UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon visiting Slovakia

On his second official visit to Slovakia [the first occurred in January 2008 - ed. note], UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon has spent the weekend in the Spiš region. The visit featured the local sights as the Štrbské Pleso Mountain Lake, Lomnický Štít mountain peak, Levoča town and the Spiš Castle in the afternoon. "We picked the destinations as we wanted him to see something other than Bratislava. We decided to take him to the High Tatras and vicinity and organised the programme in such a way as to be linked to his agenda," said Foreign and European Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajčák, referring to items such as climate changes, preparation for the summit in Paris on climate changes and UNESCO agenda. Regarding the visit in the High Tatras, minister Lajčák confessed: "It was an incredible experience not only for Mr. General Secretary but also for me because we didn't see anything at Skalnaté Pleso. On the cable car we plowed into the fog and all of a sudden we emerged from that fog into beautiful weather and saw those magnificent rocks and the tip of Lomnický Štít peak. The General Secretary said that he experienced something this morning that he won't forget until the end of his days." Later in the historic town of Levoča, the UN General Secretary saw the historic Town Hall, St. Jacob's Church as well as the Master Pavol House of Levoča that are on the UNESCO World Heritage List. "It's necessary to meet the town's goals of sustainable development and preserve the value of this historic heritage also for future generations," Ban Ki-moon said after the visit. On Monday, Ban Ki-moon is to deliver a speech at the Comenius University in Bratislava, where he will also receive the honorary doctorate, he is going to have a working lunch with Prime Minister Robert Fico and the head of the diplomacy and he is also to talk with the head of Parliament Peter Pellegrini.