Last weekend, Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General, met with the President of Uzbekistan - Shavkat Mirziyoyev in Samarkand. The discussion focused on the issues of cooperation between Uzbekistan and the United Nations in the context of the goals of sustainable development, and the problem of regional security. UN Secretary-General also visited the Aral Sea basin and marveled at what he saw.
After meeting with the head of Uzbekistan in Samarkand, António Guterres, visited the cemetery of the Aral Sea ships and talked with the oldest inhabitants of the Aral Sea region in Nukus.
«A visit to the Aral Sea - once the fourth largest inland sea, and is now almost dead, was for me a huge shock for me. What happened to the Aral Sea is the greatest environmental disaster of our time», - said the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
Antonio Guterres emphasized that the Aral Sea should become a symbol of the destruction of the planet by humanity. He called for lessons from this tragedy and mobilized the entire international community to implement the Paris Climate Agreement.
Also, Mr. Guterres will soon visit the rest of the countries of Central Asia: Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan.
Photos by UN News Center