President Barack Obama today promised a new era of US engagement with the world, saying that only by acting together can mankind overcome pressing global challenges.
"We have reached a pivotal moment. The United States stands ready to begin a new chapter of international cooperation -- one that recognizes the rights and responsibilities of all nations," Mr Obama said in his first speech to the United Nations General Assembly since taking office in January.
Mr Obama urged international leaders to join him, saying the United States could not shoulder the responsibility alone.
"Those who used to chastise America for acting alone in the world cannot now stand by and wait for America to solve the world's problems alone," he said.
The US leader, who will host a Group of 20 nations summit in Pittsburgh this week, also pledged to work with allies to strengthen financial regulation to "put an end to the greed, excess and abuse that led us into disaster."
Mr Obama was among the first major speakers at this year's UN gathering, which brings more than 100 heads of state and government together to thrash out issues ranging from nuclear proliferation and international terrorism to climate change and global poverty.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe -- all critics of US foreign policy -- are due to address the meeting, guaranteeing a challenge to Mr Obama's worldview.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, opening the meeting, urged delegates to put their differences behind them.
"If ever there were a time to act in a spirit of renewed multilateralism -- a moment to create a United Nations of genuine collective action -- it is now," he said.
Mr Obama has brought a new tone in US foreign policy, stressing cooperation and consultation over the unilateralism of his predecessor, George W. Bush.
But while the applause he received at the United Nations was testament to Obama's global popularity, the new approach has delivered few concrete foreign policy achievements.
Colonel Gaddafi, who followed Obama the UN podium, risks inflaming US emotions over the Lockerbie bombing after Scotland's release of a Libyan official convicted in the 1988 attack.
And all eyes will be on Iran's Ahmadinejad, whose speech later today will likely be the sharpest counterpoint to Mr Obama's address.
Mr Ahmadinejad recently drew fresh international condemnation for calling the Holocaust a lie and repeating Tehran's vow never to bargain away its nuclear program ahead of talks next month with the United States and other powers concerned about Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Mr Obama used his speech to sketch out his foreign policy wish list, ranging from the encouraging support for the US stance on the war in Afghanistan and nuclear standoffs with Iran and North Korea to Middle East peacemaking, all issues on which he has made little headway so far.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are both attending this week's UN meetings. But they have already denied Mr Obama a diplomatic coup he had hoped for -- rebuffing his efforts to reinvigorate stalled Middle East peace talks in time for his UN debut.
Reuters