President Mahinda Rajapaksa left the country yesterday (15 September) to attend the 65th session of the United Nations General Assembly held in New York, USA.

Its ordinary session commenced on September 14th at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

The theme of the general debate is "Reaffirming the central role of the United Nations in global governance", as proposed by the President-elect, Joseph Deiss of Switzerland.

The three-day summit of world leaders on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will be from September 20 to 22.