Speaking to UNTV ahead of the start of the conference, Mr. Ban said “the current situation caused by the allegation of chemical weapons use and deteriorating humanitarian situation in Syria urgently requires world leaders to focus their political will to address this issue”.

Mr. Brahimi, the Joint Special Representative of the UN and the League of Arab States for Syrian, arrived in the Russian city earlier today at Mr. Ban’s request.

The UN chief said that he had asked Mr. Brahimi to join him in St. Petersburg to press for the early convening of an international meeting on Syria to be held in Geneva with participation of senior Russian, United States and UN officials.

Mr. Brahimi said that the Syrian crisis had reached such an “urgent” stage that the Secretary-General thought it might be one of the questions to be addressed either by the G20 itself or on the margins of the summit.

“I’m sure it would be taken up in all the meetings the Secretary-General is going to have,” Mr. Brahimi told UNTV, adding that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov might organize a special meeting on Syria.

A UN spokesperson in New York today said the Secretary-General is attending the opening sessions of the summit. At the working dinner, Mr. Ban is expected to brief world leaders on developments in Syria. In his remarks, the Secretary-General is expected to outline the work of the UN chemical weapons investigation team and to explain why he asked Mr. Brahimi to join him in St. Petersburg.

Meanwhile, the biomedical and environmental samples collected by the by Swedish scientist Dr. Åke Sellström and his team at sites in Syria where chemical weapons were allegedly used on 21 August, had been sent to four laboratories in Europe.

Mr. Ban has called for the team to expedite the process, but to also be given every opportunity to complete its task, noting that the UN investigation is “uniquely placed to independently establish the facts in an objective and impartial manner” and to conduct its work strictly according to internationally recognized standards.

Ahead of the start of the Summit, Mr. Ban met on its sidelines with the President of the Republic of Korea, Park Geun-hye. In addition to discussing developments in Syria, Mr. Ban and Ms. Park discussed the Korean peninsula, in specific, ROK’s proposed world peace park in the Demilitarized Zone.

Mr. Ban also thanked Ms. Park for the country’s $6 million contribution to the UN World Health Organization (WHO) to assist children in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

In a meeting with the President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, Mr. Ban commended Kazakhstan’s long-standing constructive cooperation with the UN and the role it plays internationally in the context of nuclear non-proliferation and religious tolerance.

He and President Nazarbayev also discussed the situation in Syria, as well as the important roles played by the Organization, as well as Afghanistan and regional cooperation, on water management.

Also today, Mr. Ban discussed the situation of human rights in Russia with Ombudsman Vladimir Lukin. Mr. Ban said he appreciated the Ombudsman’s honest and useful evaluation of human rights challenges in the Russian Federation.

They discussed a number of the recommendations that arose from the most recent Universal Periodic Review, notably relating to the role of civil society, and the rights of people with disabilities and of the lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender (LGBT) community.

The Geneva-based Council’s Universal Periodic Review subjects each country’s human rights record to a State-led peer review on the basis of information submitted by the country concerned, UN entities, civil society and other stakeholders.

The Secretary-General encouraged the Ombudsman, together with the Russian authorities, to implement all recommendations.

Mr. Ban is at the G20 to also focus international attention on long-term global challenges, including the achievement of the eight anti-poverty targets known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), strengthening global economic recovery, and achieving a sustainable future.

“Putting off those challenges until tomorrow will only make them even more difficult and expensive to solve,” Mr. Ban said yesterday remarks at St. Petersburg State University.

The MDGs will be a focus at the high-level gathering of the General Assembly later this month at the UN Headquarters in New York.

Mr. Ban is expected to speak about the MDGs and the post-2015 sustainable development tomorrow in remarks to the G20.

“I have always argued that the UN and the G20 can and must work in mutually supportive ways,” said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who has participated in every summit held by the group of leading economies since he took office, beginning with the meeting held Washington, D.C., in 2008.

Ban welcomed the Los Cabos Action Plan for Growth and Jobs, including its measures to address the urgent issue of youth unemployment, and was pleased that the summit acknowledged the importance of ensuring the full participation of women in the labour force.

While at the summit, Ban repeated his call to donor countries to honour all their commitments to the developing world, especially to help them achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The eight MDGs, which world leaders have agreed to achieve by 2015, set specific targets on poverty alleviation, education, gender equality, child and maternal health, environmental stability, HIV/AIDS reduction, and a ‘Global Partnership for Development.’

Noting that official development assistance fell last year for the first time in more than a decade, the Secretary-General stressed that fiscal austerity must not be allowed to undermine support for poverty reduction and development.

He also thanked G20 leaders for supporting the Scaling Up Nutrition movement, as well as their efforts to address commodity price volatility and enhance transparency in agricultural markets. In addition, he encouraged further progress towards reviving the Doha round of trade talks, and warned against the disturbing rise in protectionist measures.

Ban added that the synergies between the Los Cabos summit and the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), held in Brazil in June, benefited both and advanced the cause of sustainable development. “Looking forward, I encourage G20 countries to align their work programme with the outcome of Rio+20,” he stated. “We must also all work together to define a post-2015 development agenda.”

