UN General Assembly President to attend Beijing Winter Olympics

Special: 2022 Winter Olympics

UN General Assembly President Abdulla Shahid will attend the Beijing Olympic Winter Games, said his spokeswoman on Thursday.

"I can announce today that President Shahid will be attending the Beijing Games at the invitation of the International Olympic Committee (IOC)," said Paulina Kubiak, the spokeswoman.

While in Beijing, Shahid will participate in the Olympic torch relay. IOC President Thomas Bach will pass the flame to President Shahid, Kubiak told a regular press briefing at UN Headquarters in New York.

Shahid, in his capacity as the president of the UN General Assembly, on Thursday made a solemn appeal for commitment to the Olympic Truce during the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

"I solemnly appeal to all member states to demonstrate their commitment to the Olympic Truce for the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 and to undertake concrete actions at the local, national, regional and world levels to promote and strengthen a culture of peace and harmony based on the spirit of the Truce," Shahid told a plenary session of the General Assembly, which took note of his appeal.

The Olympic Truce is a tradition that dates back to ancient Greece in the eighth century B.C.. The practice was revived in the 1990s.