FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 15, 2006
CONTACT: Susan Medler (816) 268-8245
susan.medler@nara.gov

Media Advisory

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to Give Farewell Address
at Truman Presidential Museum & Library

Kofi Annan, outgoing Secretary-General of the United Nations, will give his last major speech in that role - Global Governance and the Role of the United States - on December 11, 2006 at 11:30 at the Truman Presidential Museum & Library in Independence, Mo.

SPEECH HIGHLIGHTS
Annan's parting message to the world, and particularly to the American people, is one of accountability and responsibility. Recalling Truman's leadership in the founding of the U.N., the Secretary-General will lay out principles of global governance for the 21st century and argue that America's founding principle of accountability of governors to the governed must apply also to those who exercise power in today's world.

Annan is expected to emphasize the need for accountable leadership at the national level but also at the global level, where the U.S. continues-as in Truman's day-to have extraordinary power and therefore special responsibilities. It must have the wisdom, and the humility, to exercise these responsibilities through a multilateral system in which power is shared and States are accountable to each other for their conduct.

Kofi Annan of Ghana is the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations and the first to be elected from the ranks of the United Nations staff. He began his first term on January 1, 1997 and will be succeeded by South Korea's former foreign minister, Ban Ki-Moon.

MEDIA
Kofi Annan's farewell address is open to the media and will be held in the Truman Library Auditorium at 500 West U.S. Highway 24, Independence, Mo. United Nations senior officials will be present and available for interviews. Members of the media who plan to cover Secretary-General Annan's speech must register with Susan Medler at the Truman Library at (816) 268-8245 or susan.medler@nara.gov.

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The Truman Presidential Museum & Library is one of eleven presidential libraries administered by the National Archives and Records Administration. The Truman Presidential Museum & Library is supported, in part, by the Harry S. Truman Library Institute, the not-for-profit partner of the Truman Library.

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