“The UN Secretary-General is showing leadership and spearheading the necessary modernisation of the UN. I have noted that some critical US Congress representatives have called for Kofi Annan to resign. Norway considers that, on the contrary, Mr Annan deserves our full support in the important reforms he is in the process of implementing,” Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik told a press conference in Oslo today.

The Secretary-General is being criticised for the UN’s handling of the “oil-for-food” programme for Iraq. Mr Bondevik said that this illustrates the difficult conditions under which the UN often has to work, and added:

“I am very pleased that Norway’s support for Mr Annan is shared by a number of Security Council members. Leaders of the United Kingdom, Russia, China and France, and the US ambassador to the UN have all expressed support for the Secretary-General. This broad support is important for upholding the authority the Secretary-General needs to lead the demanding process of UN reform”.

The Prime Minister went on to describe next year as a very important one for UN reform. The preparations for the UN summit in September will play a key role in this regard. “The High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change appointed by the Secretary-General, has just delivered its report, which analyses the greatest challenges we are facing and makes ambitious, but realistic, proposals for dealing with them. The report confirms that multilateral solutions are the only possible alternative. Norway will be taking an active part in this process,” said the Prime Minister.