Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos will be in New York City from 21 to 28 September to participate in the proceedings of the 68th United Nations General Assembly, heading the Greek delegation.
Mr. Venizelos’ itinerary in New York begins on the morning of Sunday, 22 September, with a one-on-one meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and concludes on the evening of Friday, 27 September, with his address before the Plenary of the 68th General Assembly.
During the UNGA Ministerial Week, Mr. Venizelos will have a number of bilateral and multilateral meetings with officials from other countries and representatives of international organizations.
According to the scheduling so far, Mr. Venizelos will meet – in chronological order – with the Foreign Ministers of Iran, Kosovo, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Albania, Switzerland, the Palestinian Authority, Russia, Serbia, Kazakhstan, Panama, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan.
Mr. Venizelos will participate in a trilateral meeting with his counterparts from Cyprus and Egypt to discuss recent developments and ways to strengthen cooperation in the Eastern Mediterranean, within the framework of the announcements made during his recent visit to Cairo.
Mr. Venizelos will also meet with the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades, as well as with Cypriot Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides.
On a multilateral level, Mr. Venizelos will participate in the coordination discussion of EU Foreign Ministers with EU High Representative Catherine Ashton, as well as in the meeting of Foreign Ministers on the EU-U.S. Political Dialogue. He will also attend a working dinner for EU-Nato Foreign Ministers, and he will take part in the meetings of South-East European Cooperation Process (SEECP) and Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) member states. In light of the events in Syria, Mr. Venizelos will attend a working dinner, hosted by the International Peace Institute, on the situation in the Middle East.
In the framework of the General Assembly’s proceedings, Mr. Venizelos will take part in and address the General Assembly High Level Meeting on the Millennium Development Goals and Persons with Disabilities, as well as the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development. Moreover, Mr. Venizelos will participate in the UN Secretary General’s High Level Meeting on the Millennium Development Goals.
In addition to his meetings in the framework of the UNGA Ministerial Week, Mr. Venizelos will meet with His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios of America and with representatives of Greek American organizations.
Finally, Mr. Venizelos will hold meetings with Jewish organizations of the U.S. (WJC, AJC, ADL, B’nai B’rith).
September 19, 2013