Tillerson to visit Middle East, South Asia, Europe

Washington, Oct 20 (IANS) The US State Department announced on Thursday that US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Pakistan, India and Switzerland from October 20-27.

In Riyadh, Secretary Tillerson will take part in the inaugural Coordination Council meeting between the governments of Saudi Arabia and Iraq. The Secretary will also meet with various Saudi leaders to discuss the conflict in Yemen, the ongoing Gulf dispute, Iran, and a number of other important regional and bilateral issues, according to a State Department statement.

He will then travel to Doha, where he will meet with Qatari leaders and U.S. military officials to discuss joint counterterrorism efforts, the ongoing Gulf dispute, and other regional and bilateral issues, including Iran and Iraq, the statement said.

After his trip to the Middle East, Tillerson will visit Islamabad and New Delhi in his first visit to South Asia as secretary of state.

After that, Tillerson will travel to Geneva, where he will meet with the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, International Organization for Migration, and the International Committee of the Red Cross to discuss a number of the current global humanitarian crises.