Last week, President Goodluck Jonathan was in the United States to participate in the 66th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. In this report, Leon Usigbe brings the highlights of the president's engagement.PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan's visit to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) last week was hectic. Apart from the main event of his presentation at the 66th session of the General Assembly, it was one diplomatic meeting or the other and it would appear that his frantic engagements in New York took a toll on him, as he looked drained though he remained mentally sharp till he left for Nigeria. Jonathan had to utilise in full the opportunity presented by the gathering of world leaders to advance the interest of Nigeria. Starting from the meeting with the United States Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, he sought to ensure that Nigeria was a major player in world affairs and enunciated the position of the country not just on internal issues but also on matters of international concern.Mrs. Clinton, who met him in his Ritz Carlton accommodation a day after he arrived, welcomed him to the United States, after which they discussed continuing efforts aimed at improving the already warm bilateral relations between Nigeria and the US and matters of multilateral significance to both nations. This was followed by Jonathan's presentation of the instruments of accession in respect of the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness to the United Nations, where he stressed Nigeria's commitment to the promotion of democratic values and the protection of human rights as well as its resolve to ensure that everyone has an effective right to nationality.During the ceremony which took place at the UN headquarters, Miss Patriciz O'brien, Legal Adviser to the UN, who received the instruments on behalf of the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, expressed the world body's appreciation to Nigeria for its commitment to ensuring the eradication of statelessness. Jonathan thereafter co-chaired the High Level Meeting on 'Addressing Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought in the Context of Sustainable Development and Poverty Eradication.' On the same day, the president received the President of Georgia, Mr. Mikheil Saakashvili, who expressed a desire for stronger bilateral relations withNigeria, and also received the Chairman of the African Union Commission, Dr. Jean Ping.His second day in New York started with consultations with his counterparts from various parts of the world on matters of bilateral interests to Nigeria and their respective countries. During one of such meetings with South African President, Jacob Zuma, he called on the African Union (AU) to support the National Transitional Council (TNC) in Libya, positing that the AU must help the NTC to end the conflict and establish good governance in the country. Nigeria and South Africa had reportedly assumed different positions on the need to recognise the NTC following the fall of Muammar Gaddafi but during this meeting, Jonathan stressed the need for the African Union to play its role to help the NTC to end the conflict and establish good governance in Libya. Both leaders also discussed steps needed to further strengthen the Nigeria ' South Africa Bi-National Commission.Jonathan also met with President Alassane Ouattarra of Cote d'Ivoire, who he assured that the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) would take definite steps to support efforts to curb the activities of mercenaries and other threats to the restoration of peace in his country. He explained that this would be helpful to the efforts to ensure peace along that country's border with Liberia and provide necessary peace and the appropriate environment for Liberia's general elections, scheduled for next month. Jonathan, who is the current chairman of the sub-regional body, acknowledged the various economic challenges confronting members, but said a peaceful atmosphere was necessary for the conduct of successful elections in Liberia.Ouattarra had requested urgent intervention of ECOWAS to enable the emplacement of forces along the Cote d'Ivoire border, prior to and after the Liberian elections, to ensure smooth, free and fair elections in that country, adding that assistance from the United Nations and other donors would be required.Jonathan similarly received President Pal Schmitt of the Republic of Hungary, who said his country's improving economy would facilitate a restoration of the previously vibrant trade relations between the two nations. Schmitt told him that there were several areas of mutual cooperation to be explored and recalled that Hungary had cooperated with Nigeria in education, and looked forward to more areas of collaboration. His meeting with Schmitt was followed with that of President Isaias Afewerki of the State of Eritrea, after which he attended the launch of the Initiative Group on Education for Democracy with Presidents Tasakhia Elbegdorj of Mongolia and Tarja Hallonen of Finland. The president, who was accompanied on the US trip by First Lady Dame Patience Jonathan, also found time to attend the reception hosted by President and Mrs. Barack Obama for world leaders attending theUNGA, at the New York Public Library.His main event at UNGA was his address to the General Assembly where he revealed that the UN was set to initiate a counter terrorism Implementation Task Force in Nigeria in November aimed at educating and making terrorism less attractive to the youth. Jonathan told the august gathering that Nigeria would continue to work with the UN and other partners in this global fight and to this end; Nigeria was already working closely with the UN Counter Terrorism Implementation Task Force (CTITF), the Counter Terrorism Executive Directorate (CTED), as well as relevant international bodies and friendly countries to sharpen the nation's response mechanisms.Jonathan, who recalled the recent escalation in terrorist activities in the country, was adamant that rather than be intimidated such activities, they 'will only help to strengthen our resolve to develop appropriate national strategies and collaborate even more closely with the international community in the fight against this menace.' He also recalled that as part of Nigeria's efforts to fight terrorism, he had signed into law the Terrorism (Prevention) Bill 2011 and the Anti-Money Laundering (Prohibition) Amendment Act on the 3rd of June this year. 'The new laws not only outlined measures for the prevention and combating of acts of terrorism, but also prohibit the financing of terrorism and laundering of the proceeds of crime,' he said.Speaking on the issue of trafficking in Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW), the president observed that if the UN's idea of resolving conflicts through mediation was to succeed, the problem of trafficking in small arms and light weapons must be frontally tackled as, according to him, 'the proliferation of small arms and light weapons is particularly worrisome, due to their easy accessibility and availability to unauthorised persons and groups, who in turn have used these arms to create instability and insecurity in much of the countries in the developing world. Even worse, the proliferation of these weapons has proved handy in the hands of terrorists.' Jonathan noted the theme of this year's UNGA debate of engaging the role of mediation in the peaceful resolution of conflicts in the world, saying that he Nigeria had been in the fore front of the campaign to promote this theme when, 'as the President of the Security Council in July 2010, my country adopted the use of Preventive Diplomacy to resolve armed conflicts across the world.'At a separate meeting of the UN Security Council, Jonathan stressed the need for the organ to deemphasise the application of military solutions to world crises and instead focus on addressing the root causes of world conflict. Speaking on the theme, 'Maintenance of International Peace and Security ' Conflict Prevention,' he said Nigeria was concerned that that the nature of conflict was out-pacing the world's collective ability to respond effectively to it, arguing that for so long, the international community had accorded little attention to mediation and Preventive Diplomacy.To round off his eventful trip to the United States, he joined former British Prime Minster, Tony Blair, at the investment forum organised by the ABF at the New Palace Hotel in New York where he offered 10 years visa to prospective British investors travelling to Nigeria so that they would not have the need to return to Nigeria Mission each time they want to come to the country for business.
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