President Park Geun-hye will visit New York September 25-28 to attend the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit 2015 and the 70th Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA).
Scheduled for September 25-27, the UN Sustainable Development Summit is expected to adopt the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which will succeed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and serve as guidelines for international development cooperation over the next 15 years starting in 2016.
The 70th Session of the General Assembly, marking the 70th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations, began on September 15 and will open the annual general debate on September 28. The Session will bring together some 160 heads of state and government from around the world.
President Park will deliver the keynote speech at the plenary meeting of the UN Sustainable Development Summit on September 26. On the sidelines of the Summit, she will attend the high-level special forum on Saemaul Undong to be co-hosted by the UN Development Plan and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) as well as the high-level meeting of the Global Education First Initiative. The next day, President Park and Chilean President Michelle Bachelet will co-preside over the Interactive Dialogue of the UN Sustainable Development Summit. Following the Dialogue, President Park will participate in a luncheon meeting on the issue of climate change with leaders of major countries and exchange a wide range of views with them on measures to successfully forge a new climate change regime at the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21) to be held in Paris at the end of this year.
Through the keynote address at the UNGA on the 28th, President Park will first take stock of achievements the United Nations has made over the past 70 years and the future directions for its development as well as explain the Korean Government`s position on the major issues on this year`s General Assembly agenda. On the same day, the President is scheduled to take part in a summit on UN peacekeeping operations, which will be jointly presided over by U.S. President Barack Obama and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. On top of this, the President is also scheduled to meet with heads of some leading think tanks in New York and visit the Korean Cultural Service New York to tour an exhibition on the nation brand and take part in the opening ceremony for a K-Culture experience hall.
At the General Assembly, President Park will expound Korea`s position on numerous global issues concerning peace, security, development and climate change. She will also clarify its commitments to addressing these issues, which is expected to help raise Korea`s standing as a middle power. In addition, the attendance at the General Assembly this time is expected to serve as an opportunity to garner increased understanding and support from the international community on our policy for peaceful unification and other diplomatic policies, thereby making contributions to promoting peace and security on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia.
