Secretary-General heads to Turkey, Kenya, Ethiopia and Switzerland

10 November 2006 – Secretary-General Kofi Annan will speak about the need for dialogue among civilizations, climate change, development and biotechnology on different stops of his upcoming trip to Turkey, Kenya, Ethiopia and Switzerland, a United Nations spokesman announced today.
Receiving the final report of the High-Level Group of the Alliance of Civilizations in Istanbul, Mr. Annan will deliver a speech about the need for concerted social and political action to repair relations between people of different traditions and cultures, his spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, told the press in New York.
Then in Nairobi, he will address the high-level segment of the UN Climate Change Conference, where he will stress the need for leadership and urgent action on a global threat that grows more alarming with every passing day, Mr. Dujarric said.
While in Addis Ababa, the Secretary-General will attend the opening of the Fifth African Development Forum, where he will “deliver his last major speech on development,” the spokesman added.
The Secretary-General will then go to St. Gallen, Switzerland, where he will deliver a speech on biotechnology and human security “discussing the need to ensure biotechnology’s advances are used for the public good, and shared equitably around the world, while managing the potential risks,” Mr. Dujarric said.
In Switzerland, Mr. Annan is also expected to accept the Max Schmidheiny Foundation Freedom Prize, which is presented to individuals and institutions that have made special contributions to the maintenance and development of open societies. He will contribute the $100,000 portion of the prize to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), according to the spokesman.
Source: www.un.org