UN 62ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY CLOSES AFTER ADDRESSING

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 000830 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV AORC UNGA SUBJECT: UN 62ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY CLOSES AFTER ADDRESSING OUTSTANDING ISSUES ¶1. On September 15, outgoing UN General Assembly (GA) President Srgjan Kerim brought the sixty-second session to a close in a meeting pushed back four hours by an extended final meeting of the Open Ended Working Group on Security Council Expansion (deciding to begin informal plenary negotiations on the question of Security Council reform during the sixty-third GA - septel.) In addition to Security Council reofrm, the Assembly adopted three consensus resolutions (revitalization of the GA, system-wide coherence, and the President of the Organization's mandate review.) Without discussion, the Assembly deferred to the sixty-third session consideration of all other remaining open agenda items and closed those items. ¶2. In his closing remarks, President Kerim outlined the Assembly's work over the past year, emphasizing that the experience demonstrated the need for "more effective multilateralism - more UN and not less UN." He said that 2008 had been "a year of controversy and conflict, of climatic change and crises, both man-made and natural," noting that rising food and energy prices had placed pressure on the fragile progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Kerim called upon member states to establish a new culture based on the founding values of the UN and concluded that the GA was "alive and kicking." Khalilzad