Blinken is attending the annual conference of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Vienna and will give a speech there at 12:30 p.m. In the afternoon he will meet Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer and Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg (both ÖVP) as well as Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen.
The focus of this year’s anti-drug conference is, among other things, the rampant opioid crisis in the USA. According to the US State Department, Blinken is the first head of the US State Department to attend a meeting of the UN Drug Commission. “The fundamental truth about the synthetic drug crisis: No part of the world is immune,” Blinken said on the topic.
The foreign ministers of numerous countries are taking part in the 67th meeting of the commission, which opened on Thursday and runs until Friday next week (March 22nd), including the coca-growing countries of Colombia, Honduras and Ecuador. Austria will be represented on Friday by Health Minister Johannes Rauch (Greens), who will also give a speech.
Meeting with Nehammer and Schallenberg
Blinken will meet Nehammer and Schallenberg in the Federal Chancellery and hold a press conference with the Austrian Foreign Minister at 3:15 p.m. ( broadcasts live). The US Secretary of State then visited Federal President Van der Bellen in the presidential office.
Live blog about Blinken’s visit to Vienna:
