Secretary-General’s emissary meets with Saudi king

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s special advisor on efforts to consolidate peace and pursue political, economic and social development in Iraq met with Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah over the weekend for talks that focused on a range of regional issues as well as the country’s relations with the United Nations.

Ibrahim Gambari, the former head of the UN Department for Political Affairs who was named Special Advisor on the International Compact with Iraq and Other Political Issues just last Friday, delivered a message from the Secretary-General to the king during the meeting in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, yesterday.

Mr. Gambari has since spoken with Mr. Ban by phone and will fully brief him on all his discussions upon his return to New York. While in Saudi Arabia he will continue contacts with senior government officials and will travel to Jeddah later in the week to meet with the Secretary-General of the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

The Compact was launched last July in an effort to end the killings and bring stability to Iraq and then Secretary-General Kofi Annan warned that without greater global support, the violence-torn country would fail to attain peace.