UNITED
NATIONS 
GENERAL
ASSEMBLY
United Nations General Assembly President, Julian
R. Hunte,
visits
Suriname
Amid
concerns in the Caribbean over the United Nations' capacity
to face the challenges of globalization, poverty, or
the spread of pandemics, affecting the region today,
the President of the 58th session of the United Nations
General Assembly, Julian R. Hunte will address the role
and relevance of the United Nations, during an official
visit to Surinam this week.
President
Julian R. Hunte, will meet with President Runaldo Ronald
Venetiann, Vice-President Jules R. Ajodhia and the Speaker
of the Surinamese National Assembly, Ramdien Sardjoe.
President Hunte will be the keynote speaker at an event
hosted by the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Surinam,
Maria Levens Wednesday evening July 28. The President
of the General Assembly and Minister Levens will also
hold a joint press conference earlier in the day. During
the two-day visit President Julian Hunte will discuss
his experience as President of the United Nations General
Assembly.
In
the last few months, President Julian Hunte has proposed
a series of reforms of the 191-member inter-governmental
body. These reforms were unanimously accepted by the
General Assembly and hailed as a significant step to
increase the Organization's effectiveness and better
enable it to face twenty-first century challenges.
Mr.
Hunte has also stressed the need to implement the United
Nations Millennium Development Goals, one of the priorities
of the 58th session. "It is where our real battle
lies, he has repeatedly said. This is war against poverty,
against disease, instability, and for human rights and
fundamental freedoms".
Mr. Julian Robert Hunte, President of the fifty-eighth
session of the United Nations General Assembly, is Minister
for External Affairs, International Trade and Civil
Aviation of Saint Lucia, a Senator and Member of Parliament,
a Justice of the Peace and a business executive. He
has had extensive experience in the multilateral process,
and has a keen interest in the issues of regional cooperation
and the role of small states within the United Nations.
President Julian Hunte will leave Paramaribo on July
29.
