UN official :Ban to visit Kuwait, region next week

Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will visit Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan and Turkey next week, his Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq told the daily press briefing on Friday. Ban is expected in Kuwait on December 5th to meet with HH the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, His Highness the Prime Minister, and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and other High-Level Government officials. The talks are expected to focus on the cooperation between Kuwait and the UN and the issues related to Kuwait-Iraq files. He will also meet with the newly appointed UN Humanitarian Envoy for Kuwait Abdullah Al-Matouq. Earlier, Ban will be in Doha, Qatar, on December 4th to attend the opening of the High-Level segment of the 18th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework convention on climate change. Ban is scheduled to meet with political, business and finance leaders on the sidelines of the Conference and hold a joint press conference with the Executive Secretary of the Framework Convention Christiana Figueres. Towards the end of next week, Ban intends to visit camps for Syrian refugees in both Jordan and Turkey and draw attention to the humanitarian needs there. In Jordan, after visiting one refugee camp near the Syrian border, he will meet with Government officials in Amman. In Turkey, he will travel first to a refugee camp before going to Ankara where he will meet with the President, Prime Minister and Foreign Minister. Ban is expected back in New York at the end of next week.