Kofi Annan may visit Pakistan in December

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan may visit Pakistan in December to attend an international conference on volunteerism.

National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) spokesman Aamir Bilal told Daily Times on Wednesday that the commission had invited the UN secretary general to participate in the International Conference on Volunteerism scheduled for December 5 to 7 in Islamabad. NCHD Chairman Dr Nasim Ashraf and UN Resident Coordinator Onder Yucer will address a press conference on November 24 to give details of the conference. Delegates from 40 countries will participate in the conference organised to promote the concept of volunteerism. The conference will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.

Mr Bilal said the conference would be the first international moot ever held on the topic of volunteerism.

The NCHD, United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Information Centre and United Nations Volunteers programme are jointly organising the conference.

It was to be held last year in Brazil, but was postponed for unavoidable reasons. Mr Bilal said the United Nations secretary general specifically mentioned the NCHD’s efforts to prepare a corps of volunteers in Pakistan when choosing the conference’s new venue.

The NCHD official said that during the last two years, the commission had organised more than 40,000 volunteers throughout the county.

He said volunteers have been actively working in different NCHD projects on health and education in over 40 districts.

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