The UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, has accepted an invitation to make an official visit to Ireland before the year's end. The Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, met him at UN headquarters in New York on Thursday.
In a statement, the Minister said: "The Secretary-General's acceptance of the Government's invitation to visit Ireland is a testament to the high esteem in which the Irish Defence Forces are held in the UN. We are, after all, the seventh-largest contributor to UN missions over the last 40 years."
The Minister was in the UN to sign a Memorandum of Understanding which commits Ireland to the UN Stand-By Arrangements System (UNSAS).
A Department of Defence statement said UNSAS gives the UN an understanding of the forces and other capabilities Ireland would have readily available for a UN peacekeeping operation. Under the arrangements, Ireland has committed a maximum of 850 personnel at one time.