UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon postpones South Caucasus visit

United Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s visit to Georgia is postponed.

The UN press office and Georgian authorities confirmed the UN top official had postponed his visit to Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.

Ban Ki-moon was initially scheduled to visit Tbilisi tomorrow, April 23.

The news was confirmed by Georgian Foreign Ministry yesterday and action was now being taken to reschedule the visit.

The Georgian permanent representative to the UN will have a meeting at the Secretary General’s office about this on Thursday and more details will be clear after that,” the Ministry announced.

One day earlier the UN Secretary General’s press office reported Ban Ki-moon’s visit to the South Caucasus countries would be rescheduled after "urgent issues” had arisen elsewhere that Ban Ki-moon needed to attend.

The UN top official was scheduled to visit Tbilisi on April 23 and remain in Georgia for two days zbefore heading to Armenia’s capital Yerevan and then to Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan.

Chief Officer of the Department of Public Information of the UN Armenian Office, Armine Halajyan cited UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric and said: "According to Dujarric, the Secretary General was interested in the South Caucasus region yet due to urgent issues his presence is needed elsewhere, so the visit to South Caucasus will be rescheduled”.

When Ban Ki-moon does visit Georgia this will be his second visit. He first visited the country in 1994.

While in Tbilisi the UN Secretary General planned to hold meetings with leading Georgian legislative and executive officials and take part in several other events, Georgia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

Ban Ki-Moon, 72, is a South Korean statesman and politician who is the eighth and current head of the UN. He was invited to Georgia by the country’s Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili.

A new date has not been set for Ban Ki-moon’s South Caucasus tour.