UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon stressed his support for Greece after Greek prime minister George Papandreou cancelled a scheduled visit to NY for the UN General Assembly and Washington for high-ranking talks due to developments regarding the Greek and European economy, while he also expressed hope that the present economic problems will be overcome.

After being informed of the cancellation of Papandreou's visit to New York, the UN chief telephoned Greek ambassador to the UN Anastasis Mitsialis to express his interest in and support for Greece, and asked the envoy to convey his wishes to Papandreou that the present economic problems will be overcome.

Ban will meet on Sunday evening (Athens time) with Greek foreign minister Stavros Lambrinidis, who is standing in for Papandreou in the US itinerary, for talks including the Cyprus issue, Turkey's threats over planned exploration in Cyprus' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) the FYROM name issue and the situation in the Middle East.

Lambrinidis will meet earlier with representatives of major Jewish organisations in the US, while on Sunday night he will meet with the UN chief's personal representative to the Greece-FYROM negotiations on the FYROM name issue Matthew Nimetz.