The United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, arrived in Auckland, New Zealand, from Samoa on the evening of Friday, 23 August.

Upon arriving, he had dinner with the Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand, Winston Peters.

The next day, the Secretary-General met with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.

In the afternoon, the Secretary-General flew to Tonga along with other Pacific leaders and the Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand.

Before departing, he had a press encounter at the airport with New Zealand media in which he said that his presence at the Pacific Islands Forum was an expression of solidarity with the Pacific Islands.  He added that the world today is built in a way that targets the Pacific Islands who are victims of climate, victims of unfair international financial architecture and victims of the enormous difficulties that their geographic situation creates to their development.  He called for mobilizing the international community for a very strong expression of solidarity with the small island development States in general and with the Pacific Islands in particular.

The Secretary-General then departed for Nuku’Alofa, Tonga, to attend the Pacific Islands Forum.