UN Secretary Touches Down For Dublin Visit

Taoiseach Brian Cowen will discuss issues of world hunger and climate change at a meeting with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in Dublin today.

Before meeting Mr Cowen, Mr Ban will visit President Mary McAleese and hold talks with Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin, as well as attending the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Mr Ban will give an address at Dublin Castle this morning, under the auspices of the Institute of International and European Affairs, entitled Sixty Years of UN Peacekeeping.

Announcing the visit last week, Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin said he was delighted Mr Ban was visiting Ireland.

The visit coincides with Mr Martin being appointed Fianna Fáil Director of Elections for the Lisbon treaty referendum in the autumn.

Minister Martin said: "I look forward to meeting with the Secretary General during the course of his visit, and discussing UN reform and the increasingly close and productive relationship between the EU and UN in the area of international peace and security."

Mr Ban, who recently replaced the popular outgoing Kofi Anan, will meet President McAleese with Taoiseach Brian Cowen, who will host a working lunch in Government Buildings this afternoon.

Mr Ban, who is known as 'the Bureaucrat' for his diplomatic style of leadership and unmatched work ethic, has also been invited by the Institute for International and European Affairs to deliver an address on United Nations peace-keeping during the course of his visit.

He will also meet with the Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea and with the Army Chief of Staff to discuss Irish participation in UN-mandated peace operations.

It is expected the meetings will also feature the forthcoming second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty that could see sweeping changes in the workings of the EU.

(DW/BMcC)