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Minister meets UN chief amid split focus at UNGA77
Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi met with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday to discuss preparations for the Group of Twenty (G20) Summit in Bali and compare notes on the Myanmar coup crisis.
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Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi (left) shakes hands with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at the UN headquarters in New York, the United States, on Sept. 18. (Courtesy of Foreign Ministry/Andi Barus)
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o:p>Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi met United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday in a tête-à-tête to kick off her whirlwind tour ahead of the 77th UN General Assembly in New York, the United States.
The one-on-one meeting at Guterres’ office was the minister’s first bilateral event since arriving in New York on Friday. During the meeting, Retno broached the topic of Indonesia’s Group of 20 (G20) presidency activities while exchanging notes on the Myanmar coup crisis.
“Kicking things off at #UNGA77 with good discussion with UN Secretary General @antonioguterres at UNHQ, New York (18/09) on Myanmar and G20,” she tweeted on Sunday.
In preparation for the G20 Summit in Bali later this year, the minister was expected to meet with her counterparts from G20 nations over the course of her eight-day schedule.
However, due to funerals for the United Kingdom’s Queen Elizabeth II on Monday and for former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe next week, the schedule of speakers for the UNGA General Debate on Sept. 20-26 is not set in stone. This uncertainty will likely impact Retno’s bilateral activities in New York.
The UN secretary-general himself will not attend the Queen’s funeral on Monday as he will be convening the Transforming Education Summit from Sept. 16-19, his spokesperson announced in a regular briefing on Friday.
Guterres did, however, confirm that he would attend the G20 Summit in November, according to a Foreign Ministry press release issued in New York on Sunday.
