Brussels, 22/09/2003 (Agence Europe) - Chris Patten, External Relations Commissioner, will be in New York from Tuesday to Friday to attend the United Nations General Assembly. On the sidelines of the General Assembly, the Commission will hold several political dialogue meetings during which he will mainly discuss security issues as well as the assistance that the EU may provide to the regions that need it the most. Mr Patten will meet UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, US Secretary of State Colin Powell, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov as well as several representatives of Asian countries (China in particular) and South America. Commissioner Patten will also attend a dinner with the Foreign Ministers of the G8, at a meeting of the Quartet on the Middle East, at a meeting of the "Friends of Afghanistan" and at a meeting of the troika with the President of the Governing Council of Iraq, Ahmed Chalabi. Bilateral meetings are scheduled with several Foreign Ministers of third countries including Abdullah Gul of Turkey and Carolina Barco of Colombia. Finally, Mr Patten will also have talks with many senior officials of the United Nations on relations between the EU and the United Nations, in the context of the communication recently adopted by the Commission on the subject, and which aims to strengthen the role of the EU within the international organisation (EUROPE of 11 September, p.4).