World leaders return to UN with focus on Covid-19 and climate
- Dozens of world leaders are heading to New York this week for the UN’s annual high-level gathering
- Progress will be sought on pressing global problems – starting with the pandemic and an ambitious climate agreement
As the coronavirus still rages amid an inequitable vaccine roll-out, about a third of the 193 UN states are planning to again send videos, but presidents, prime ministers and foreign ministers for the remainder are due to travel to the United States.
This system will be broken when the first country speaks – Brazil. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is a vaccine sceptic, who last week declared that he does not need the shot because he is already immune after being infected with Covid-19.
Should he change his mind, New York City has set up a van outside the United Nations for the week to supply free testing and free shots of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
China’s President Xi Jinping will deliver remarks via video link on Tuesday, Xinhua reported.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that the discussions around how many travelling diplomats might have been immunised illustrated “how dramatic the inequality is today in relation to vaccination”. He is pushing for a global plan to vaccinate 70 per cent of the world by the first half of next year.
Speaking to CNN on Sunday, Guterres pointed to Biden’s efforts and an International Monetary Fund proposal to create a US$50 billion vaccine programme for poorer countries as “positive signs” rich countries were starting to tackle vaccine inequity.
“But let’s be clear: all this is too little, too late,” he added.
Demonstrating US Covid-19 concerns about the UN gathering, Biden will be in New York only for about 24 hours, meeting with Guterres on Monday and making his first UN address on Tuesday, directly after Bolsonaro.
Due to the pandemic, UN delegations are restricted to much smaller numbers and most events on the sidelines will be virtual or a hybrid of virtual and in-person. Among other topics that ministers are expected to discuss during the week are Afghanistan and Iran.
But before the annual speeches begin, Guterres and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will start the week with a summit on Monday to try and save a UN summit – that kicks off in Glasgow, Scotland, on October 31 – from failure.
“It’s time to ring the alarm bell,” Guterres said last week. “We are on the verge of the abyss.”
Many diplomats say they will be closely watching the last scheduled speakers on the final day, September 27, because each has something contentious percolating.
North Korea just tested new cruise missiles that could deliver nuclear weapons. In Myanmar, generals ousted the democratically elected government in February. Guinea’s military toppled the democratically elected president a month ago. And in Afghanistan, the Taliban took power on August 15 when the Afghan army didn’t put up a fight as the last US troops were withdrawing from the country after 20 years of war.
The credentials of Myanmar’s current ambassador, from the country’s ousted democratic government, are being challenged by the military junta, but UN officials say the General Assembly’s Credentials Committee won’t meet to hear the challenge until after the week’s meetings conclude. And the Taliban haven’t yet submitted a letter challenging the credentials of the previous government’s ambassador.
Additional reporting by Associated Press
