BY DPA,
New York : UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is scheduled to attend an international conference on migration and development in late October in the Philippines, the first of four Asian countries he plans to visit, the UN said Thursday.
The Second Global Forum on Migration and Development will take place in Manila on October 29. Ban will meet with President Gloria Arroyo and receive the nation’s Order of Sikatuna in recognition of his diplomatic efforts.
Ban will also meet with Filipino officials and receive an honorary doctorate degree from the University of the Philippines.
He will then visit New Delhi for talks with Indian government leaders. The exact dates of subsequent visits and programmes after the Philippines were being worked out, the UN said.
In Nepal, Ban will meet with President Ram Baran Yadav; Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who is popularly known as Prachanda; Foreign Minister Upendra Yadav and members of the Constituent Assembly of Nepal. He will visit Lumbini, birthplace of Lord Buddha.
In Bangladesh, the secretary general is expected to meet with President Iajuddin Ahmed and other senior government officials. He will meet with the UN staff in that country and visit local sites for micro-financing and disaster reduction/climate adaptation activities, the UN said.