Activities of Secretary-General in Switzerland, 30 June - 1 July

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon arrived in Geneva, Switzerland, on Saturday morning, 30 June, to attend the meeting of the Action Group for Syria.

Upon his arrival at the Palais des Nations, the United Nations Office at Geneva, he met with the Joint Special Envoy for the United Nations and the League of Arab States for the Syrian Crisis, Kofi Annan, as well as his two Deputies, Jean-Marie Guéhenno and Nasser al-Kidwa.

He then held a bilateral meeting with Nabil ElAraby, Secretary General of the League of Arab States.

Later that morning, he took part in the opening session of the meeting of the Action Group for Syria, which was held behind closed doors.  In addition to the Secretaries-General of the United Nations and the League of Arab States and their Special Envoy, the meeting brought together the Foreign Ministers of China, Russian Federation, United Kingdom, United States, France, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar and Turkey, as well as the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.

The Secretary-General was then invited to a lunch hosted by Didier Burkhalter, Federal Councillor, Head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of the Swiss Confederation, for the participants of the meeting.

In the late afternoon, he attended the closing session of the Action Group for Syria, in which the participants agreed to a final communiqué.

The Secretary-General left Geneva on 1 July at midday, to return to New York.