Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary General of the United Nations, was in Montreal Friday as part of a working visit to Canada.

He met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday, and on Friday morning met Governor General David Johnston in Ottawa to discuss Syrian refugees.

During the lunch hour Ban Ki-moon met with Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre at city hall, the first of several stops in the city.

"I am back because Canada is back. This has been a very productive visit," he said.

Coderre added that the last time the head of the U.N. was in Montreal was in 1994.

"We are very pleased that a man of your stature is in Montreal," the mayor told him.

Ban met with the head of the International Civil Aviation Organization, Olumuyiwa Benard Aliu, and with its secretary general Fang Liu, to discuss aviation issues.  

In the afternoon he spoke to students at McGill University and in the evening, he met with Premier Philippe Couillard at the Ritz-Carlton in downtown Montreal.

The Secretary General returns to New York on Saturday, but only after a visit, again with Coderre, to Montreal's anti-radicalization centre in the morning.