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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, September 11, 2002

UN General Assembly opens 57th session

The 57th session of the United Nations General Assembly opened Tuesday at its headquarters in New York, with dedication to meeting the challenges of the new century.


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The 57th session of the United Nations General Assembly opened Tuesday at its headquarters in New York, with dedication to meeting the challenges of the new century.

Former Deputy Prime Minister and former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic, Jan Kavan, previously elected as the new president of the assembly, swore in at the opening ceremony.

Highly valuing the new procedure of transition between assemblypresidents, Kavan, elected on July 8, began his speech by saying the election held several months ahead allows "all future General Assembly Presidents to assume their responsibilities in a smoother,more organized and efficient way."

As a result, the new president provided a draft Program of Workfor the entire main part of the session to Member States, "for thefirst time ever," several weeks before the beginning of his session to help eliminate repetitive speeches.

"In this connection, I would like to inform you about my strongintention to fully utilize the time allocated for our meeting," hesaid in his relatively short speech, "in an effort to make the work of the assembly more dynamic, lively and efficient."

Also high on his working agenda for the coming session is the reform of the Security Council.

"As the Chairman of the Open-ended Working Group on Security Council Reform ... I would like to reiterate that a more representative Security Council reflecting the changed realities of today's world should be in the interest of all Member States," he said.

He said anti-terrorism, disarmament and conflict prevention, poverty eradication, the fight against HIV/AIDS and sustainable development would be the focus of the new session of the assembly.

Presented at the opening were UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and representatives from 189 UN Member States. Switzerland was accepted as the newest full member of the world body.

The assembly, set up in 1945 under the Charter of the United Nations, is the world body's main deliberative organ. It provides a forum for multilateral discussions of the full range of international issues covered by the charter.

The assembly comprises all members of the UN and meets in regular session each year from September to December, and thereafter as required.


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