Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not attend the annual United Nations General Assembly session scheduled for later this month, instead India will be represented by External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar at the high-level meeting, as per the latest provisional list of speakers.
The General Debate of the 78th session of the UNGA will begin on September 19 and Jaishankar will address the debate on September 26, te last-day of the high-level week, as per the list of speakers. The Indian "head of government" (HG) was earlier scheduled to address the session on September 22.
UNGA General Debate
The General Debate is considered the “busiest diplomatic season” of the year at the UN Headquarters, and the high-level session opens in September every year. The 78th General Assembly will commence on September 5 this year, where world leaders will convene for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Summit, the Climate Ambitions Summit and the General Debate, among other key events.
The 2023 SDG Summit will also take place on September 18-19, which marks a the beginning of a new phase of accelerated progress towards the SDGs with high-level political guidance on transformative and accelerated actions leading up to 2030.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is scheduled to address the high-level session on the first day of the General Debate, as the war with Russia continues to escalate. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will address on September 23.
On June 21, PM Modi led a yoga session at the UN headquarters in a historic commemoration of the International Yoga Day. The PM had proposed the UNGA to mark the day as an annual commemoration.
The G20 summit
The UNGA session will take place days after the much-anticipated G20 Summit in New Delhi on September 9 and 10. The high-level meeting will be attended by eminent world leaders like US President Joe Biden and Australian PM Anthony Albanese.
India assumed the G20 Presidency on December 1 last year. The 18th G20 Summit in New Delhi scheduled to be held on September 9-10 will be a culmination of all the G20 processes and meetings held throughout the year.
The Group of Twenty (G20) comprises 19 countries - Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Türkiye, United Kingdom and the United States and the European Union.
Ahead of the G20 Summit, PM Modi will travel to Indonesia for a two-day visit to attend the 20th ASEAN-India Summit and the 18th East Asia Summit (EAS) on September 6-7. Indonesia is part of the G20 'troika' as it had the presidency of the grouping last year.
(with PTI inputs)
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