Carr
Says Ban
Acknowledged
Australia's SC
Case, BanWould
"Praise Any
State"
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
April 11 --
When new
Australia
Foreign
Minister Bob
Carr
came to meet
UN Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon on
April 10,
Inner City
Press went to
the photo-op,
along with two
Australian
photographers.
See here
and here.
Afterward Carr
bragged that
Ban had
acknowledged
the strength
of his
country's case
for a Security
Council seat,
a campaign
started by his
predecessor
Kevin Rudd.
Funny
thing,
though -- when
Ban issued his
own read out
of the
meeting, there
was
no mention of
the Security
Council, much
less
Australia's
race
against
Finland and
Luxembourg,
where Ban is
traveling to
now.
So at
the UN's
April 11 noon
briefing
Inner City
Press asked:
Inner
City
Press: This
meeting with
the Australian
Foreign
Minister, Bob
Carr, I saw
the readout
and then I
also saw what
Mr. Carr said
that
Australia’s
bid for a
Security
Council seat
was discussed
and he
said that the
Secretary-General
has
acknowledged
that Australia
has a
good case, so
I just wonder,
was it
discussed in
that meeting?
This
is obviously a
key issue to
Australia. Is
Mr. Carr wrong
or is there
some
diplomatic
reason not to
include the
full agenda of
the
discussion?
Spokesperson
Martin
Nesirky:
Matthew,
readouts are
not
transcripts of
meetings,
they are
readouts of
meetings and
we do not put
in readouts
the
interlocutors
comments. We
are referring
to what the
Secretary-General
has raised or
topics that
have been
raised that
are
of a general
interest. For
example, the
DPRK.
Everybody
knows that
a number of
countries are
bidding for
Security
Council seats,
non-permanent
seats. And
everybody
knows that
that’s a
decision
that is in the
hands of
Member States
and not the
Secretary-General.
And,
therefore, it
is not proper
for him to
take a
position on
any
Member State’s
bid. It is
also obvious
that the
Secretary-General
would
recognize the
work of any
Member State
at the United
Nations. So, I
think that is
pretty clear,
Matthew.
Any
member state?
How about
Syria? Watch
this site.
, 
