International Affairs

Activities of Secretary-General in Washington, D.C., 14 October

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres arrived in Washington, D.C., from New York early on Friday morning, 14 October, to attend the annual shareholders meeting of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

Shortly after his arrival, he met with the United States Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, John Kerry.  They agreed that joint efforts must be enhanced to mitigate emissions in Group of Twenty (G20) countries, provide finance to accelerate the transition to renewable energies and protect people from devasting climate impacts as it was only three weeks before the Twenty-seventh Session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP27).

Mr. Guterres then attended and addressed the opening meeting of the International Monetary and Financial Committee of the International Monetary Fund.

Later in the afternoon, he delivered remarks at the plenary meeting of the Development Committee of the World Bank.

Prior to both meetings, he met separately with Kristalina Georgieva, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, and David Malpass, the President of the World Bank.

During his interventions, the Secretary-General highlighted urgent action to help developing countries in distress and advance the Sustainable Development Goals.  He also stressed the need for more active support to developing countries’ transition to renewable energy.

The Secretary-General also met with the publisher and the Editorial Board of the Washington Post.

The Secretary-General returned to New York early on Friday evening.