Qatari UN General Assembly President to visit France Thursday

The current President of the UN General Assembly, Qatari national Nasser Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, is to visit France February 2 to discuss international questions, including the "Arab Spring" and the Middle East peace process, official sources said Wednesday. Energy and sustainable development issues will also be on the agenda in the framework of a forthcoming summit of the "Rio+20" group, which will meet in Brazil next June to discuss sustainable development and other questions. Al-Nasser as President of the 66th Session of the UN General Assembly will meet with senior ministers here and he has an important input to make into the Rio de Janeiro gathering which will seek to get agreements and guidelines in relevant areas. Qatar, which also holds the GCC presidency, is active on pushing for a UN resolution on the Syrian crisis and promoting an Arab League peace plan to end the conflict. The UN General Assembly late last year already condemned, by a large majority, the repression and violence in Syria and urged a halt to security operations against civilians.