Ban Ki-moon to visit India this week

United Nations, Jan 7: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon is going to visit India later this week, and is expected to focus on inclusive and sustainable development in the country, said Ban's spokesperson on Tuesday.

Stephane Dujarric told a daily briefing that Ban will travel to Gujarat, western India, on Jan 10 and deliver a keynote speech at the Inaugural Session of the 7th Vibrant Gujarat Summit the following day, Xinhua reported.

"Addressing world leaders, policy makers, and representatives from the business community and academia, the Secretary-General will stress the need to promote inclusive and sustainable development in India and globally," said Dujarric.

During the trip, Ban is also expected to visit a solar power plant to see for himself national efforts to promote sustainable development, said Dujarric.

Ban's trip will conclude on Jan 13.

Vibrant Gujarat Summit is a biennial investors' summit held by government of Gujarat, India. This year's focus of the summit would be sustainable development, renewable energy, skill ecosystem and so forth.

The year 2015 is the penultimate year of the tenure of the UN chief who has been pushing forward the agenda of sustainable development over the past few years.

IANS