Kerry to address Syria, Nagorno-Karabakh during tour

Secretary of State John Kerry will address Syria's ongoing civil war and the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh during an upcoming whirlwind global tour, the State Department announced Friday.

Kerry will be in Vienna from May 16-17 to co-host multinational meetings on Libya and Syria. During the Syria meeting he will seek to “reaffirm and strengthen the Cessation of Hostilities, to discuss ways to ensure humanitarian access throughout the country, and to expedite a negotiated political transition in Syria,” the agency said in a statement.

Alongside representatives from Russia and France, Kerry will co-host a meeting on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict with Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan and his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev.

The trip is part of a longer May 14-26 trip that will also take Kerry to Saudi Arabia, Belgium, Burma and Vietnam.

He will be in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia May 15-16 for bilateral meetings with Saudi officials where they are expected to address bilateral and regional issues.

During a four-day visit to Brussels he will participate in a NATO meeting of foreign ministers ahead of an alliance summit in July in Warsaw.

Kerry will meet with Burmese leaders on May 22 in the capital, Naypyitaw, “to signal U.S. support for the new democratically elected, civilian-led government and further democratic and economic reforms,” the State Department said.

From May 22-25, Kerry will visit Vietnam to accompany President Barack Obama to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.