Activities of Secretary-General in Russian Federation, 15-17 June

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, accompanied by his wife, Ban Soon-taek, flew on Wednesday, 15 June, from Brussels, Belgium, to St. Petersburg, Russian Federation, to attend the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

On Thursday, 16 June, the Secretary-General met with Alpha Condé, President of Guinea, with whom he discussed the situation in Mali, among other topics.

He then addressed the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, saying that a shared challenge is to translate the promises of recent landmark agreements, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on climate change, into tangible gains for people.  (See Press Release SG/SM/17858.)

Following this, the Secretary-General had bilateral meetings with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Sergey Lavrov, and the Chair of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation, Valentina Matviyenko.

Finally, accompanied by his Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, the Secretary-General had a meeting with Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, who awarded him the Order of Friendship.

On Friday, 17 June, the Secretary-General met with the President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev.  He also visited the Hermitage Museum and participated in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad, before leaving St. Petersburg for Athens, Greece.