IRNA – Iranian president will depart Tehran for New York on September 23 to attend the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) annual session.

President Hassan Rouhani will depart Tehran for New York next Sunday (September 23) and will be back home next Wednesday (September 26), Iranian President's Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications and Information Parviz Esmaeili told the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).

The official said that president Rouhani will give a speech not only in the UNGA but also in a peace summit held on the sidelines of the international event in commemoration of anti-apartheid leader of South Africa, late Nelson Mandela.

The president will meet with the media senior editors, foreign policy elites and a number of Islamic communities in the US, Esmaeili noted.

He said that president Rouhani will meet also with a number of its counterparts from other countries, the UN secretary general and also heads of some international organizations.

The president is expected also to have interviews with some international media and to hold a press conference for the media present in New York.

The 73rd UN General Assembly starts on September 18 up to September 25.

The United Nations General Assembly annual meetings, which are held regularly in New York in September, are the biggest political gathering in the world in which tens of world leaders take part and address the meetings on the most critical national and international issues.

Since taking office in Aug 2013, President Rouhani has attended regularly the previous meetings of the UN General Assembly.