UN Secretary-General goes to Switzerland and Germany next week
United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan leaves for Geneva, Switzerland, on Sunday to address the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) and then goes to Germany on an official visit, his spokesman said today.
While in Geneva, the Secretary-General is scheduled to address the WSIS on Wednesday, 10 December, after attending the opening ceremony of the World Electronic Media Forum and the launch of the independent Global Commission on International Migration on Tuesday, spokesman Fred Eckhard said.
Mr. Annan will go to Berlin on 11 December for official meetings with President Johannes Rau, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and Minister of Foreign Affairs Joschka Fischer, as well as the leader of the opposition Christian Democratic Party, Angela Merkel.
He will also attend a dinner hosted by the Chancellor with CEOs of corporations committed to the UN Global Compact. The Global Compact for international businesses seeks solutions to societal problems, while trying to ensure that markets remain open and globalization works for everyone.
At the University of Tubingen on Friday, 12 December, the Secretary-General will deliver a lecture on ethics entitled, "Do we still have universal values?"
Mr. Annan visited Los Angeles, California, this week and was expected back at headquarters tomorrow, Mr. Eckhard said.
In Los Angeles, Mr. Annan told journalists yesterday that AIDS in the United States is now a chronic disease. In some countries that he and his wife had visited, however, it was a death sentence and dying young people "are also aware that there is medication available somewhere, but they can't get it because they are poor."
"Should the poor have to go through that? Should they be punished to such an extent?" he asked. "Obviously, a lot is being done now, but we are not doing enough and we have to redouble our efforts. We need resources, we need research, we need to get a vaccine, we need to push for a simpler treatment like the one-in-three pill."