The Secretary-General has arrived in Copenhagen, and he has been meeting with key officials on climate change while an estimated 130 Heads of State and Government prepare to converge in the Danish capital for the high-level session of the Climate Change Conference.

With three days remaining at the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, the Secretary-General is confident that world leaders will be able to agree on a new deal to combat global warming. As part of his efforts to help pave the way, he held meetings today with a wide number of leaders and representatives of groups of nations. He’s met the Group of 77, the African Group, the Least Developed Countries group and the Alliance of Small Island States.

More than 1,300 people from around the world would join 50,000 Palestinians in a march on 31 December to mark the one-year anniversary of Israel’s military incursion into the Gaza Strip, and appeal for the lifting of its blockade, which prevented food, medicine and reconstruction supplies from reaching those in desperate need, the event’s lead organizers said today.

The Secretary-General is engaging today in intensive discussions with world leaders who have gathered in Copenhagen for climate change negotiations, and he is convinced that a deal is within reach.

With just hours remaining to close the final gaps, the Secretary-General implored leaders to seize this opportunity. “Now is the time for common sense, compromise and courage.” The Secretary-General worked through most of last night and today with world leaders who are negotiating the final text of the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference.

Speaking to reporters at Headquarters today, Indonesia’s newly appointed Foreign Minister, Marty M. Natalegawa, pledged his Government’s commitment to working with other nations over the coming year to hammer out a legally binding deal to curb heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions and help developing countries tackle the effects of climate change.

Robert Orr, Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Coordination and Strategic Planning in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General, today urged journalists not to overlook the “immediate operational consequences” of the recently concluded Copenhagen climate talks, in the form of a widely backed political agreement that would allow the treaty process to begin in earnest.

The Secretary-General said that the Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change was a success that marked several advances, including by committing countries to work to limit global temperature rise to below 2° C. He also noted the Copenhagen Accord’s inclusion of mid-term mitigation targets by developed countries and mid-term mitigation actions by developing countries, and the agreement to provide comprehensive support to the most vulnerable to cope with climate change.

In 66 meetings of its sixty-fourth session, the United Nations General Assembly adopted 226 resolutions and 57 decisions, Ali Abdussalam Treki (Libya), President of the 192-member body, said during an end-of-year press conference at Headquarters today. Mr. Treki said the Assembly was now close to completing its programme of work for the first quarter, with five out of its six Main Committees having completed their work. The Fifth Committee was expected to conclude tomorrow.

The Secretary-General welcomes the General Assembly’s new resolution on next year’s planned Millennium Development Goals Summit. There has been progress towards the Goals and it has been mixed. The Summit will be a crucially important opportunity to redouble our efforts to meet the Goals by the agreed deadline of 2015.