General Assembly decides to open 58th annual session on 16 September

The United Nations General Assembly today fixed 16 September as the beginning of its next annual regular session, the world body's fifty-eighth.

The Assembly adopted without a vote a resolution also amending its rules of procedure concerning the opening date of its annual regular session and decided on the day and duration of the session's general debate, during which Heads of State and Government traditionally address the 191-member body.

The resolution changed the wording of Rule 1 of the Assembly's rules of procedure to read: "The General Assembly shall meet every year in regular session commencing on the Tuesday of the third week in September, counting from the first week that contains at least one working day." Previously, the Assembly had begun its regular session on the Tuesday following the second Monday in September.

The decision also set the general debate for the Tuesday following the opening of the Assembly's regular session, to be held without interruption over a period of nine working days. This year's debate will begin on 23 September and end on 3 October.