Athens News Agency: News in English, 06-09-20

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Greece chairs UNSC, foreign ministers' contacts

[01] Greece chairs UNSC, foreign ministers' contacts

Bush asked Bakoyannis to convey his greetings to Greek prime minister Costas Karamanlis, adding that he considered his father, former president George Bush, very lucky for visiting Greece nearly every year, and expressed the desire to take a holiday in Greece, too, some day.

Bakoyannis is due to chair a Thematic meeting of the UN Security Council (UNSC) -- of which Greece holds the presidency for the month of September -- with regional Organisations on Wednesday (NY time). The subject was selected by the Greek UNSC presidency for the purpose of studying the progress achieved since the adoption of Security Council Resolution 1631 last October, as well as the problems and challenges that continue to exist, with the target of strengthening cooperation with the regional, sub-regional and other intergovernmental organisations aiming at strengthening international peace and security.

Earlier, she will take part in a discussion of women foreign ministers on UNSC Resolution 1325,referring to the protection of women on peacekeeping missions, as well as a working breakfast hosted by the President of Finland.

At noon, Bakoyannis was scheduled to host a luncehon in honour of the Security Council members, in the context of Greece's presidency.

Her bilateral contacts on Wednesday, on the sidelines of the General Assembly, included meetings with the foreign ministers of Algeria, Spain, Andorra, Brazil and Nigeria, and the defence minister of India.

On Wednesday night, she will attend receptions hosted by her Turkish counterpart, Abdullah Gul, and the president of the UN General Assembly, as well as a dinner being jointly hosted by the president of Pakistan and the prime minister of Italy on the theme Reform of the Security Council.

Tuesday's meetings

On Tuesday, Bakoyannis started off her programme with participation in the coordinating meeting of EU foreign ministers, after which she attended the opening session of the 61st UN General Assembly, followed by an address at the inauguration of the "Encomium to the Olive" exhibition, which she officially opened together with UN deputy secretary general Mark Malloch Brown, which will run for the entire month as part of a series of parallel events throughout Greece's presidency of the UN Security Council. The exhibition was first presented during the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, and is organised by the Athens Academy's Archive Centre for Folklore.

Bakoyannis also met separately with the foreign ministers of Syria, Egypt, Iran, Kenya and Russia, and attended a luncheon hosted by UN secretary general Kofi Annan in honour of the heads of delegations to the General Assembly.

She was accompanied at most of her meetings by deputy foreign minister Yannis Valynakis, who also had separate discussions with several ministers, deputy ministers and representatives of UN member countries.

Speaking to reporters at the end of the day, Bakoyannis spoke in detail on her talks with Russsian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, which mainly focused on the Middle East and Iran.

Asked whether her talks with Lavrov and other foreign ministers included the prospect of holding a Security Council discussion on the Middle East, Bakoyannis said that "Greece has launched a very difficult effort to hold a discussion on the Arab-Israeli conflict at the Security Council at foreign ministers level, which has not been done for many years".

"Our effort, as I had stressed at the outset, seeks to assist in restarting this peace process, with all our powers, because the message of peace must reach all the peoples of the region. This is the goal," she said.

"Consequently, in the context of this effort, a series of bilateral meetings have taken place with my Russian counterpart, and my counterprts from Iran and Syria, as well as with my Israeli counterpart yesterday (Monday), with my Egyptian counterpart, and they are continuing. They are too many to list at this moment, but that is the main item of discussion, and also our bilateral issues, which such meetings always provide an opportunity to discuss," Bakoyannis said.

"I want to say that Greece has exceptionally good relations with its neighbours and with very many countries throughout the world," the foreign minister stressed.

Asked whether she had had the desired response from Lavrov, and Russia at the Seucrity Council, Bakoyannis said that initial response from Lavrov and also from all her European counterparts, during the coordination meeting, had been positive.

"We had a meeting with Russia, and the majority of the Euroean ministers support the Greek proposal. I want to hope that during these two days we still have ahead of us, we will be able to achieve our targets," Bakoyannis said.

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