Kikwete’s date with UN General Assembly

PRESIDENT Jakaya Kikwete is expected to address the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, the Presidential Communications Directorate announced yesterday. He will address the Assembly in his capacity as the Chairman of African Union (AU). According to a statement issued by the directorate, the president was yesterday expected to leave for United States, where he would attend and address the UN General Assembly. Apart from addressing the Assembly, President Kikwete is expected to attend other important conferences, including Africa’s Development Requirements. The conference will discuss pledges of rich nations to Africa and how they are fulfilled. The president will also address the opening of Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) meeting for leaders – as well as participate in various forums, including mother and child health and malaria diseases, both forums being key parts of MDGs. On Friday, President Kikwete will fly to Washington where he will deliver a keynote address at the opening session of the Annual Africa-Asian Parliamentarians session in the US Congress. He will also address the US business leaders meeting. Apart from the meetings which he will attend or address, President Kikwete will also meet and hold talks with world leaders within the United States and elsewhere. Among world leaders whom he is scheduled to hold talks with are President of Iran, Mohmoud Ahmedinajad; the Secretary General of European Union Council, Mr Javier Solana and the Chairman and Chief Software Architect of Microsoft, Mr Bill Gates. President Kikwete will also meet Denmark’s Prime Minister, Mr Anders Fogh Rasmussen and the Director General of the International Labour Organization (ILO), Mr Juan Somavia. He will also hold a joint meeting with the UN Secretary General Mr, Ban Ki- Moon and Sudan’s Vice-President Ali Osman on situation in Darfur region, Sudan. During his recent two-day working tour in Sudan, the AU Chairman promised Sudan’s president Omar Bashir that he would hold a joint meeting with the UN Secretary General and Sudan’s representative on Darfur situation during UN General Assembly. The meeting will examine the possibility of speeding up the plan of deploying UN and AU peace keeping troops to Darfur and possibility of postponing the warrant of prosecuting president Bashir, as issued by International Crime Court (ICC).