Pakistan’s Ambassador Abdullah Hussain Haroon appeared with Rajmohan Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon to appeal for world solidarity in response to floods that had devastated millions of Pakistani lives.

Today is the first official day on the job for Valarie Amos, the newly appointed Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. She began her work with a three-day mission in flood-ravaged Pakistan to see first-hand the situation on the ground and the status of the response. Ms. Amos will meet with senior Government officials, donors, UN agencies and humanitarian partners before travelling to Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Two reports launched today by the United Nations Children’s Fund stressed that targeting the world’s poorest children and communities with health interventions could save millions of lives each year and provide a more equitable, practical, cost-effective path to achieving the Millennium Development Goals by the 2015 deadline.

While progress had made in implementing the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, implementation had not moved as fast as many had hoped, said Jean-Paul Laborde, Chair of the Counter-Terrorism Implementation Task Force, as he urged States to implement the Strategy’s four pillars: to address conditions conducive to the spread of terrorism; prevent and combat terrorism; build State capacity; and respect human rights and the rule of law.

The Secretary-General has ended his visit to Rwanda and is on his way back to New York. He arrived in Kigali yesterday evening, and met with Foreign Minister Louise Mushikiwabo. This morning, he met President Paul Kagame. He decided to visit Kigali to speak directly with the Rwandan President and other Government officials about their concern regarding the Democratic Republic of the Congo Human Rights mapping report compiled by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Welcoming the General Assembly’s accomplishments over the past 12 months – especially the spirit of consensus shown by Member States on issues ranging from achievement of the Millennium Development Goals to ensuring long-term support for disaster-struck Haiti and Pakistan — Ali Abdussalam Treki, the 192-member body’s outgoing President, today said there was nevertheless “room for improvement,” especially to strengthen it’s working methods and reassert its authority on the international stage.

The incoming President of the General Assembly, in his first Headquarters press conference this afternoon, expressed hope that the sixty-fifth session would reaffirm the central place of the United Nations in global governance. “All the big topics that concern our planet have to be discussed in the General Assembly,” Joseph Deiss of Switzerland said following his opening of the sixty-fifth session in the Assembly Hall.

The Secretary-General announced today that he has appointed Michelle Bachelet, the former President of Chile, as the head of UN Women, the newly created UN Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. UN Women was established on 2 July by the General Assembly resolution which merged the various bodies in the UN system dealing with women and gender.

At a headquarters press conference today, United Nations Office for Partnerships Executive Director Amir Dossal said that each year since 2005 the Blouin Creative Leadership Summit provided a platform for innovators, experts, and Nobel laureates to find new ways of addressing the Millennium Development Goals.

Valerie Amos, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, briefed the press today for the first time since taking up her post. She talked about her visit last week to the flood-affected areas in Pakistan. Also, a press release today, outlines the work to address urgent food security challenges in Pakistan. An estimated 10 million people there are vulnerable to hunger and malnutrition.