THE Tanaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs will represent the EU at the UN General Assembly in New York this week, holding 20 separate meetings with foreign ministers and leaders of other states.
Mr Spring, as president of the EU Council of Ministers, will address the General Assembly tomorrow in what is effectively the Union's annual "state of the world" address.
He is expected to cover issues such as the reform of the UN, as well as peacekeeping, disarmament and human rights. He will also give the EU's view on specific international issues, including the former Yugoslavia, the Middle East and Africa's Great Lakes region.
Mr Spring will arrive in New York today and will speak tonight at the major US foreign policy "think tank", the Council on Foreign Relations. His address will cover the Northern Ireland peace process, and peace and stability in Europe. Most of the week will be taken up with political meetings.
The UN General Assembly runs for about three months, but one week is designated "ministerial week" during which foreign ministers from around the world descend on New York's UN Plaza for a hectic round of consultations.
Today, Mr Spring meets the President of Poland, Mr Alexander Kwasniewski, and the foreign ministers of Turkey (Mrs Tansu Ciller), China (Mr Qian Qichen) and Japan (Mr Yukihiko Ikeda).
Later in the week, he will meet the US Secretary of State, Mr Warren Christopher. The continuing row between the US and the EU over US legislation penalising European businesses who have dealings with Cuba will be a major issue in their talks.
He will also meet the Cypriot President, Mr Glafkos Clerides, for talks on the situation on the island, and the Israeli Foreign Minister, Mr David Levy, to discuss the Middle East peace process. Mr Spring is also due to meet the foreign ministers of the Russian Federation and Iran.
Mr Spring will chair a meeting of EU foreign ministers in New York and will also lead them in meetings with the Gulf Co operation Council and the Rio Group of Latin American countries.
Tomorrow, Mr Spring will sign the new Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, making Ireland one of the first signatories of the treaty banning all nuclear tests. The treaty will first be signed by President Clinton.