Visit to New York, the United States, by Mr. Katsuya Okada, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan

April 13, 2010
Japanese

Mr. Katsuya Okada, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, will visit New York, the United States, from April 15 (Thu) to 18 (Sun), 2010.
Minister Okada will preside at the UN Security Council Open debate on post-conflict peacebuilding to be held on the morning of April 16 (Fri) (New York time) Mr. Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations, Dr. Zalmai Rassoul, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, and other officials are scheduled to attend. Minister Okada is also scheduled to hold bilateral meetings including with Minister Rassoul, Mr. Sven Alkalaj, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina and others.
At the Open debate, discussions will be held on how political stability and security can be achieved in paralle with social stability and what shoud be included in a comnprehensive peacebuilding strategy, which may provide the key to solving such questions as why conflicts recur, and why peace does not take root in some countries.

(Reference) Open debate (Thematic debate) of the UN Security Council
The presidency of the UN Security Council is held in turn by the members of the Security Council in the English alphabetical order of their names. Each President holds office for one calendar month. Many UN Security Council Presidents choose to hold Open debates (thematic debates) of the UN Security Council on a topic that is high on its diplopmatic agenda. This is the first time that the Minister for Foreign Affairs for Japan presides at an Open debate (Thematic Debate) of the Security Council.

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