During his three-day visit to Lebanon next week, the UN secretary-general plans to meet with Lebanese President Michel Suleiman, Prime Minister Najib Mikati and commanders of the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, known as UNIFIL, UN officials said.

Among the issues Ban said would be on his agenda was the meeting on Monday in Amman between Israeli and Palestinian peace negotiators, their second round of face-to-face talks in the stalled peace talk between the two sides. “I’m very much encouraged by this meeting between ... Palestinians and Israelis in Jordan,” he told reporters.

Ban may later visit the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Palestinian UN observer Riyad Mansour said. He told reporters there was an “agreement in principle” that the UN chief would visit Ramallah, where the Palestinian Authority is based, at the end of January.