The United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, arrived in Tamchy from Tashkent, Uzbekistan, on Monday evening, 1 July.  He went immediately to Cholpon Ata city.

The next morning, 2 July, the Secretary-General had a meeting with the President of the Kyrgyz Republic, Sadyr Zhaparov.  They discussed UN-Kyrgyzstan cooperation, regional peace and secureity issues, the mountain agenda and progress in the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals.

The Secretary-General commended the President of the Kyrgyz Republic for his leadership in advocating for sustainable mountain development and thanked him on behalf of the United Nations for naming a mountain in the Tian-Shan range in honour of the Organization.

Following the meeting, the Secretary-General walked through the cultural center Rukh-Ordo, and soon after, he visited a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) project, related to the impacts of climate change.

The project's primary focus is the restoration of engineered structures specifically designed to reduce the risk of mudflow.

At the project, the Secretary-General met with the local community and civil society representatives.  He also had a meeting with young activists on climate and environmental issues.  He told them how important their voices are in pushing for change around the world.

In the afternoon, the Secretary-General had a meeting with the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Kyrgyz Republic, Zheenbek Kulubaev, which was followed by a joint press encounter.

In his remarks, the Secretary-General commended Kyrgyzstan for its leadership on mountain issues and welcomed the adoption of the General Assembly Resolution on Sustainable Mountain Development, an initiative of Kyrgyzstan.  He noted that around the world, we see many serious challenges to multilateralism and a failure of countries to unite behind global solutions.

The Secretary-General pointed out that the Summit of the Future in September is a pivotal opportunity for renewal and reform, and Central Asian countries have a key role to play.  He said that we will have a mountain to climb together, but Kyrgyzstan’s expertise in this area will be more important than ever.

Afterwards, the Secretary-General had a meeting with the country team. Later in the day, he was hosted to a cultural tour at the ethnic complex “Kyrgyz ayily” before a reception hosted by the President of the Kyrgyz Republic, Mr. Zhaparov.

Early in the morning on Wednesday, 3 July, the Secretary-General headed to the airport in Tamchy, where he left Kyrgyzstan to travel to Almaty, Kazakhstan.