UNITED NATIONS, June 13 (UPI) -- Swedish diplomat Jan Eliasson was elected president Monday of the 191-member U.N. General Assembly for its 60th session, scheduled to begin Sept. 13.
Eliasson, Sweden's ambassador to the United States, is a former State Secretary for Foreign Affairs of Sweden and a former U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs.
All 191 U.N. members are represented in the assembly, which, as the world body's main deliberative organ, tackles issues ranging from global security and development concerns to U.N. budgetary and administrative matters.
The coming session will focus particularly on negotiating U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's reform proposals and reviewing the Millennium Development Goals, designed to eradicate or reduce a host of socio-economic ills by the deadline year, 2015.
The outcome of negotiations on reform has been put together by current Assembly President Jean Ping, of Gabon, in a draft declaration to be voted on during a world summit, set for Sept. 14-16.
