Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will depart on Thursday on a three-nation trip that will include the 30th anniversary celebrations of the United Nations headquarters in Austria, an official visit to Norway that will also take him to the Polar ice rim and a stop in Switzerland for a global climate conference.
After his visit to Austria, Ban Ki- Moon will go to Oslo for an official visit where he is scheduled to meet on 31 August with the Norwegian Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister.
From Oslo, Ban will travel to Svalbard, in the Arctic Ocean, to see firsthand the impact of climate change in the Arctic, said Ms. Montas.
“Over the course of his two-day trip, he will visit polar research stations and the Global Seed Vault, get the latest updates on issues relating to the thinning ice and make his way to the Polar ice rim,” she told reporters in New York.
The visit to the ice rim is part of the Secretary-General’s ongoing efforts to push for action ahead of a major climate change conference to be held in December in Copenhagen, where Member States will aim to “seal the deal” on a new global greenhouse gas emissions reduction pact to succeed the Kyoto Protocol.
