Buhari, 87 other presidents to address UN General Assembly September 25
NEWS DIGEST – President Muhammadu Buhari and 87 other presidents will on September 25 take turns to address the 73rd Session of the United Nations General Assembly at the New York Headquarters of the United Nations (UN).
Buhari is billed to address other world leaders on the opening day of the general debate of the General Assembly’s high-level events.
The President was initially placed as number 20 on the list of the speakers out of the 193 world leaders that would address the Assembly.
However, the revised list obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) showed that Buhari is now number 18.
Buhari, whose speech is scheduled for the afternoon session on the first day, between 7pm and 8pm (between 12 midnight and 1am Nigerian time), would speak before the leaders of Japan and the United Kingdom (UK).
The President of Brazil would be the first world leader to present his address, followed by the United States (U.S.) President, Donald Trump, the traditional second speaker, being the host country.
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UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said the number of participating Heads of State and Heads of Government in 2018 are higher than that of last year.
“In advance of the plenary session, 88 Heads of State and 45 Heads of Government have confirmed that they will attend this session, which is up from 77 Heads of State and 37 Heads of Government last year.
“Regarding other events, as of today, the Department for General Assembly and Conference Management has received 342 requests for meetings during the high-level week. Compared to the same time last year, 343 requests had been received.
“As of today, the UN has received a total of 741 requests for bilateral meetings amongst member-states.
“This number will increase next week. Later in the week, the number of bi-laterals for the Secretary-General will be announced,” the UN spokesperson said.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in his remarks at the opening of the General Assembly, told the member-states to brace for a busy session ahead of them.
Guterres said the UN needed action for peacekeeping, financing for the 2030 Agenda, empowerment for the world’s young people, urgent steps to end poverty and conflict, and much else.
The Secretary-General encouraged the ambassadors to tell their leaders to come to next week’s high-level week ready to be bold, ready to cooperate and ready to forge solutions.
