President Zardari to lead Pak delegation in UN General Assembly session

UNITED NATIONS: President Asif Ali Zardari arrives in New York on Sunday to lead the Pakistan delegation to the 67th session UN General Assembly in which over 120 world leaders are expected to participate.

The President will address the 193-member Assembly on Tuesday when the high-level debate begins. Some of the issues likely to dominate this year’s debate, which will conclude on October 1, are the ongoing crisis in Syria and the humanitarian emergency in the Sahel region of West Africa, along with the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and relations between Sudan and South Sudan as well as problems related to economic development.

The session is shaping up to be one of the busiest general debates ever – with 123 heads of state/government in attendance and around 50 separate side events.

During his four-day stay, President Zardari will confer, among others, with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, British Prime Minister David Cameron, Chinese foreign minister Yang Jiechi and NATO Secretary-General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

The President will also speak at a high-level event on polio eradication, sponsored by the United Nations and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The topic for the session, which will be presided over by Secretary-General Ban ki-moon, is : Our Commitment to the Next Generation.

Earlier this year, the Secretary-General set out an action agenda that identified five generational imperatives: sustainable development, prevention, a more secure world, helping countries in transition and empowering women and youth.