UN chief to attend climate change conference in Qatar

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon will travel to Doha, Qatar, early next week to attend the UN climate change conference, also known as the 18th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, a UN spokesman said here Friday. "On Tuesday, 4 December, he will attend the opening of the high- level segment of the session of the Conference of Parties and will give a press conference with the executive secretary of the Framework Convention, Christiana Figueres," the associate UN spokesman, Farhan Haq, said at a daily news briefing here. The UN climate change conference opened Monday in Doha, where delegates from more than 190 countries gathered for discussions on major issues relating to global anti-warming efforts, including details of the Kyoto Protocol's second commitment period. Participants at the conference expect the UN gathering to press ahead with what has been achieved in the past and accomplish substantive results. The UN chief will also meet with officials from different countries and regional groups attending the talks, as well as business and finance leaders, Haq said. Ban will also visit Kuwait and intend to visit camps for Syrian refugees in both Jordan and Turkey to draw attention to the humanitarian needs there, Haq said. The secretary-general will return to New York at the end of the week, he added.