WASHINGTON: United Nations Secretary General António Guterres will visit Pakistan next week to attend a refugee conference and for talks with Pakistani leaders on issues of mutual interests, a UN spokesman confirmed on Monday.

Spokesman Farhan Haq said the secretary general will arrive in Pakistan on Sunday (Feb 16) and will meet Prime Minister Imran Khan and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi. He will also have a separate meeting with President Arif Alvi.

His talks in Pakistan will focus on “development and climate” issues, Mr Haq told reporters at a daily news briefing in New York.

On Monday (Feb 17) he will attend a conference on Afghan refugees and will “participate in high level panel discussions,” the spokesman said, adding that Mr Guterres will also meet the press during his three-day stay in Pakistan.

The two-day conference — “40 years of Afghan Refugees Presence in Pakistan: A New Partnership for Solidarity” — would be held in Islamabad on Feb 17-18. Prime Minister Khan will inaugurate the conference, which brings participants from 20 countries.

The secretary general will also visit Lahore where he will participate in an event on polio vaccination from where he will go to the Kartarpur Sahib corridor, Mr Haq said.

The border shrine in Kartarpur is internationally recognised as a peace corridor, initiated by Pakistan, and the secretary general’s visit is a major recognition of Islamabad’s efforts to promote peace with its neighbours, including India.

Published in Dawn, February 11th, 2020