DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE

SPOKESPERSON FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

13 June 2008

The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Michèle

Montas, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

Good afternoon.

**Secretary-General Travels

The Secretary-General is presently meeting in London with British Foreign Minister

David Miliband. He started the day with a working breakfast meeting with United Kingdom
Prime Minister Gordon Brown. They discussed the upcoming 25 September High-Level
Meeting on the Millennium Development Goals, Zimbabwe, Myanmar, the Middle East,
Kosovo and the rise in food and oil prices. Speaking to reporters afterward, the Secretary-
General said that he was aware that the proposals he presented to the Security Council a day
earlier on Kosovo may not fully satisfy all sides, yet he fully believes that what he proposed
will prove to be the least objectionable course to all and can offer us a way forward.

The Secretary-General and his wife, Ban Soon-taek, later had an audience with
Queen Elizabeth II. He also addressed the UN Association of the United Kingdom,
discussing the central role of the United Nations in world affairs and highlighting the
UN's work on climate change, global health, terrorism, disarmament and non-
proliferation. We have upstairs the transcript of the joint press conference this morning
with Prime Minister Gordon Brown as well as the text of the Secretary-General’s
statement to the UN Association of the United Kingdom at the Royal Geographical
Society on “Securing the Common Good: the United Nations and the Expanding Global
Agenda”. You can also see the pictures of the day on our UN photo website.

The Secretary-General will fly to Jeddah tomorrow for talks with Saudi King
Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud. He will be back in London on Sunday evening for
further talks with British officials and to mark the sixtieth anniversary of the International
Maritime Organization, based in London.

** Myanmar

Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission

for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), has called on donors to help meet Myanmar’s urgent
needs for 1 million gallons of diesel fuel. According to Heyzer, diesel is needed to
operate some 5,000 tillers, which will help rice farmers in time for the June/July growing
season. Cyclone Nargis destroyed livestock and buffaloes, which are the traditional
animals used for ploughing, ESCAP says. Heyzer visited Myanmar this week. We have
a press release on that upstairs.
 Question: There’s a report in the Washington Post today that the Government of
Myanmar, a week after the hurricane hit, started giving large parcels of land in the delta
to business people described as cronies of the regime. Is the UN aware of that report and
how would this modify the UN approach to Myanmar?

Spokesperson: I don’t think we have an independent report on that so I cannot

confirm or deny. We can try to look into it, but I don’t know whether our teams on the
ground have been able to assess that. But we can check, of course, for you.

http://www.un.org/News/briefings/docs//2008/db080613.doc.htm