U.S. President Barack Obama will tell the U.N. General Assembly that the United States cannot solve all the problems of the global community by itself.

Mr. Obama will tell leaders who “used to chastise America for acting alone in the world” it is time for a true “global response to global challenges,” including climate change, terrorism, endless conflicts and poverty.

The White House released excerpts of the president’s speech early Wednesday, hours before he makes his maiden address to the U.N. General Assembly as president.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is set to open the annual General Assembly session with a speech urging international cooperation on climate change, disarmament and poverty.

A U.N. statement says Mr. Ban will single out climate change as humanity’s greatest challenge. He also is expected to call for 2010 to be the year when nations agree to get rid of nuclear weapons.

The South Korean diplomat convened a summit on climate change in New York Tuesday that was attended by some 90 world leaders, including Mr. Obama.

Officials hope to make progress toward a global climate treaty that governments plan to finalize during a December meeting in Denmark.

Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.

Photo credit: President Barack Obama addresses the Climate Change Summit at the UN General Assembly in New York,
New York on Tuesday September 22, 2009.   Official White House photo by Samantha Appleton, courtesy of the White House.