Day: October 14, 2026

On Thursday, October 15, UN Secretary-General António Guterres will arrive in Armenia to attend the Leaders’ Summit ahead of the seventeenth meeting of the Conference of Parties on the Convention on Biological Diversity, that will be COP17.

During his stay, the Secretary-General will have bilateral meetings with the President of the Republic of Armenia, Vahagn Khachaturyan, and the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan.

 Later in the day, the Secretary-General will attend the official opening ceremony of the Leaders’ Summit, and he will also participate in the media launch of the State of Biodiversity Action Report. 

The Secretary-General will be joined by the Minister for Environment of Armenia and the President of COP17, Hambardzum Matevosyan, the Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), Inger Andersen, and the Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity, Astrid Schomaker.

On Friday, he will deliver remarks at the opening and plenary session of the Leaders’ Summit.  In his remarks, he is expected to warn that right now our world is being rocked by conflict, shocked by climate change and famished by food insecurity.  He also will say that biodiversity is not a separate challenge.

He is expected to underscore that progress on all these crises depends on progress on the others, and the window to act is closing.  Calling on Governments and financial leadership, he will urge all to act with the urgency this moment demands for our future, for our children, and for all life on Earth.  The Secretary-General will also meet and engage in discussions with civil society groups, including groups of young people.