Climate change heads talks between Assembly President and Australian official

Climate change, globally agreed anti-poverty targets and financing for development topped the agenda during talks today between General Assembly President Srgjan Kerim and Australia’s Foreign Minister.

Mr. Kerim and Stephen Smith reviewed the priority issues of the current session of the General Assembly, including climate change, which will be the subject of a special thematic debate in the Assembly next month, according to a statement issued by Mr. Kerim’s spokesperson following the meeting at United Nations Headquarters in New York.

The debate is being held to consider how best the UN system, working in collaboration with Member States, the private sector and civil society, can collectively tackle climate change, from adaptation and mitigation to technology and financing.

Participants in the two-day event will include Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the heads of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), as well as high-level representatives of government, businesses and the non-governmental organization (NGO) sector.

During today’s meeting between Mr. Kerim and Mr. Smith, progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the set of social and economic targets which world leaders agreed in 2000 to try to work towards by 2015, was also discussed.

“The President stressed the need for a new culture of international relations that is based on the principles of the respect for human rights, human security, responsibility to protect and sustainable development,” the statement noted.