Palestine question – SecGen meets Arafat – Press release

SECRETARY-GENERAL MEETS WITH YASSER ARAFAT IN GENEVA

Also Addresses Conference on Land-Mines, Conference on Disarmament

Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali met this morning with Yasser Arafat, President of the Palestinian Authority and Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).  They discussed the reconstruction of Gaza and the provision and coordination of aid to the area.  Mr. Arafat briefed the Secretary-General on the recent meetings he had held with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Shimon  Peres on the issue of autonomy.  Mr. Arafat had stated to the Secretary-General that the meetings had resulted in some progress.

At 10 a.m., the Secretary-General addressed the International Conference on Mine Clearance, chaired by Foreign Minister of Belgium Erik Derycke.  In his address, the Secretary-General called for a global ban on the production and use of land-mines and the destruction of all stockpiles.

The Secretary-General then attended the high-level segment of the 1995 substantive session of the Economic and Social Council, where he participated in a political dialogue on the world economy and international economic cooperation with  senior officials of intergovernmental financial institutions:  the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Michel Camdessus; the Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Renato Ruggiero; the President of the World Bank, James Wolfensohn; and the Officer-in-Charge of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, Carlos M. Fortin.

The Secretary-General concluded the morning's activities by inaugurating two exhibitions: "Silent Witness" and "Living and Working with Mines".

He attended a luncheon held in his honour by the Foreign Minister of Belgium.  Following the luncheon, the Secretary-General addressed the Conference on Disarmament.  (For text of statement see Press Release SG/SM/5681-DCF/236 issued today.)

In the afternoon, the Secretary-General had a number of meetings.  He met with Cyrus Vance, his Special Envoy dealing with the outstanding problem between the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Greece.  During the meeting, which precedes the Secretary-General's forthcoming official visit to Greece, he was given a comprehensive briefing on the issue.  Following their meeting, they were joined by the Minister for Foreign Affairs of The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Stevo Crvenkovski.

The Secretary-General then met with the Deputy Foreign Minister of Libya, Abdulhati Obeidi, at his  request.  They discussed the implementation of Security Council resolutions 731 (1992) and 748 (1992), which urged Libya to cooperate in establishing  responsibility for terrorist acts against Pan Am flight 103 and UTA flight 772 and requested the Secretary-General to work towards obtaining such cooperation.

The Secretary-General also met with the Prime Minister of Latvia, Maris Gailis, who invited the Secretary-General to pay an official visit to his country.  The Secretary-General accepted that invitation.  In addition, the Secretary-General held meetings with Mr. Camdessus  of the IMF, Mr. Ruggiero of the WTO, and Mr. Wolfensohn of the World Bank.

*Revised to provide additional details of Secretary-General's activities mentioned in last four paragraphs.

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