New UN General Assembly President Ali Treki debuts as 64th session opens

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 15 (Xinhua) -- Veteran Libyan diplomat Ali Abdussalam Treki took office of president of the UN General Assembly (GA) on Tuesday as the 64th session opened here in the UN headquarters in New York.

Treki, who has been Libya's Secretary (Minister) of African Union Affairs since 2004, was elected by acclamation on June 10 at a plenary meeting of the 192-member body. He replaced Miguel D'Escoto Brockmann, former Foreign Minister of Nicaragua, who left office on Monday.

In his speech when chairing the first plenary meeting, Treki said during his one-year presidency, the General Assembly will continue to push forward the reform of the United Nations, in particular the reform of the Security Council.

Anti-poverty, climate change, the global financial and economic crisis, non-proliferation and disarmament will also top the agenda of the 64th session of the General Assembly, he added.

Treki, who previously served as Libya's foreign minister and later as the country's UN envoy, brings to the position a deep knowledge of United Nations issues.

The 71-year-old senior Libyan diplomat had served three times as his country's permanent representative to the world body from 1982 to 1984, when he also chaired the GA's Fourth Commission on Human Rights; from 1986 to 1990, and, most recently, in 2003.

Earlier, in 1982, he served as a GA Vice-President at its 37th session.

A veteran in the fields of diplomacy and international relations, Treki served as Libya's ambassador to France from 1995 to 1999, as permanent representative to the League of Arab States in Cairo (Egypt) from 1991 to 1994, and as foreign minister from 1977 to 1980.