Annan to visit Switzerland, Portugal, Spain over next 10 days

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan will be travelling in Europe over the next 10 days, paying official visits to Switzerland and Portugal, attending UN meetings and addressing an Ibero-American Summit.

His first stop will be in Geneva where he is to address the Executive Committee of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Thursday, a UN spokesman announced. The same day he plans to visit the UN World Health Organization (WHO) Strategic Operations Centre that responds to public health emergencies.

While in Switzerland, Mr. Annan is scheduled to make an official visit to Bern, the capital, and to address a high-level symposium marking the Year of Microcredit, which seeks to provide loans for small-scale entrepreneurs in fighting poverty.

Beginning next Tuesday, he starts an official visit to Portugal where, in addition to meetings with the Government, he is expected to receive an honorary degree from the Universidade Nova de Lisboa.

From Portugal he travels to Salamanca, Spain, to attend and address the Ibero-American Summit on 14 October.