UN’s Secretary-General heads to Norway

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Photo: Un.org.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will travel to Norway next week, despite controversy caused by the leak of a Norwegian memo that was highly critical of him, the United Nations said on Aug. 24.

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.

Asked if Ban would be discussing the leaked memo, in which Norway’s Deputy U.N. Ambassador Mona Juul said the secretary-general suffered from a “lack of charisma,”  U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas said it was an “internal matter” for Norway and Ban had nothing to say about it, reports Reuters.com.

He is scheduled to meet with the Norwegian Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister on Aug. 31. From Oslo, the Mr. Ban will travel to Svalbard, in the Arctic Ocean, to see firsthand the impact of climate change in the Arctic, said 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.

Source: Un.org