Activities of Secretary-General in Oman, 31 January-2 February

On Sunday evening, 31 January 2016, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Madam Ban Soon-taek arrived from Addis Ababa in Muscat, where he would deliver a lecture at the National Defense College.

Before this event, on Monday 1 February, the Secretary-General held a bilateral meeting with Sayyid Badr bin Saud al Busaidi, Minister Responsible for Defence Affairs.

In his address to the National Defense College on “The United Nations and Conflict Prevention in a Changing World”, he stressed that the conflicts in Syria and Yemen showed that the idea of a so-called winner had lost all meaning.  He added that efforts to prevent war were a global public good and that all countries should invest in those efforts.  (See Press Release SG/SM/17504.)

Following a lunch hosted by the institution, the Secretary-General met with Oman’s Minister Responsible for Foreign Affairs, Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdulla, and later with the United Nations Staff working in the country.  In the evening, he visited the Royal Opera House of Muscat.

On Tuesday, 2 January, the Secretary-General met with Sayyid Fahd bin Mahmoud al Said, Deputy Prime Minister of Oman, commending the country for its positive contribution and support for the Yemen talks.

He then visited the National Museum of Oman before leaving Muscat for London, where he arrived in the evening, ahead of the fourth Syria Donors’ Conference.