On March 17th UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon will arrive in Moscow on a three-day visit.
At first, a few words about Ban Ki Moon. He has been holding a top-level post since October of 2006. Before 2006 Ban Ki Moon represented South Korea in the United Nations for many years and also occupied the post of the minister of foreign affairs and trade. Ban Ki Moon is the 8th in succession UN Secretary-General in the United Nations history, and this will be his 3rd official visit to Russia.
It would be good to mention here that Moscow attaches paramount importance to this visit. It is not for nothing that an announcement was made in advance that Ban Ki Moon would be received by Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev. Thus what will occur will be kind of a summit since the UN Secretary-General is often called the president of the world community. As you might remember, as of today, it unites more than 190 states. Which means that this is a very responsible and influential post. Russia has always acknowledged the United Nations’ pivotal role for the safeguarding of peace and security in the world. Speaking at the session of the UN General Assembly last year, President Dmitry Medvedev said: “The establishment of the United Nations was one of the main achievements of the world community in the 20th century. There is no and there can’t be any alternative to its work. It is necessary to preserve and strengthen this common property of the peoples of the world.”
But now let’s return to Ban Ki Moon’s visit to Moscow. Officially, the main objective of this visit is the participation of the UN Secretary-General in the session of the so-called “Quartet of Peace Mediators” in the settlement of the Middle East crisis. Besides the United Nations, the “Quartet” includes Russia, the USA, and the European Union. Though their meeting is slated for March 19th, Ban Ki Moon will arrive in advance, aiming to hold separate talks with the Russian leadership. The topics are well known. Besides the above-mentioned Middle East topic, on that list are the developments in Afghanistan and Iraq, the nuclear programmes of Iran and North Korea, and also the observance of nuclear non-proliferation at large. The two latter issues are regarded as the most acute. Ahead of his visit to Moscow, in an interview for the Russian RIA Novosti news agency Ban Ki Moon said that consultations are currently underway in the UN Security Council on the possible introduction of tougher international sanctions against Iran.
He also said that he is ready to visit North Korea when an opportunity occurs. Thus, there is reason to believe that Pyongyang would not welcome such a visit. And this is so because it regards Ban Ki Moon, first of all, as a representative of unfriendly South Korea, not as the UN Secretary General. And as regards new sanctions against Iran, opinions are split over this issue among the permanent members of the UN Security Council for the time being. As is known, the USA, Britain and France favour them while Russia and China believe that this problem could be resolved through diplomacy. And for decision making there should be unanimity in the Security Council on that score. In other words, there is quite a number of issues to be settled yet, and all of them will be discussed at the upcoming talks in Moscow.
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