In Geneva, Annan confers with senior UN officials in advance of G-8 summit

Secretary-General Kofi Annan today conferred with senior United Nations officials in Geneva in advance of the upcoming "Group of Eight" summit in Genoa, Italy, which he will attend.

In preparation for the summit, Mr. Annan held discussions with K.Y. Amoako, the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa, Dr. Peter Piot, the Executive Director of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), Mark Malloch Brown, the Administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), and Dr. Andrew Cassels, a Director with the World Health Organization (WHO).

Global trade issues topped the agenda of the Secretary-General's meeting today with Mike Moore, the Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), while the 2003 World Summit on the Information Society was the subject of his discussions with Yoshio Utsumi, the head of the International Telecommunications Union.

Later in the day, the Secretary-General paid a visit to the headquarters of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), where hundreds of staff members gathered in the lobby and on the balconies to greet Mr. Annan, who used to work for the agency. He then discussed with Mr. Lubbers a number of global issues that have an impact on refugees, from globalization and HIV/AIDS to poverty and the environment.

Mr. Annan later met with acclaimed United States film actress Angelina Jolie, currently starring in "Tomb Radier," who was visiting UNHCR to learn more about its work on behalf of the world's refugees. She described her visit to refugee camps in Africa earlier this year, and how she has posted her impressions of that trip on the website of the United States Association for UNHCR.