UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 9 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is scheduled to discuss the issue of climate change on Tuesday with U.S. officials and Congressional leaders, just a few weeks before the UN conference on climate change in Copenhagen, capital of Denmark, a UN spokesperson said here Monday.

    "The secretary-general will be in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, Nov. 10, for meetings with senior administration officials and Congressional leaders to discuss the status of international climate change negotiations," Michele Montas, Ban's spokesperson, told a press briefing here.

    "A press encounter is being arranged by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday afternoon," she said.

    Negotiators met in Barcelona, Spain, last week for the last round of negotiations before the two-week Copenhagen gathering kicks off on Dec. 7.

    The Copenhagen conference is scheduled to set the mid-term emission reduction targets for developed countries under Kyoto Protocol, and make substantial arrangements for the implementation of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.