Secretary of State Condi Rice, Secretary General Kofi Annan

Remarks With United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan

SECRETARY GENERAL ANNAN: Morning, ladies and gentlemen…actually it is afternoon. Secretary of State Condi Rice and myself have had a very good discussion. We have covered lots of territory, from UN Reform to Iraq, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, and we touched on North Korea, Cote d’Ivoire, Sudan and Nepal. I think the meeting on the Palestinian issue has also gone extremely well. I’m very pleased that the Prime Minister convened this meeting which gave everybody an opportunity to sit with the new Palestinian leadership to discuss their needs - how they can be assisted with their reform, economic and social development as well as security. And I think when we look back, the Palestinians have handled the transition extremely well and competently, not only going through the elections but putting together a government that is going to move the process forward. And we hope this meeting will add to the momentum that has been gathering and of course in this afternoon the Quartet would also meet to see how the Quartet can help the process and move the issue forward. Thank you.

SECRETARY RICE: Thank you very much. The Secretary General and I did have a very good talk. We obviously talked about what is going on here at the conference and we will have a Quartet meeting later on today to continue to talk about how the international community can support the process that is underway in this moment of hope. We talked about a wide variety of issues, the events in Lebanon, the need to make certain that Resolution 1559 is adhered to. We had an opportunity to discuss Sudan and the importance of the Sudanese Government taking seriously the concerns and demands of the international community to bring relief to that long suffering population. We also talked a good bit about UN Reform, about the fact that the United States as a founding member of the United Nations wants this to be a strong organization, an organization that is fit and ready for the challenges of the 21st century and we very much appreciate the Secretary General’s commitment to United Nations reform in all of its aspects, in all of its manifestations and we will look forward to working with you, Mr. Secretary General, to make that a reality. Thank you very much. Thank you.

SECRETARY GENERAL ANNAN: Thank you.

Released on March 1, 2005 Secretary Condoleezza Rice London, United Kingdom March 1, 2005