UN secretary-general to visit Cairo Monday as part of Mid East tour

MENA , Saturday 30 Mar 2019

Egypt
FILE PHOTO: U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks during his visit to the United Nations School in San Jose, Costa Rica July 16, 2018. REUTERS

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is expected to arrive in Cairo on Monday and hold discussions with President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi.

The UN head will also visit Al-Azhar Mosque and meet the Grand Imam to express his solidarity and stress the need to fight the scourge of Islamophobia, as well as all forms of hatred. 

On Friday, the secretary-general departed for Tunis to attend the 30th League of Arab States Summit and make an address on Sunday.

While in the Tunisian capital, the secretary-general will meet with President Beji Caid Essebsi and senior members of the Tunisian government.

In Tunis, he will also meet university students to discuss the critical role of young people in national and international conversations and policies, and the UN efforts to ensure that their voices are heard.

Guterres will also inaugurate the new UN House in Tunis, la Maison Bleue, and hold a meeting with women leaders and civil society representatives.

The secretary-general’s main priority for this visit will be the situation in Libya. On the sidelines of the summit, Guterres will attend a Quartet meeting on Libya, which brings together the UN, the League of Arab States, the African Union and the European Union. He will be joined by his Special Representative for Libya, Ghassan Salame.

After Cairo's visit, the secretary-general will move on to Jordan, where he will speak at the World Economic Forum on the Middle East and North Africa at the Dead Sea.

He will meet with the king of Jordan and senior government officials.

The secretary-general’s visit to Jordan comes after the London Conference 2019 that took place this past February, which marked the start of a new partnership approach between Jordan and the international community in pursuit of Jordan’s sustainable growth and self-reliance.

While in Jordan, the Secretary-General will visit the Baqaa Camp, run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). 

 

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