Peter Thomson assumes presidency of UN General Assembly

UNITED NATIONS – Fiji's U.N. Ambassador Peter Thomson is the new president of the General Assembly.

Thomson was sworn in Tuesday, beginning the 71st session of the 193-member body. Thomson said that during his year-long term he would seek to build on the accomplishments of departing president, Denmark's Mogens Lykketoft.

"We will strive to find new methods to sustain peace and resolve entrenched conflicts, diminish the atrocities of global terrorism, better manage migrant and refugee flows and resolve the many humanitarian crises that remind us of the millions of people in our world who are still denied basic conditions for a secure life," he said.

The largely ceremonial but prestigious UNGA presidency rotates annually between five geographic areas and this year it's the turn for an Asia-Pacific representative to head Assembly meetings.