UN-General Assembly /WRD/
UN assembly wraps up annual high-level debate
Tehran, Oct 4, IRNA -- The United Nations General Assembly Wednesday
wrapped up its wide-ranging high-level debate characterized by calls
for action to address climate change and other pressing international
concerns, the 192-member body's president said.
Addressing the closing ceremony of the session at UN Headquarters
in New York, which began on 25 September and saw the participation of
scores of national leaders, Srgjan Kerim thanked delegates for their
"insightful " contributions during the debate.
"The presence of almost a hundred heads of State and government as
well as about 80 ministers for foreign affairs is a mark of the
importance the world places on this unique Assembly," he was quoted
by a UN Information Center's press release, a copy of which was made
available by IRNA on Thursday.
The President also drew attention to the "flurry of diplomatic
activity" that accompanied the annual high-level meeting.
"We have increased our visibility and the public and media have
responded positively."
Reflecting the views of many expressed during the session, he
urged action on the theme of the debate: responses to climate change.
"The latest reports about the accelerated melting of the Arctic
have unnerved the experts. We need to be on high alert," he cautioned.
"You have sent a strong political message that the time for talk
has passed - that the time for action has begun," he told those
present, declaring that "climate change has become the flagship issue"
of the current Assembly session.
Reviewing the consensus that emerged during the just-concluded
session, he cited wide agreement that adapting to global warming
should not limit growth, but rather help achieve sustainable
development.
"We all agreed that we have common but differentiated
responsibilities," he said, adding that there was broad consensus that
the UN "must remain at the center of the process to reach a global
agreement."
Numerous participants, he said, endorsed the idea of a "road map
to coordinate the United Nations system on climate change."
Looking to a planned meeting in Bali this December aimed at
hammering out a successor pact to the Kyoto Protocol, which limits
greenhouse gas emissions but is set to expire in 2012, he said, "It is
now up to you to deliver."
Other issues which received close attention during the debate
included the global anti-poverty targets collectively known as the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the need for progress on
financing for development ahead of the Doha Conference in 2008, and a
"broad desire" to achieve consensus on a comprehensive convention
against terrorism.
Participants also touched on the importance to adhere to
international law, human security and the responsibility to protect,
and discussed regional hotspot such as the Middle East, Iraq,
Afghanistan, Darfur and Myanmar.
"There is overall agreement that we could make faster progress on
all these issues if our multilateral institutions better reflected
contemporary realities, underlining the need for better progress on
United Nations reform," he said, citing a need to make the Secretariat
more effective and to reform the Security Council.
At the outset of the debate, the President had indicated that he
wanted to give priority to five priority areas: climate change,
financing for development, countering terrorism, the MDGs and
management reform.
In a statement released by his spokesman today, the President said
the General Assembly 'is the only forum where these priority issues
can be tackled comprehensively and notes that the presence of over 90
world leaders in the debate underscored the importance Member States
placed on this unique forum for multilateralism'.
In total, 189 Member States addressed the high-level debate along
with two observers of the Holy See and Palestine.
A total of 67 heads of State, 25 heads of government, four
vice-presidents, 13 deputy ministers, 66 foreign ministers, two other
ministers, four deputy ministers and eight chairs of delegation spoke.
AN/1420
::IRNA No.019 04/10/2007 16:42 --End
