Despite COVID-19 concerns, about 100 world leaders will arrive in New York next week to partly return to the UN’s annual event and seek to make progress on pressing global issues—starting with the pandemic.
In the shadow of high tensions between the United States and China, the UN General Assembly will also seek to push for an ambitious climate agreement and seek unity after the Taliban takes over Afghanistan.
“We need to re-establish confidence. The current geopolitical division in the world is an obstacle,” Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told AFP ahead of the summit.
The world “is really in a very dangerous situation,” he said. “We need to sound an alarm to wake up political leaders.”
With temperatures and severe weather rising to alarming levels, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will travel to New York to seek climate action on Monday before the UN meeting in Glasgow in November.
Other world leaders preparing to attend include Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who, like Biden, will make their debut.
The United States discourages visits by heads of state and requests that the delegation be kept small to combat Covid-19. French President Emmanuel Macron, who frequently appears at the United Nations, will be one of the leaders who cited Covid’s concerns about sending pre-recorded videos.
“We are concerned about the UN event being a super-spreader event,” Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US ambassador to the United Nations, told reporters.
“Leaders have to be responsible, and they have to take responsibility for their actions.”
“Leaders have to be responsible, and they have to take responsibility for their actions.”
One leader who doesn’t mind mentoring is Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. According to tradition, Brazil is the first country to speak.
The far-right leader said that even if he had not been vaccinated against Covid-19, he planned to come to New York, ignoring the New York City authorities’ desire for everyone to show proof of vaccination.
Guterres defended the UN’s record, which quickly became virtual when the pandemic began last year and has claimed more than 4.5 million lives worldwide.
“I am very proud this was never a center of spreading Covid and I hope it will remain so,” Guterres added.
