UN secretary general likely to visit Pakistan later this month

WASHINGTON: United Nations Secretary General António Guterres is likely to visit Pakistan later this month to attend a refugee conference, UN and diplomatic sources told Dawn on Sunday.

An official statement in Islamabad said that Pakistan would hold an international conference later this month to mark four decades of the presence of Afghan refugees in the country.

The two-day conference — “40 years of Afghan Refugees Presence in Pakistan: A New Partnership for Solidarity” — would be held in Islamabad on Feb 17-18. Prime Minister Imran Khan will inaugurate the conference, which will bring participants from 20 countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

Since the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is co-hosting the conference, the secretary general and other key UN officials will also participate, sources in New York said.