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Lavrov to raise wide range of intl issues in his UN GA speech

The press service of the UN General Assembly stressed that the Russian minister’s speech is scheduled for Tuesday morning, September 27

UNITED NATIONS, September 27 (Itar-Tass) — Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in his speech during the general political debate of the 66th session of the UN General Assembly intends to raise a wide range of international issues.

The Russian delegation told Itar-Tass that the RF foreign minister intends to touch upon regional conflicts, issues of disarmament and non-proliferation, problems of overcoming the consequences of the financial crisis, the need for strict observance of human rights primarily in the context of the UN Charter, as well as responding to global challenges the international community is facing.

The press service of the UN General Assembly stressed that the Russian minister’s speech is scheduled for Tuesday morning, September 27. Sergei Lavrov is the seventh in the list of speakers. The debate will begin at 09:00, local time (17:00 MSK).

On September 26, Lavrov held talks with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. According to the UN, the RF foreign minister and the UN head discussed United Nations peacekeeping and ongoing conflicts and tensions in the Middle East.

The two officials, meeting on the margins of the General Assembly’s annual general debate, discussed the situation in Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where the UN has substantial peacekeeping missions in operation. Mr. Ban and Mr. Lavrov discussed the scope of the UN’s needs so that it can fully discharge its peacekeeping responsibilities in those countries, and the possibility of Russian assistance to achieve that end, according to information released by a spokesperson for the Secretary-General. The discussion also touched upon the situations in Libya, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, the Middle East peace process, the talks to reunify Cyprus and the so-called Six Party talks on the Korean Peninsula. The meeting with Mr. Lavrov was one of a series of bilateral discussions Mr. Ban held with top world officials gathered for the Assembly’s general debate.