NEW YORK: The UN General Assembly began on Tuesday its 68th session at the UN Headquarters in New York to discuss a wide range of issues ranging from international security and the war on terror to raising funds for peacekeeping missions and ensuring a sustainable global development.
In his speech at the opening ceremony, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon underlined the need for resolving conflicts around the world, adding that the world countries need to cooperate one another for international economic development.
“The upcoming year will be pivotal for this Assembly as we seek to identify the parameters of the Post-2015 Development Agenda,” the President of the session John William Ashe said in his opening remarks.
“The magnitude of the task before us will require decisive action and the highest levels of collaboration and we must prove ourselves and our efforts to be equal to the enormity of the task,” Ashe said.
The 193-member body that comprises nearly the world’s entire population will go through mainly procedural matters this week. They’ll be affirming the agenda for the high-level sessions set to begin next week. That’s when leaders from around the globe descend on the UN headquarters in New York.
The UN is in the last 1,000 days of action toward its anti- poverty targets that are required to be accomplished by the year of 2015, known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which were agreed by world leaders at a UN summit in 2000.
