German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has left for New York as Germany assumes presidency of the UN Security Council starting from April 1.

Germany and France agreed that their terms of presidency one after another are a joint presidency for two months.

Starting from this year Germany became one of ten non-permanent members of the Security Council with a term of two years. At the same time France, together with the United States, Russia, China and UK are permanent members of the UN Security Council and have the right of veto.

The German government said they are going to raise the issues of sexual violence against women during armed conflicts, the role of women in supporting peace, disarmament and arms control.