UNITED NATIONS, United States — UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will travel to Turkey later on Thursday for talks ahead of a whirlwind tour of five Arab countries, a UN statement said. Guterres is expected to push for progress in reaching a Cyprus settlement during his talks in Istanbul with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and also discuss upcoming peace talks on Syria. He then travels to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar and Egypt for high-level talks expected to touch on Syria, Yemen, Libya and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The UN statement said Guterres would discuss "a number of issues of regional and global interest" but did not offer details. The talks will be his first round of high-level diplomacy on Syria and on other Middle East conflicts.

Source: Viet Nam News February 10, 2017 05:11 UTC