UN Secretary-General to visit Egypt on 2nd leg in Mid-east tour

CAIRO – 30 March 2019: United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres will visit Egypt on Monday as he is set to hold discussions with President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, who assumed the position of the head of the African Union in February.

Egypt is the second leg in Guterres’s mid-east tour, which started in Tunisia, while the third and last leg will be in Jordan.

Guterres will visit Al-Azhar Mosque, during which he will meet with the Grand Imam to express his solidarity and underscore the need to fight the scourge of Islamophobia, as well as all forms of hatred and bigotry, according to a Saturday statement by the UN Information Center.

On Friday March 29, the UN Secretary-General departed for Tunis to attend the 30th League of Arab States Summit. He will also give a speech on Sunday, and will meet with President Beji Caid Essebsi and senior members of the Tunisian Government.

In Tunis, he will also meet with university students to discuss the critical role of youth in national and international conversations and policies, and highlight the UN efforts to ensure that youths’ voices are heard. Guterres will also inaugurate the new UN House in Tunis, la Maison Bleue, and hold a meeting with women leaders and civil society representatives.

The Secretary-General’s main priority for participating in the summit is to highlight the situation in Libya. On the sidelines of the Summit, Guterres will attend a Quartet meeting on Libya, which brings together the UN, the League of Arab States, the African Union and the European Union.

After Cairo's visit, the Secretary-General will head to Jordan to deliver a speech at the World Economic Forum on the Middle East and North Africa at the Dead Sea. Guterres will meet with the King of Jordan and senior Government officials.

The Secretary-General’s visit to Jordan comes after the London Conference 2019 in February, which marked the start of a new partnership approach between Jordan and the international community in pursuit of Jordan’s sustainable growth and self-reliance.

While in Jordan, the Secretary-General will visit the Baqa’a Camp, which is run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).