UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will arrive in China on Sunday, for a four-day visit and will attend the CICA conference in Shanghai. Ban says he’s looking forward to China’s upcoming presidency of the summit.
"I am sure this Shanghai summit will be a great success. And I hope through this CICA summit, the leaders of the Asia-Pacific region will be able to promote more harmonious through dialogue," UN Seretary-general Ban Ki-moon said.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon speaks during an inteview
with Chinese media, at the UN headquarters in New York, on May 16, 2014.
Ban Ki-moon on Friday voiced his confidence in seeing a successful summit
of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in
Asia (CICA), hoping China can play an important role in leading the regional
body in its efforts to promote peace and development in Asia.
(Xinhua/Niu Xiaolei)
Ban also said he’s concerned about "unsettled military conflicts and territorial disputes" in the region. He hopes Asian leaders can see the summit as an opportunity to solve problems through dialogue.
Ban has highlighted northeast Asia as an area of fast economic growth with high international expectations. Ban says he believes China can play an important role during its presidency of the summit from 2014 to 2016.