Secretary-General heads to Bucharest for international meeting on Afghanistan

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will be travelling to the Romanian capital, Bucharest, where, on Thursday, he will be joining other world leaders at an international meeting focusing on peace and development efforts in strife-torn Afghanistan.

Also attending Thursday’s meeting will be Afghan President Hamid Karzai, newly-appointed UN envoy Kai Eide and key international stakeholders, including high-level representatives of the member countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Non-NATO contributing nations of the UN-mandated International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), as well as representatives of key international organizations, such as the European Union and the World Bank, will also be participating in the meeting, which is part of the three-day NATO Summit that will begin in Bucharest tomorrow.

Upon his arrival in the Romanian capital tomorrow, Mr. Ban will conduct bilateral meetings with some of the leaders attending the Summit. He will also meet with the President and Prime Minister of Romania while he is in the country.

The Security Council recently renewed the mandate of the UN political mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) – which is headed by Mr. Eide – and widened its scope to include leading international civilian efforts to provide political outreach, support reconciliation programmes and strengthen cooperation with ISAF.