UN chief Ban Ki-moon to host ministerial meeting of Middle East Quartet

UNITED NATIONS: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will host a ministerial meeting of the Middle East Quartet later this month aimed at working on a diplomatic solution for the long-standing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujjaric yesterday said that the Secretary-General will be hosting a Principals' meeting of the Quartet - the US, UN, Russia and the European Union - on September 30 on the margins of the General Assembly.

He said invited to this meeting is Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, US Secretary of State John Kerry, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini.

Following the Principals' endorsement to increase the Quartet's outreach to the Arab world at its last meeting in February in Munich, the UN chief is inviting Arab League Secretary-General, as well as the Foreign Ministers of Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, to join the meeting, he said.