What Is President Obama's Agenda At The U.N.

President Obama spoke at a United Nations meeting on global development concerns on Sunday. PHOTO: KEVIN LAMARQUE/REUTERS

Wall Street Journal: Obama to Press Growth, Climate Issues at U.N.What to Expect on Monday

President to advance foreign-policy goals at General Assembly amid new challenges.

President Barack Obama’s appearance at the United Nations this week is essentially his last opportunity to use the high-profile global platform to press his foreign-policy agenda, which is facing new challenges as he enters his final year in office.

Increasingly complex dynamics in a volatile Middle East will test Mr. Obama, while he tries to advance his longer-term policy goals on issues such as global development and climate change.

Russia’s more aggressive posture in Syria and Iraq is overshadowing Mr. Obama’s three days in New York for the U.N. General Assembly. On Monday, Mr. Obama is scheduled to meet with President Vladimir Putin for the first time in more than two years.

The president is also grappling with finding a U.S. role in a global migrant crisis spawned by Syria’s civil war.

WNU Editor: These are the main events scheduled for Monday (but the important event is at 5:00 PM ... the Putin-Obama meeting) ....

Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff, President Barack Obama, China’s Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin of Russia, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and France’s François Hollande address the General Assembly. Cuba’s Raúl Castro is also scheduled to speak, in his first assembly address; he is set to meet with Mr. Obama on Tuesday.

President Obama and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi meet for the third time this year as they seek to strengthen economic and strategic ties in the face of an increasingly assertive China.

A heads-of-state lunch hosted by U.N. Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon could see the first interaction between Messrs. Obama and Putin since a brief encounter in November, ahead of a much-anticipated 5 p.m. summit. Iran won’t attend the luncheon.

President Obama called a 3 p.m. meeting to advance the U.S. push to increase the U.N.’s force of peacekeepers.

Messrs. Obama and Putin are set to meet at 5 p.m., as the Russian leader stakes out an assertive and agenda-shaping policy in the Middle East.

On Monday evening, foreign ministers from Iran and the six countries that negotiated the nuclear deal will meet for the first time since the July 14 agreement to chart out implementation.