Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, on a visit to the US, was received on Wednesday night (local time) in New York by UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon at the UN headquarters, for talks that included environmental issues ahead of December’s international UN summit on climate change in Copenhagen.
Bartholomew, who was accompanied by Archbishop Demetrios of America and Greece’s permanent representative to the UN, ambassador Anastasis Mitsialis, told reporters after the 20-minute meeting, said they discussed environmental issues in light of the Copenhagen conference, and that he briefed the UN chief on his own “environmental initiatives” and the Ecumenical Patriarchate’s “humble activities” regarding the “interfaith and inter-cultural dialogue”.
The Ecumenical Patriarch said he had also made not to his three visits to Ban’s country of descent, Korea, and his previous visit to the UN during the tenure of secretary general Kofi Annan. He further briefed the UN chief on his upcoming visits to London next week for a conference on cooperation among religions and cultures being organised by Prince Charles, and afterwards to Athens, and noted that he will be in Copenhagen for the climate change conference.
Bartholomew further said that he stressed to Ban that the SecGen was working for the unity of nations and cultures while the Ecumenical Patriarchate was contributing in that direction through the interfaith dialogue and the Patriarchate’s initiatives for environmental protection, “and consequently we can be considered collaborators in the same direction, for the good of humanity”.
(source: ana-mpa)
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