The sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly is scheduled to commence on 17 September 2013.  This year’s session will be presided over by H.E. Mr. John W. Ashe of Antigua and Barbuda who will serve as the sixty-eighth president of the General Assembly and only the third representative from the Caribbean Community to hold this office.

The incoming president has selected the “Post-2015 Development Agenda: Setting the Stage” as the overarching theme for the Leader’s Week which will be kicked off on 23 September with a High-level Event on Disabilities and Development.

Honourable Wilfred P. Elrington, Belize’s Attorney General and Minister of Foreign Affairs will lead Belize’s Delegation which will include His Excellency, Ambassador Alexis Rosado, Chief Executive Officer as well as other senior officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Her Excellency, Ambassador Lois Young together with the members of the diplomatic staff of the Permanent Mission of Belize to the United Nations.

During the Leader’s Week, Minister Elrington will participate in the Special Event on the Millennium Development Goals, the launch of the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, the High-level Meeting on Nuclear Disarmament, in addition to the regularly scheduled General Debate.  He will also have occasion to meet with his counterparts of the Commonwealth during the Commonwealth Foreign Affairs Ministerial Meeting, the Caribbean Community during the Special Meeting of the Council for Foreign and Community Relations, and the Foreign Ministers of the Central American Integration System.  Minister Elrington is also expected to hold ministerial level bilateral meetings.

Minister Elrington is scheduled to deliver Belize’s national statement to the General Assembly on 30 September in the early afternoon.  A live video stream will be available at www.un.org/webcast.