PRIME Minister P J Patterson left the island yesterday afternoon for New York, where he will attend the 60th Annual General Assembly of the United Nations.

Patterson will address the general session of the UN Assembly on Saturday, September 17.

Patterson is also scheduled to address the High Level Plenary of the UN and participate in meetings related to ECOSOC and the Non-Aligned Movement.

The reform of the UN will be the main focus of the General Assembly and the prime minister, in his capacity as chairman of the Group of 77 and China, is expected to push for the advancement of the development agenda on behalf of developing countries, as well as for the creation of more equitable international financial systems.

Patterson’s other engagements will include a meeting of the Social International and a follow-up meeting of the Special Summit of the Americas held in Monterrey, Mexico in 2004.

He will also do a live interview on NBC’s Today Show, to be aired at 8:00 am local time, on Wednesday.

Patterson returns to the island on Sunday, September 18. During his absence, Portia Simpson-Miller, the minister of local government, community development and sports, will be in charge of the government.

In the meantime, The Associated Press reported yesterday that the outcome of this week’s highly touted US summit to tackle poverty and overhaul the United Nations reached a crisis point yesterday because of serious differences on the document world leaders are supposed to adopt.

With some world leaders already in New York for Wednesday’s opening of the three-day summit, ambassadors were still wrestling with the text of what started out as a 39-page document aimed at revamping the United Nations to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

After a weekend of lengthy negotiations by a negotiating group of about 15 countries, several ambassadors said yesterday that there will definitely be a final document – but it will be far less sweeping and ambitious than the blueprint that UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan had called for in March.

Mark Malloch Brown, the secretary-general’s chief of staff, said the situation seemed more favourable now than a few days ago because “deadlines are starting to loosen minds and positions”.

“There’s a threshold where we always knew we wouldn’t get the full loaf,” he said. “We’ve got to start counting slices. Half or more will do at this stage.”

The seven issues that negotiators have been focusing on are terrorism; a Human Rights Council with more authority to replace the discredited Human Rights Commission; a new Peacebuilding Commission to help nations emerging from conflict; new responsibility for governments to protect civilians facing genocide and war crimes; disarmament and nonproliferation; overhauling UN management; and steps to promote development.

Annan had urged the 191 UN member states to agree on a plan to expand the powerful UN Security Council before the summit, but the debate and negotiations became so contentious and divisive that the issue was shelved last month.