John Ashe elected as the President of UN General Assembly for its 68th Session

John William Ashe, the ambassador to the United Nations for Antigua and Barbuda in the month of June 2013 selected as the President of UN General Assembly for its 68th session.

John William Ashe was chosen as the consensus candidate by all 33 GRULAC member states to be the president of the United Nations General Assembly thus not necessitating an election.

As per John William Ashe the UN will soon launch an agenda for sustainable development for all, which may very well be the Strongest and most ambitious project that the United Nations has ever had to accomplish.

With his appointment John Ashe stressed the importance of reflecting on new and emerging development challenges, with attention to two main goals: overcoming poverty and ensuring sustainable development. Also the New and revised partnerships are of vital importance in integrating economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainability.

About John William Ashe

• He was appointed the ambassador to the United Nations for Antigua and Barbuda on 3 May 2004.
• He is the country’s Ambassador to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and has ministerial responsibility for WTO and sustainable development matters.
• He worked for his country’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations as Scientific Attaché, Counsellor and Minister Counsellor from 1989 to 1995.
• He was also Antigua and Barbuda's Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations between 1995 and 2004.
• He served as Chairman of the thirteenth session of the Commission on Sustainable Development, which met at United Nations Headquarters on 11–22 April 2005.
• He also led negotiations on budgetary and administrative matters within the Conventions on biological diversity and desertification, the Basel Convention, and the Montreal Protocol, and served on the Executive Boards of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)/United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).

About 68th UN General Assembly

The sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly is going to open in September 2013.