Activities of Secretary-General in Washington, D.C., 13-14 February

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon arrived in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday morning, 13 February, after a flight from New York.

The Secretary-General first visited a number of United States memorials, including the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial.

Next, the Secretary-General visited the Organization of American States (OAS), where he met the OAS Secretary-General, José Miguel Insulza, and then delivered a speech to the Permanent Council of the OAS.  (See Press ReleaseSG/SM/14815)  He also met representatives of OAS member States.

From the OAS, the Secretary-General transferred to the United States Capitol Building where he met with members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and he then moved on to the Rayburn House Building where he met the members of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

That evening, the Secretary-General attended and spoke at an event hosted by the United States Global Leadership Coalition.  (See Press ReleaseSG/SM/14817)

On the morning of Thursday, 14 February 2013, the Secretary-General visited The Washington Post newspaper for an editorial board meeting.  He then met United States Secretary of State John Kerry at the State Department.  The Secretary-General later met Senator Patrick Leahy, Chairman of the Senate State-Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee, before returning to New York that same afternoon.