UN chief to visit Turkey, 5 Mideast countries and Germany

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is heading to Turkey, five Mideast nations and Germany on his first major trip since taking the helm of the United Nations on Jan. 1.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the U.N. chief was leaving late Thursday for Istanbul for talks with government leaders and will then travel to Saudi Arabia's capital, Riyadh, for meetings with the king, crown prince, deputy crown prince and other senior officials.

From there, he is scheduled to fly to Dubai where he will speak at the 2017 World Government Summit and meet leaders from the United Arab Emirates.

Guterres will then meet with leaders during stops in Oman, Qatar and Egypt and finally head to Bonn, Germany to attend the G-20 ministerial meeting and Munich to attend the annual Security Conference.