The U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday elected Sam Kahamba Kutesa of Uganda as president of the upcoming 69th session. Kutesa, the minister of foreign affairs of Uganda, said "our world continues to be confronted with different challenges of global reach and impact, including poverty and hunger, unemployment, myriad impacts of climate change, armed conflicts, and emerging security threats such as transnational organized crime, terrorism, piracy, and human trafficking." "Collectively, we must continue to take concerted action to address these challenges. This is what has made the United Nations a strong, unique, and indispensable organization," Kutesa told the General Assembly. John Ashe, the outgoing General Assembly president, said that his successor would be expected to guide the post-2015 development process—"a mammoth task"—throughout the 69th session, so that at the start of the 70th session, U.N. member countries are well-positioned to adopt a new global development framework.
