US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to meet Antonio Guterres: United Nations

United Nations, July 18: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is to meet later this week with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on the heels of the Helsinki Summit, which a UN spokesman said the world organization was “evaluating”. Farhan Haq, the spokesman, was asked Tuesday at a regular briefing with reporters at UN headquarters about the possibility of a Pompeo meeting, Xinhua reported. “Pompeo is going to be in New York and so we are trying to arrange a meeting for that,” Haq said, adding “I do believe that the secretary-general and Secretary Pompeo will meet on Friday.”

The spokesman said he would try to get more details and information on what would be discussed after the Guterres-Pompeo session. “There are many issues of mutual concern with which the secretary-general talks with US officials.” Reform of the world organization is sure to be one of the topics since Washington has long been pushing for it. The meeting falls just four days after the meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump in Helsinki on Monday.

Haq said there were no “specific comments on any range of bilateral meetings. Obviously, leaders meet with each other all the time and we encourage the process by which they do that. Obviously, the hope is that any such bilateral meetings are used to improved cooperation among nations.” (IANS)