President Muhammadu Buhari will leave Nigeria for New York on Thursday for
a series of meetings and interactions with notable world leaders within
and on the sidelines of the main events of the 70th Session of the United
Nations General Assembly.
On the agenda of President Buhari’s talks, deliberations and interactions
with the United Nations Secretary-General, Mr. Ban Ki Moon, President
Barack Obama of the United States, President Francois Hollande of France,
Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain, Chancellor Angela Merkel of
Germany, President Vladmir Putin of Russia, President Xi Jinping of China,
Prime Minister Narenda Modi of India and others will be domestic
developmental issues, bilateral relations, the war against terrorism,
countering violent extremism, the enhancement of global security,
peace-keeping operations, climate change and the adoption of a post 2015
global development agenda.
President Buhari who will be accompanied by the Governors of Sokoto,
Kaduna and Niger States, the National Security Adviser and the Permanent
Secretaries in the Federal Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Defence,
Finance, Health, Industry, Trade and Investment, will deliver Nigeria’s
Statement to the 70th Session of the United Nations General Assembly on
Monday, September 28.
President Buhari is also scheduled to address the World Leaders Summit on
Violent Extremism to which he was personally invited by Mr. Ban Ki Moon
during the Secretary-General’s recent visit to Nigeria.
Also on the President busy schedule in New York are a meeting of the
African Union’s Peace and Security Council, a High-Level Roundtable on
South-South Cooperation organised by President Xi Jinping of China and the
United Nations, and participation in the launching of an updated global
health strategy for women and children.
On President Buhari’s schedule too are meetings with former President Bill
Clinton of the United States, Mr. Bill Gates of the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation which is assisting Nigeria in several areas including polio
eradication, and former Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain, the United
Nations Special Envoy on Global Education who is one of the main drivers
of the Safe Schools Initiative.
The President will concluded his visit to New York on Tuesday, September
29 and leave the city for Abuja on the same day.