After lengthy and heated negotiations, the assembly's powerful budget committee agreed to a USD 7.3 billion budget for 14 peacekeeping missions for the year starting July 1.
The 193-member world body voted by consensus Friday to approve USD 6.8 billion. It agreed to an additional USD 500 million for two missions that are in the process of downsizing - the joint UN-African Union mission in Sudan's western Darfur region and the U.N. Peacekeeping mission in Haiti.