AKIPRESS.COM - The 69th session of the UN General Assembly opened at the UN headquarters on Tuesday.

Its first meeting was opened by Session President, Uganda's former Minister of Foreign Affairs Sam Kutesa Kahamba. After announcing the commencement of the new session, he declared a minute of silence, prayer, and meditation.

The first sitting of the General Assembly was attended by the delegates of 193 UN Member-Nations, as well as by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Next week is expected to be the most action-packed stage of the new session: a one-day Summit on Climate is to be convened by the UN chief on September 23. An annual General Political Debate is to open at the UN headquarters on the next day, According to the UN Secretary-General, it will be attended by 140 Heads of State and Government, as well as by the Foreign ministers of UN Member-Nations.

It is ex pected that Russia will be represented at the session by Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov. His speech, just as was the case last year, is scheduled for September 27. Close attention will be riveted to the first and second days of the session proceedings. US Prefident Barack Obama is to address the counuries from the UNGA rostrum on Srptember 24. On the next day, President Pyotr Poroshenko of Ukraine is scheduled to deliver an address. This will be the first time that he will appear at the UN headquarters.

A whole lot of high-level meetings will be held on the sidelines of the General Political Debate which will continue until Octobe 1. The principal event is expected on September 24 when the UN Security Council under the chairmanship of the US President will hold a meeting on the problem of international terrorism. A draft resolution aimed at fighting the phenomenon of foreign militants is due to be put to vote during the meeting.

UNGA 69 is especially notable for the fact that for the first time after a 12-month interval it is held withn its own compound which was closed for capital repairs in June last year, in view of which the meetings within the framework of the 68th session were held either in the provisional building at the northern lawn of the UN headquarters or in the conference hall of the Trusteeship Council.

Russia's Foreign Ministry stated on Tuesday that during the 69th session of the UN General Asssembly the Russian delegation "will pursue the line towards a settlement of conflicts by politico-diplomatic means with respect for the the peoples' right to decide their future independently, a search for collective responses to global and regional challenges on the basis of the principle of equal and indivisible security".

Besides, one of the main tasks of Russian foreign policy course is to enhance the central role of the UN in world affairs, the basic principles of the UN Charter, and chief responsibilty of the UN Security Council for the maintenance of international peace and security.