NEW YORK: Prime Minister Imran Khan is likely to address the 75th sessionof the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) via video link on September25, according to an initial list of speakers officially released on Tuesday.
The general debate of the 193-member assembly, which is traditionally ahigh-profile annual UN event, will open on September 22. However, this yearit is expected to be a slimmed-down affair, with world leaders staying awayfrom New York because of the coronavirus pandemic.
They will be contributing set-piece speeches via video link.
According to the list, PM Imran, who last year made his debut at the UN ashead of state, is the sixth speaker in the afternoon session on September25.
“I expect that the prime minister will once again raise the cause of theKashmiri people for self-determination and *azadi *[freedom] from Indianoppression,” Pakistan’s ambassador to the UN Munir Akram told *APP.*
Akram added that the prime minister will also talk about Pakistan’sfacilitation of and hopes for the peace process in Afghanistan, itssuccessful response to the coronavirus crisis, debt relief for developingcountries and other international issues in his wide-ranging address.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to speak on September 26,a day after the Pakistani leader’s address.
US President Donald Trump is set to address on the morning of September 22,the opening day of the general debate, which will run through September 29.
The US is traditionally the second speaker in the high-level debate afterBrazil.New arrangements
UNGA President Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, last month had said each MemberState, Observer State and the European Union were invited to submit apre-recorded video, delivered by its designated high-level official, whichwill be played in the General Assembly Hall.
Speeches will be limited to 15 minutes.
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The iconic General Assembly Hall will not be empty as videos will beintroduced by a representative of each state, who will be physicallypresent.
The same procedure will apply for a series of special high-level sessionsscheduled to take place, including a commemoration of the landmark 75thanniversary of the United Nations; a summit on biodiversity; and a meetingto commemorate and promote, the International Day for the Total Eliminationof Nuclear Weapons.
Side-events, such as New York Climate Week, are unlikely to welcomeattendees to New York venues this year, following Muhammad-Bande’ssuggestion that they should be moved online.
The decision to introduce pre-recorded videos to the High-Level GeneralDebate, which takes place at the beginning of the 75th session of theGeneral Assembly, was made by the UN body on Wednesday, using the novel‘silence procedure’ method.
Under this method, draft resolutions are circulated by the UNGA presidentwhich gives member states a deadline of at least 72 hours to raiseobjections.
If there are no objections, the president circulates a letter, confirmingthat the resolution has been adopted.
Ahead of the 75th session, Ambassador Akram will meet UNGA President-electVolkan Bozkir on August 21 and discuss the items inscribed on theAssembly’s agenda.
Bozkir, a veteran Turkish diplomat, will assume the office as UNGAPresident on September 15, the day the 75th session gets underway.
