in South Africa, and I hope he will share this opinion with me as well, that he shared with your colleague - what is the name of your colleague?

Journalist: [inaudible]

Q: Do you see any problems, Sir, in the fact that the Norwegian Government invites you in the middle of the Norwegian election campaign?

SG: The Norwegian Government did not invite me. I came here on holiday, which had been planned here, because - as I said - we love nature and I thought Norway would be a good place to have a holiday. At the end of my two weeks of holidays, I stopped in Norway to have discussions, but the initiative of coming here was mine, the Government did not invite me, and at the end of my visit I stopped in to talk to the Government.

Q: As you know, the level of development aid is a big issue in the campaign. Can any of the parties be using your visit for their internal purpose?

SG: I don't think so and I will not allow it to be used.

Q: The G-8 meeting in Genoa put Africa on top of the agenda on the basis of the MAP initiative. I wonder, do you believe that the MAP initiative is just another vision of African Renaissance, or do you think that it could turn out to be a real turning point for African development?

SG: I hope it would turn out to be a real turning point, in that it is an initiative that came from the African leaders, an initiative that was endorsed by the OAU summit in Lusaka, and at the summit in Genoa the emphasis of the discussion was on implementation and on action and I hope that if that spirit is sustained, that we will see real results from this initiative.

Q: It has received criticism for being just another begging bowl for Africa. Do you agree in that criticism?

SG: I don't know if it is correct to describe it as a begging bowl, or as an initiative that has been put forward to be implemented in partnership with the developing countries. The Africans and the African leaders will make their own contribution but they want to work in partnership with the north [inaudible] and they will need help, and I think once you look at it as a partnership effort, then it is not a begging bowl, and definitely the leaders who proposed this initiative do not see it in those terms at all.*****