By Nelson A. King
Caribbean leaders will on
Monday begin addressing virtually
the 75th Session of the United
Nations General Assembly.
Eight Caribbean Community
(CARICOM) leaders, of 175 countries
world-wide, will speak during
Monday’s High-Level Meeting,
marking the 75th anniversary
of the establishment of the
United Nations.
According to the UN’s list of
provisional speakers, the prime
ministers of Barbados, the Bahamas,
St. Lucia, St. Vincent and
the Grenadines, Trinidad and
Tobago, and Antigua and Barbuda
will speak during Monday’s
High-Level Meeting.
Guyana’s newly-installed
President Mohamed Irfaan Ali
will also deliver his maiden
address to United Nations General
Assembly, but he will do so
on behalf of the Group of 77 and
China.
Beginning on Wednesday,
CARICOM leaders and foreign
ministers will participate in the
UN General Assembly Debate,
which culminates on Tuesday,
September 29.
The UN indicates that the
leaders of Suriname and Guyana
will take part in the Debate
on Wednesday; Dominica and
Haiti on Thursday; Barbados and
Antigua and Barbuda on Friday;
Grenada, Jamaica, St. Vincent
and the Grenadines, St. Kitts
and Nevis, St. Lucia, Trinidad
and Tobago, and the Bahamas
on Saturday; and Belize next
Tuesday.
The UN General Assembly
said its 75th Session, which
began on Sept. 15, will be unlike
any other in the organization’s
three quarters of a century of
existence, due to the ongoing
global coronavirus (COVID-19)
pandemic.
“This month, there will be
no bumping into presidents or
the occasional global celebrity in
hectic and sometimes crushed
corridors at UN Headquarters in
New York,” the UN said.
“There will be no marveling
at seemingly endless presidential
motorcades on First Avenue
Caribbean L 6 ife, Sept. 25-Oct. 1, 2020
(in New York) and no ‘standing
room only’ moments in the
gilded General Assembly Hall, as
the organization’s busiest time
of the year is reimagined in the
time of COVID-19,” it added.
The UN said most leaders will
not be appearing in person, and
meetings will be conducted virtually.
“But that’s not to say that the
wheels of global diplomacy and
sustainable development will not
be turning at the usual speed,”
it said.
The UN said the centerpiece
of any new General Assembly
is undoubtedly the General
Debate.
“It’s a globally unique occasion
at which presidents and heads of
state (or sometimes their deputies
or foreign ministers) take
to the dais, and address a world
audience on an issue of their
choosing,” it said. “This year,
because of the pandemic, world
leaders will be staying away and
have been invited to send in prerecorded
videos of their speeches
which will be broadcast “as live”.
New UN General Assembly President Volkan Bozkir United
Nations
The UN said speeches are
expected to be introduced by a
New York-based representative
of each state, who will be physically
present.
“However, any world leader
has the right to turn up in person,
to deliver his or her keynote
address, an opportunity that at
least one president seeking reelection
this year, is reported to
be mulling over,” the UN said
without identifying that president.
Caribbean leaders address UN
General Assembly virtually
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