U.S. President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney will deliver foreign policy speeches at two major international forums in New York City Tuesday.

Mr. Obama will discuss the recent violence in the Middle East and the Iranian nuclear standoff in an address to the United Nations General Assembly. He will later address government and business leaders attending the Clinton Global Initiative, hosted by former U.S. President Bill Clinton.

Mr. Romney is also scheduled to appear at the Clinton Global Initiative Tuesday. His campaign says Mr. Romney will propose that the United States condition development assistance on recipient countries allowing U.S. investment and removing trade barriers.

The Republican challenger has been attacking President Obama's foreign policy record in recent days. During a campaign appearance Monday in Pueblo, Colorado, Mr. Romney criticized the president about his description of the violence in the Middle East, including the deaths of the U.S. ambassador and other diplomatic personnel in Libya, as “bumps in the road” .

“These are not 'bumps in the road,” Mr. Romney said. “These are human lives.” He added that it was time “for a president who will shape events in the Middle East.”

After his speech in New York, Mr. Romney will travel to Ohio to begin a two-day bus tour of the state with his vice presidential running mate, Congressman Paul Ryan. Mr. Romney has fallen behind Mr. Obama in several voter opinion polls, both nationally and in several key states that will determine the eventual winner of the November 6 election.

The two men will take part in the first of three face-to-face debates on October 3.