Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon leaves on a six-nation trip next week that will focus on the global financial crisis, the conflict in Afghanistan, Middle East peace efforts and religious tensions, AP quoted the U.N. as saying today. The U.N. chief will visit Moscow, Qatar, The Hague, London, Paris and Istanbul during the trip, U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas said. Ban's first stop will be Moscow where he will attend a conference on March 27 that will examine ways for countries to jointly tackle threats arising from the conflict and instability in Afghanistan including terrorism, drug trafficking and organized crime, she said. The meeting is hosted by the Shanghai Cooperation Organization which includes Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. The secretary-general then heads to Doha, the capital of Qatar, to attend an Arab League summit on March 30 and «exchange views with Arab leaders on a variety of topics, including the Middle East peace process, Lebanon, Iraq, Sudan and Somalia,» Montas said.
