The debate of the United Nations General Assembly begins this Tuesday in New York, with emphasis on the speeches of the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, but also of the American and Portuguese heads of state.
For the first time, Zelensky will speak in person at the UN, after having participated virtually in last year’s General Assembly, just over six months after the Russian invasion.
Zelensky, who is due to be the 12th leader to speak at the General Debate of the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 78), should take the opportunity to call for greater international support for the Russian invasion, according to analysts interviewed by Lusa.
Russia, in turn, will be represented by its Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, who is expected to speak on Saturday morning.
As usual, Brazil will be in charge of opening the high-level speeches in the General Assembly, through President Lula da Silva, this morning.
Joe Biden, president of the United States, host country of the event, will follow the tradition and come in second place.
The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, will also speak on the first day of the general debate of the UNGA78.
It will be his fifth intervention representing Portugal in the annual general debate between heads of State and Government of the 193 UN Member States, in which he also participated in 2016, 2018, 2019 and 2021.
Speeches in the General Debate will continue until the 26th.
The opening of the General Debate of the 78th General Assembly occurs at a time when the planet is hit by crises on several fronts: global conflicts such as that in Ukraine, delays in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the climate crisis, in addition to nuclear issues.
However, the invasion of Ukraine is expected to once again be, like last year, one of the highlighted topics in several official speeches, especially since it was carried out by a permanent member of the Security Council, an important Organization. of the UN, whose mandate is to ensure the maintenance of international peace and security, and which ended up triggering a crisis of confidence in the United Nations itself.
On the other hand, developing countries will want to take advantage of this session of the Assembly to focus international attention on their problems, such as the growing debt burden, according to several analysts interviewed by Lusa.
Reforms of international financial institutions and a policy of action on socioeconomic assistance and debt overhang will also be priorities reflected in the speeches of developing countries.
The General Assembly is the body where the 193 member states of the UN sit on an equal footing and has an exclusively representative function, since the real power is exercised by the Security Council, where the United States, China, Russia, and the United Kingdom participate. and France. , who have the right to veto.
Source: TSF
