'A year of remarkable change.' (United Nations Under-Secretary-General Ronald Spiers address)

The UN has increasingly become involved as an institution in an "international landscape littered with issues", he said. And the work of the forty-sixth session, which began on 17 September, will reflect that situation, he added.

The session will offer a "structured opportunity" for major world leaders attending it to exchange views and widen consensus on the issues.

Prime among the political topics before the world body will be: the aftermath of the Gulf war; the ongoing peace process in Cambodia, Central America, Cyprus, the Middle East, southern Africa and Afghanistan; the new UN operation for a referendum in Western Sahar; and the international peace conference in the Middle East.

The continuing problem of debt and development, in the context of the ever-widening gap between rich and poor, will be major pocus of debate. Preparations for the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development to be held in Brazil will be reviewed. A more open approach in considering human rights situations is expected in future, Mr. Spiers said.

The UN in the last few years has seen, Mr. Spiers pointed out, "a gradual maturing of discussion", with less sloganeering and less inclination to view things from a black or white perspective.

For example, in 1990, a total of 345 resolutions were adopted, some 259--about 75 per cent--by consensus. In 1989, about 65 per cent were adopted without a vote; the year before, more than 50 per cent. "It is a growing and useful practice", he observed.

The admission of seven new members--the three Baltic republics: Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia; two former Pacific island territories: the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marsehall Islands; and the Democractic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea--was welcomed at a special ceremony on opening day, bringing UN membership to 166.

"This furthers the development of the university of the Organization--its principal strength", Mr. Spiers said.

The three-week general debate, to run from 23 September through 10 October, is scheduled to hear statements from more than 160 countries.

As of the beginning of October, the Assembly had on its agenda 146 items--12 less than the record number of 158 considered at the 1982 session. Seven new items were inscribed: exploitation of the environment as a weapon in times of armed conflict (put forward by Jordan); the necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo by the United States against Cuba (Cuba); strengthening of coordination of humanitarian emergency assistance in the UN (Netherlands); revitalization of the work of the General Assembly (Malta); granting of observer status to Carribean countries; situation of democracy and human rights in Haiti; and financing of the UN Advance Mission in Cambodia (UNAMIC).

Selection of a new Secretary-General--Peruvian Javier Perez de Cuellar is expected to retire at the end of the year after 10 years in office--is a matter of intense interest. A restructuring of the top level of the Secretariat has also been under discussion. The Assembly will consider a programme budget for 1992-1993 totalling nearly $2 billion.

All in all, Mr. Spiers said, the UN continues to be "the most useful and cost-effective instrument of international communication ever devised".