69th session of UN General Assembly begins

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) started its 69th session at the UN Headquarters in New York Tuesday.

Sam Kahamba Kutesa, Uganda's foreign minister who was elected president of the 69th UNGA session June 11, said in his opening remarks that the coming year will be a momentous time for the UN.

"We will commemorate the seventieth anniversary of its founding, the twentieth anniversary of the ground-breaking Beijing Conference, fifteen years since the adoption of the Millennium Declaration and ten years since the World Summit of 2005," he said.

While with a lot of hard work ahead, Kutesa said, there is a historic opportunity to formulate the Post-2015 Development Agenda, which builds on the foundation and successes of the landmark Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and contributes to achieving sustainable development in social, economic and environmental dimensions.

"It will also be our responsibility to ensure that adequate means for implementing the agenda, in terms of finances, technology development and transfer and capacity-building are mobilised," he added, calling for a strengthened global partnership for development, as well as enhanced cooperation amongst member states, the private sector, civil society, and all stakeholders.

"It is for this reason, that I chose the theme of the General Debate of the 69th Session to be 'Delivering on and implementing a Transformative Post-2015 Development Agenda,'" Kutesa said.

Three high-level thematic debates and one high-level event will be convened during this session, according to the UNGA president.

"The main objective of the debates and event is to provide an opportunity for member states and all relevant stakeholders to have in-depth deliberations on the selected topics, in an interactive and participatory manner, with a view to making contributions to the process of formulating the post-2015 development agenda," he said.