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Foreign Affairs Minister Mircea Geoana met with UN Secretary General
Minister of Foreign Affairs Mircea Geoana met on Thursday, February 5, with UN Secretary
General Kofi Annan. As
a member of the Security Council over the coming two years, Romania has
both the experience and effective capacity to play a substantial part in
the decision-making process with deep international and regional
implications - asserted the Romanian Foreign Minister on this occasion. The
sides expressed their confidence that Romania will have a considerable
contribution to the adoption by the Security Council of the best decisions
in sensible problems on the global organization’s agenda. This exchange of
opinions, which followed short after the political contacts established by
the two officials in several European capitals and in Washington, tackled
the perspectives of the mission commissioned by the Secretary General with
the assessment of the electoral exercise in Iraq, respectively the
resumption - as soon as possible - of the United Nations’ presence and
active function in this country. Romania, said the head of the Romanian
diplomacy, takes a deep interest in the quality of the institutional
construction process in Iraq and is prepared to bring its own contribution
to progress in this area.
Romania will for the first time assume the chairmanship of the
Security Council during its current mandate in July 2004, after the
prerogatives are transferred, as planned, to the Iraqi authorities, on June
30. During its presence in the Security Council, Romania also ensures the
chairmanship of the Committee on Sanctions on Iraq, a body set up under
Resolution 1518 of the Security Council. Minister Mircea
Geoana informed about his recent visit to
Tbilisi, stressing the high value put by Romania on Georgia’s participation
in the area of common European and Euro-Atlantic values, placed in the
broader context of the Black Sea region, considered as the relevant
proximity for the extended Middle East. The head of the Romanian diplomacy
also highlighted the attention wherewith Romania pursues, in the frame
defined by Resolution no. 1244 of the Security Council, the assessment of
the enforcement of democratic standards in Kosovo and expressed our
country’s willingness to play an active part in the strengthening of the
region’s stability and European perspectives, also from its future position
as chairman of the main forum for South-East European political dialogue
(SEECP). The sides also approached the general issues of Romania’s relation
with the UN. Minster Mircea Geoana
expressed hopes that the planned visit to Romania of Secretary General Kofi Annan will be feasible
this year.
The Romanian Minister’s meeting with Security Council
president Wang Guangya continued along the same
coordinates of cooperation between UN member states with primordial
peace-securing responsibilities in the regions and countries which need
international solidarity and support, highlighting once again the
exceptional quality of bilateral relations.
Mircea Geoana also had a short
meeting with his Spanish counterpart Ana Palacio.
In the afternoon, the Foreign Minister met with Heidi Tagliavini, head of the UN mission in Georgia and
Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in this country. Stability
and development in Romania’s southern vicinity were the subjects approached
during the talks with Harri Holkeri,
Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Kosovo.
Both Kosovo and Georgia’s problems stand on the agenda of the
Security Council. The Balkans, the Black Sea area and the extended Middle
East are the areas were Romania, as a future NATO and EU member, and based
on its knowledge and direct understanding of the local situation, is
expected to bring an effective contribution within the Security Council.
Minister Mircea Geoana
also had contacts with Great Britain’s permanent representative at the UN,
Sir Emyr Jones Parry, and with the head of the UN
Communication and Public Information Department, Undersecretary-General Shashi Tharoor, with whom he analysed projects to increase the awareness of the
Romanian public opinion of the activity of the UN bodies, agencies,
institutions and programs. The sides examined possibilities to confer new
substance to the activity of the UN Information Centre in Bucharest,
tailored to the evolution of the EU enlargement process.
New ways will be encouraged for setting interested journalists
in contact with the current UN stakes, by offering them information and
training terms on UN issues.
On February 2, Minister Mircea Geoana met in New York with representatives of the UN
Security Council member states. This is the first time that the Romanian
Foreign Minister visits New York after Romania’s assuming, as of January
this year, of the status of elected member of the UN Security Council for a
two-year mandate (2004-2005).
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