SecGen’s activities in Germany, 3-6 February 2011 – Quartet meeting Munich – Press release

ACTIVITIES OF SECRETARY-GENERAL IN GERMANY, 3-6 FEBRUARY

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, accompanied by Madam Ban Soon‑taek, arrived in Berlin in the early evening of Thursday, 3 February.

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On Friday, the Secretary-General met German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle and said afterwards that they had discussed cooperation between the United Nations and Germany to secure peace, advance human rights, promote sustainable development and achieve progress in disarmament and non-proliferation.  They also discussed Egypt and other hotspots in North Africa, Côte d’Ivoire, Iran and the peace process in the Middle East.

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He then travelled from Berlin to attend the Munich Security Conference and a meeting of the Middle East Quartet.

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The Secretary-General attended a luncheon hosted by Germany Minister for Defence Karl-Theodor Freiherr zu Guttenberg, before attending a meeting of the Quartet.  The Quartet members considered the implications of events in Egypt for Arab-Israeli peace and agreed to discuss this further in forthcoming meetings as a matter of high priority.  The Quartet agreed to meet again at the level of Principals in mid-March on the way ahead.  (See Press Release SG/2168)

A series of bilateral meetings took place that day: with Baroness Catherine Ashton, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy; Michèle Alliot-Marie, the Foreign Minister of France; Ahmet Davutoğlu, the Foreign Minister of Turkey; and Kevin Rudd, Foreign Minister of Australia.  The Secretary-General briefly met a number of other leaders and officials on the margins of the Conference.

On Sunday, 6 February, the Secretary-General held a press briefing with a small group of journalists before departing for New York, where he arrived mid-afternoon the same day.

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For information media • not an official record