UN Security Council to hold high-level meeting on Syria in September

UNITED NATIONS - The UN Security Council is scheduled to hold a high-level meeting on Syria on Sept 21 to discuss what more needs to be done to achieve a political resolution of the Syrian conflict, Ambassador Gerard Jacobus van Bohemen of New Zealand told reporters here on Thursday.

New Zealand has assumed the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council for September.

According to the council's president for this month, Prime Minister of New Zealand John Key will chair the high-level discussion which is considered necessary to ensure the peace process in Syria gets back on track.

The meeting will take place on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly annual high-level debate, starting from Sept. 20. Invitations have been issued to leaders of the Security Council member states, said Van Bohemen.

In September, council members are also expected to hold two straw polls to gauge the viability of candidates that have been nominated for the position of the next Secretary-General, he noted.

A high-level meeting to discuss how to build up aviation security to combat terrorism has been scheduled to take place, he added.

Under the UN Charter, the Security Council has the primary responsibility for maintaining peace and security in the world at large. It also bears the responsibility to work on the mandate of UN peacekeeping operations.

The Council is composed of five permanent members -- China, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and the Russian Federation -- and 10 non-permanent members that are elected in groups of five, with a tenure of two years on the council.

The presidency of the council rotates among its 15 member states based on the English-language alphabetical order of the countries' names on a monthly basis.