Gul holds a series of meetings in New York

President Abdullah Gul, currently in New York, yesterday met with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Among those who attended the meeting were UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Lynn Pascoe, Turkey's Permanent representative to UN Ambassador Baki Ilkin and Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ertugrul Apakan. Gul met with President of Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapaksa, Prime Minister of Nepal Pushpa Kamal Dahal and Lebanese President Michel Sleiman at the UN Headquarters. Gul attended the opening session of the High-Level Meeting of the Millennium Development Goals and delivered a speech on a round-table meeting on hunger and poverty. Gul said that Turkey decided to create a strategic fund of $50 million to support the World Food Program of the UN and other assistance programs. In related news, Gul attended a reception hosted by Ilkin at the Turkish House. Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu attended the reception. Gul also met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at the Turkish House.