To that end, Ban announced the full membership of the High-level Panel of Eminent Persons to advise on planning for post-2015 that he set up in May. The panel – co-chaired by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia and Prime Minister David Cameron of the United Kingdom – will hold its first meeting at the end of September in the margins of the General Assembly’s annual General Debate.

Addressing the same meeting, the President of the Assembly, Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, said that the Los Cabos Summit had particular significance for the UN, especially given that it was held back-to-back with Rio+20.

“Inevitably, those two high-level meetings were mutually influential. This is how it should be – there should always be an intense exchange of information, coordination and cooperation between the G20 and the United Nations,” he stated.

Al-Nasser noted that important progress was made on several fronts, including galvanizing international support for the Euro Zone; advancing the reform of the International Monetary Fund; and improving the Framework for Strong, Sustainable and Balanced Growth.

“However, as the aftermath of the international economic crisis continues, challenges remain in the coming months,” he added.

As Reuters broadcasts, citing sources G20 officials, the major central banks are prepared to provide liquidity to the markets after the elections in Greece on June 17. Moreover, they are preparing other emergency measures as well to stabilize markets if the result of Greek elections sparks a new round of instability in the country and the Eurozone.

G20 leaders are set to meet in Mexico on Monday and Tuesday as the results of the cliffhanger Greek vote emerge.

This step from on behalf of central bankers, which consists of taking emergency measures to prevent the value of non-euro national currencies from taking off, is led by chairman of the central bank of Switzerland Thomas Jordan, with the assistance of the authorities of the central banks of Japan, China, India, Denmark and Norway, according to Reuters. 

According to the agency, the economic leaders of the most powerful economies are ready – depending on the reaction of the markets – to have an urgent meetingf finance ministers of the G7 even on Monday or Tuesday, before the meeting of the G20 leaders.

European officials also set out plans for coping with turbulence such as if Greeks emptied their bank accounts as the outcome of Sunday’s election, the second since May 6, could determine Greece’s fate in the euro zone. Victory for the anti-bailout far-left SYRIZA party on Sunday can shake the market place. Euro zone leaders have warned Greece that no more funds would be given if Athens does not stick to its austerity measures pushing it towards an exit from the euro zone.

“We stand at a crossroads. Our common future is at stake,” Ban said as Member States gathered for an informal meeting in the General Assembly to express their views ahead of the summit of the Group of 20 (G20) on 18 and 19 June in Los Cabos. “We must put a face on the future we want, and we must work together – the G20 and the community of nations – to achieve it,” he added.

Ban, who will represent the views of the Assembly at the summit, said that G20 leaders will be meeting against a backdrop of anxiety. “The world economy is in a precarious situation,” he said, noting that the euro crisis may still escalate, and some developed countries are in recession, while economic growth has all but stalled in many others. “Yet, beyond the anxiety, there is opportunity,” added the Secretary-General, pointing to the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) that will bring the world community – including up to 130 heads of State and government – to Brazil later this month.

World leaders meeting in Rio de Janeiro are expected to define steps towards a better future for all – more equitable, more prosperous, and more respectful of the planet’s finite resources, said Ban, adding that G20 leaders will also address these issues. “In Los Cabos, I will ask leaders to once again look not just at their national concerns but at the common good, which is inextricably linked to their own interests,” he said. “We need a powerful, coordinated solution to the worldwide jobs crisis and decisive action to avoid a new global recession. We need inclusive green growth that can drive sustainable development.”

In his remarks, the UN chief highlighted six development priorities in the context of the G20 discussions: infrastructure; food and nutrition security; working on the links between infrastructure, food and nutrition security, water, oceans and energy; enhancing investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy; social protection; and supporting efforts to make financial services accessible to all. “In Los Cabos, I will stress the need to integrate and balance the three pillars of sustainable development – economic, social and environmental,” said Mr. Ban. “The G20’s work can – and must – be complementary to the goals and outcome of Rio+20.” The Secretary-General added that his expectations from Los Cabos and Rio are very similar.

“We must find ways to stimulate our economies to create decent jobs. We must provide social protection to the most poor and vulnerable,” he said. “And we must achieve all this while respecting the boundaries of our planet to make our world more prosperous, secure and sustainable for the next generations.” In his remarks to the informal meeting, General Assembly President Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser said that, in the Assembly’s deliberations, it has been clear how eager Member States are to find solutions to stabilize the global markets, resume growth and job creation and begin the transition to a more sustainable model of development.

“I am glad that, through their engagement at all of the debates and meetings, Member States have demonstrated once again the central role of the United Nations, and the General Assembly in particular, in leading the process of proposing and coordinating effective economic policies,” he stated.

Tomorrow at 11:30 A.M Syriza leader with main focus on the electoral programme’s politics and foreign policy. After that, a meeting will follow behind closed doors with the ambassadors.

Some rushed to say that the meeting is a cleanup of the position of the party on the Memorandum issue as much confusion is exacerbated.

Foreign sources in Athens have expressed concerns regarding the agenda of the meeting, as well as the symbolisms associated with SYRIZA’s party initiative that, according to diplomats, aims at legitimizing Tsipras’ image as a leader.

The countries of G20 include: Australia, India, Argentina, France, China, Canada, Russia, Germany, Brazil, Germany, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Mexico, Italy, Japan, US, Turkey, Britain and South Korea.