UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- The 62nd session of the UN General Assembly wrapped up its high-level debate on Wednesday as member states urge concerted international efforts to address challenges in the fields of climate change, security, development and the reform of the United Nations.

    In a closing statement, Srgjan Kerim, the assembly's current president, said the presence of almost hundred heads of state and government as well as about 80 foreign ministers is "a mark of the importance the world places on this unique assembly."

    During the debate, world leaders sent "a strong political message" for international response to the challenge of climate change, said Kerim, who made "Responding to Climate Change" the theme of this year's high-level debate.

    "Climate change has become the flagship issue of the 62nd session," he said.

    "There was overwhelming consensus that while adapting to global warming we must not set limits to growth, but rather help achieve sustainable development," he said. "We all agreed that we have common but differentiated responsibilities."

    Kerim said that member states also reached broad consensus that the United Nations must remain at the center of the process to reach a global agreement to tackle climate change.

    He called on member states to take action on this issue at the UN Climate Change Conference due to be held in Bali, Indonesia, this December.

    The conference is meant to pave the way for a new global treaty on further emission reductions following the expiration of the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol in 2012, which has set reduction targets for industrialized countries.

    World leaders also expressed "overwhelming support" for quicker progress on the Millennium Development Goals, he said, adding that many of the goals are off-track, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.

    As the Doha Conference in 2008 approaches, many delegations called for further progress on financing for development and stressed the poverty-reducing significance of concluding a global deal on trade, he said. "We must press ahead during the existing round as many agree the current system is not sustainable."

    Turning to counter-terrorism, which was another priority topic of the debate, Kerim said there was "strong support" to ensure full implementation of the UN Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy adopted by the assembly in September last year, and a "broad desire for swift progress" on a comprehensive counter-terrorism convention.

    Kerim said the participants also underlined the need for better progress on the reform of the United Nations.

    "The Secretariat must be more effective, efficient, and accountable to member states ... and resources across the UN system must be mobilized and delivered more coherently on the ground," he said.

    "There was wide-ranging support for concrete results on Security Council reform, including through intergovernmental negotiations," he added.

    The seven-day general debate, which opened on Sept. 25, followed a series of high-level meetings convened by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Darfur, Iraq, Afghanistan.

    Prior to the opening of the debate, the UN chief also hosted a high-level event on climate change that was aimed at galvanizing strong political will to push forward negotiations over a new climate change regime.

    There was also a special meeting of the Quartet on the Middle East, as well as a high-level meeting of the Africa Steering Group on the MDGs.