Minister Cowen to visit the United States
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Brian Cowen TD, will visit the United States from 22 to 27 November 2002. He will be accompanied by the Chairman of the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee, Dr. Michael Woods and a delegation from the Committee.
The Minister's visit will include meetings with senior United Nations officials in the context of Ireland's membership of the UN Security Council.
Among the meetings scheduled include UN Deputy Secretary General Frechette; Under Secretary General Prendergast; Assistant Secretary General Annabi at the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations; Executive Director Benon Sevan of the Office of the Iraq Programme, and the UN NGO Working Group. The Minister will also meet with Dr. Hans Blix, Executive Director of UNMOVIC, on the latter's return from Iraq.
During the visit to New York, Minister Cowen will deliver a major speech on APeace and Security; Ireland and the UN@ at the National Committee for American Foreign Policy, highlighting a number of international issues that have featured during Ireland's membership of the Security Council, and also the challenges currently facing the Northern Ireland process.
Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State has also agreed to meet the Minister in Washington on Monday 25 November where a range of international issues including the Middle East, Iraq and Northern Ireland will be discussed.
