Finance
According to the roster of speakers issued by the Assembly president’s office, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the UN General Assembly’s high-level annual meeting in September.
The tentative schedule sees him speaking between 3 p.m. and 9 p.m. local time on September 22 (12:30 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. in India on September 23), but this is likely to be adjusted to a more convenient time for Indian viewers.
This will be his second visit to the UN and the United States this year, following his visit last month, which included participation in the UN’s International Day of Yoga celebration.
In 2020, he addressed the General Assembly’s annual high-level meetings four times in person and remotely in 2020 during the Covid pandemic.
To add to the importance of the Assembly’s regular high-level week this year, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has planned a Climate Ambition Summit to coincide with it.
He described it as “a no-nonsense summit” with “no compromises”.
Guterres will expect Modi to come up with concrete proposals to raise India’s goals to fight climate change.
For the summit, Guterres said: “There is a price of entry and the price of entry is non-negotiable — credible, serious and new climate action and nature-based solutions that will move the needle forward and respond to the urgency of the climate crisis must be presented.”
Assembly President-elect Dennis Francis of Trinidad, who will take over the next session in September, has made its theme “Rebuilding trust and reigniting global solidarity: Accelerating action on the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals towards peace, prosperity, progress and sustainability for all”.
As of Monday, 107 heads of state and 52 prime ministers had registered for the high-level week, during which the main action takes place away from the General Assembly in personal talks and negotiations among the assembled leaders.
Presidents Vladimir Putin of Russia and Xi Jinping of China, whose countries will receive a lot of attention during the summits, are notable absentees.
Pakistan’s Shehbaz Sharif and Nepal’s Pushpa Kamal Dahal are expected to speak before Modi on September 22, followed by Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina the next day.
The high-level week at the UN General Assembly will begin on September 19 with an address by Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who will be followed by US President Joe Biden.
Source:OCN
