DIARY-Political and General News Events from Dec. 18

GENEVA - WTO dispute settlement body to meet - 0900 GMT. BERLIN - United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres delivers a speech at Germany's lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, marking the 75th anniversary of the founding of the UN – 0800 GMT.

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---------------------------------------------------------------- This diary is filed daily. ** Indicates new events ---------------------------------------------------------------- FRIDAY, DEC. 18

** KIEV - Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and Defence Minister Hulusi Akar are in Kiev to hold talks with their Ukrainian counterparts as part of preparations for a High Level Strategic Council meeting. ** ANKARA - President Tayyip Erdogan speaks by videolink at an opening ceremony and may comment on U.S. sanctions imposed on Turkey over its acquisition of Russian defence systems, ties with the EU and efforts against the COVID-19 pandemic - 1130 GMT. ** ABU DHABI - Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia, Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah left for Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, today for a five-day special visit (to Dec. 22). ABU DHABI - Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi kicked off a two-day visit to the United Arab Emirates on Thursday for talks on bilateral matters (final day) TIRANA - The Acting President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani will pay a three-day official visit to Albania (final day).

MOSCOW - Online gas forum attended by a number of energy officials including Russian Energy Minister Nikolai Shulginov and his deputy Pavel Sorokin. BRUSSELS - Belgium's government holds a news conference after a government meeting on the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Brussels. BERLIN - German Chancellor Angela Merkel receives United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres who delivered a speech at Germany´s lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, marking the 75th anniversary of the founding of the UN - 0900 GMT. BRUSSELS - EU-Azerbaijan Cooperation Council, the meeting will be chaired by Josep Borrell, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and attended by Oliver Varhelyi, the EU Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement. GENEVA - WTO dispute settlement body to meet - 0900 GMT.

BERLIN - United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres delivers a speech at Germany's lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, marking the 75th anniversary of the founding of the UN – 0800 GMT. BERLIN - President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier receives United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres who delivered a speech at Germany's lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, marking the 75th anniversary of the founding of the UN – 1130 GMT. DUBLIN - Portugal's foreign minister, Augusto Santos, Silva speaks at Irish webinar – 1300 GMT. GENEVA - The WTO's dispute settlement body which decides on trade disputes between member countries will meet for the last time this year. - - - - - - - - -

SUNDAY, DEC. 27 NIGER - Niger holds presidential and National Assembly elections. CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC - Presidential election. CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC - Central African National Assembly election. - - - - - - - - -

FRIDAY, JAN. 1 TALLINN – 10th anniversary of adoption of the euro by Estonia. - - - - - - - - - MONDAY, JAN. 4 BURMA – 73rd anniversary of Burma's independence. - - - - - - - - -

SUNDAY, JAN. 10 Kyrgyzstan – Presidential election Kazakhstan – Kazakh House of Representatives election. - - - - - - - - -

MONDAY, JAN. 11 WASHINGTON/MOSCOW – 10th Anniversary of U.S.-Russia civilian nuclear cooperation agreement. - - - - - - - - -

TUESDAY, JAN. 12 MANILA - Philippines' finance minister Carlos Dominguez delivers keynote address at a virtual business forum - 0430 GMT.

HAITI - 11th anniversary of Haiti's magnitude 7 earthquake that destroyed much of the Haitian capital. - - - - - - - - - MONDAY, JAN. 18

BRUSSELS - Euro zone finance ministers meet – 1400 GMT. - - - - - - - - - SUNDAY, JAN. 24 PORTUGAL - Portugal holds Presidential elections - - - - - - - - -

MONDAY, JAN. 25 BRUSSELS - EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen delivers speech on the "priorities for Europe" – 1930 GMT. - - - - - - - - -

SUNDAY, FEB. 7 ECUADOR - Ecuadorian National Congress election ECUADOR - Ecuador Presidential election.

- - - - - - - - - THURSDAY, FEB. 25

** BRUSSELS - Euro zone finance ministers meet to discuss macroeconomic developments and policy prospects in the euro zone - 1400 GMT. - - - - - - - - - SUNDAY, FEB. 28 EL SALVADOR - Salvadorian Legislative Assembly election.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - NOTE: The inclusion of diary items does not necessarily mean that Reuters will file a story based on the event. For Technical Issues Please contact Thomson Reuters Customer Support (TRCS) at https://customers.reuters.com/kccontactus/telephone.aspx