ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan will be among more than 100 heads of state and government to address the annual high-level segment of the UN General Assembly session next week, according to the latest speakers list.
The prime minister will be speaking to the world leaders via videolink on September 24, two days after the Assembly begins its General Debate. PM Khan last addressed the General Assembly in 2019 when he delivered a strong speech that focused on the Kashmir dispute.
Among others delivering pre-recorded statements this year will be the presidents of Iran, Egypt, France, Indonesia, South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Meanwhile, the 76th session of 193-member Assembly, which had gone virtual in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, will open on Tuesday, under the chairmanship of Abdulla Shahid of Maldives, who was elected its President, replacing Volkan Bozkir of Turkey.
This year’s theme is: “Building resilience through hope – to recover from COVID-19, rebuild sustainability, respond to the needs of the planet, respect the rights of people, and revitalize the United Nations”.
US President Joe Biden, King Abdullah of Jordan and the presidents of Turkey, Brazil, Venezuela and Palestine as well as prime ministers of the United Kingdom, Japan and India will be among those leaders present at UN headquarters in New York to deliver their country’s speech in high-level debate beginning on September 22.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to speak on September 25, a day after he participates in the Quad Leaders’ Summit in Washington DC hosted by President Biden.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who is reaching New York on Sept 20, will participate in several events being held during the Assembly’s high-level week including a meeting of OIC Working Group on Jammu and Kashmir, a ministerial meeting of the Uniting for Consensus (UfC) group on Security Council reform and a high-level meeting on energy.
FM Qureshi will also hold a number of bilateral meetings with his counterparts, meet the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and interact with members of the Pakistani community and businessmen besides the Pakistani and international media.
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the UN members decided to make this year’s gathering hybrid, offering nations the possibility of sending leaders to New York in person or making pre-recorded statements to be shown in the iconic assembly hall, as virtually all countries did last year.
Many diplomats and leaders had complained publicly that virtual meetings cannot substitute for in-person or group contacts to tackle regional and global challenges and crises. The last scheduled speakers on Sept. 27 are from the delegations of North Korea, Myanmar, Guinea and Afghanistan.
Currently, the Afghan envoy at the UN is Ambassador Ghulam Issaczai, who was appointed by former President Ashraf Ghani as Kabul’s envoy to the UN in June 2021. The interim Taliban government has not yet made any submission challenging Isaczai’s credentials.
Under measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, member states have agreed to limit the delegations entering U.N. headquarters with a leader or minister to six people, with only four of them allowed in the General Assembly chamber. The secretary-general has also mandated that all UN staff in the building during the week be vaccinated.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said all people entering the UN headquarters complex, including visitors, delegates, and contractors, will have to “attest through their swipe card or escorted entry that they do not have symptoms of COVID-19 and have not tested positive for COVID-19 in the last 10 days.”
