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The Zimbabwe delegation to the Summit for the Adoption of the Post-2015 Development Agenda and the 70th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, got down to serious business yesterday, ahead of the official opening of the two meetings today and Monday, respectively.

President Mugabe is accompanied at the UN by First Lady Amai Grace Mugabe, heads the delegation that comprise Foreign Affairs Minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi and his Health and Child Care counterpart, Dr David Parirenyatwa, among other senior Government officials.

Yesterday, Minister Mumbengegwi was scheduled to participate in several high-level engagements, chief among them a meeting on Urbanisation, Cities and Human Settlements organised by UN Habitat.

During his time in New York, he is expected to feature at other key meetings on the situation in the DRC, Sudan and Central African Republic, as well as the Africa-South America Ministerial meeting, among others.

Dr Parirenyatwa is scheduled to participate in meetings organised by the World Health Organisation and Russia on “Transforming the World: Promoting Healthy Lifestyles and NCDs Control”.

Non-communicable diseases have emerged as a major killer in both developing and developed countries.

The Health Minister is also billed to feature in a high-level Unaids meeting on “Ending the Aids Epidemic by 2030: Shaping New Models and Means of Implementation” as well as another one dubbed “The Path Towards Health Coverage”.

The 70th Session of the UN General Assembly opened on September 15 presided over by Mr Mogens Lykketof of Denmark under the theme “The UN at 70 — A New Commitment to Action”.

The theme for the General Debate is “The UN at 70: The Road for Peace, Security and Human Rights”.

High-level engagements run from September 25 to October 3, starting with an address by Pope Francis today at the Summit for the Adoption of the Post-2015 Development Agenda, which ends on September 27.

Here, world leaders will formally adopt the Sustainable Development Goals, which run through to 2030, as the successor global initiative to the Millennium Development Goals (2000-2015).