UN Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon is expected to meet on Friday with Lakdhar Brahimi, the newly-appointed UN-Arab League joint special representative for Syria, Ban's spokesperson Martin Nesirky said on Thursday, Xinhua reported.
"Mr. Brahimi is arriving today in New York," said Nesirky at a regular noon briefing. "He has a week of consultations including with the secretary-general tomorrow."
The UN information service announced earlier this week that Brahimi's office is to be based in New York. It is not clear how many staff members will be in the office to help the representative with his mediation efforts.
The UN and the Arab League jointly appointed Brahimi as the new special envoy for Syria last Friday, to replace Kofi Annan who will not renew his mandate when it expires on Aug. 31.
Brahimi, 78, was Algeria's foreign minister from 1991 to 1993 and the UN envoy in Afghanistan before and after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.