U.N. General Assembly Begins General DebateThe 55th session of the U.N. General Assembly kicked off Tuesday a two-week general debate, in which speakers from 189 countries will voice their views on a wide range of matters of international importance.The speakers include three heads of state, four prime ministers and 160 foreign ministers, according to the latest U.N. figures. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan delivered his speech at the opening of the general debate on Tuesday. "This year, coming the week after our historic Millennium Summit, it may seem something of an anticlimax," Annan said. "In particular, it is vital that this Organization, the United Nations itself, should be capable of playing the role that the world's people expect of it," he said. "It must be, as your heads of state and government declared, a more effective instrument for pursuing the priorities they have outlined." The priorities include the fight for development, the fight against injustice in all its forms, the fight against violence and crime, and the fight against the degradation and destruction of our common home. The Brazilian minister for external relations, Luiz Felipe Palmeira Lampreia, is the first to take the floor at the general debate, which is scheduled to conclude on September 22. Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan, head of the Chinese delegation to the current session of the General Assembly, is scheduled to deliver his speech on Wednesday morning. Disarmament, peacekeeping operations, financial crises, regional conflicts in Africa and other areas, and the reform of the U.N. Security Council are expected to be high on the agenda during the general debate, held by the General Assembly at the beginning of each regular session. The Millennium Summit ended Friday at the U.N. headquarters in New York, with more than 150 heads of state or government vowing to promote world peace and development. |
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