President Xi Jinping to be fourth speaker at September’s United Nations General Assembly

President Xi Jinping will be the fourth speaker to address world leaders at next month’s 70th United Nations General Assembly, it was revealed on Monday.

Xi will be making his debut speech at the annual international conference in New York.

Sam Kahamba Kutesa, president of the current session of the assembly, who is also Uganda’s minister of foreign affairs, revealed the news on the sidelines of a luncheon with diplomats and representatives of the US city’s business community.

“Xi [Jinping] is addressing [the meeting] as the number four [speaker],” Kutesa said. “It [the line-up] has been finalised.”

The president will also be making his first state visit to the United States at about the same time.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who plans to attend the gathering for the first time in a decade, is scheduled to join Xi, along with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani of Iran, and US President Barack Obama, in delivering a speech during the assembly meeting, according to a draft list of speakers released by UN last month. Other potential speakers include President François Hollande of France.