UNITED NATIONS. World leaders will gather in New York next week for the 80th U.N. General Assembly, where discussions are expected to be dominated by U.S. President Donald Trump’s return to the rostrum, the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, growing recognition of Palestinian statehood, and nuclear tensions with Iran.
“We are gathering in turbulent – even uncharted – waters,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters on Tuesday, warning of “geopolitical divides widening, conflicts raging, impunity escalating, our planet overheating, and international cooperation straining under pressures unseen in our lifetimes.” Nearly 150 heads of state or government, along with dozens of ministers, are scheduled to address the six-day session.
Trump, who will speak on Tuesday, returns to the U.N. eight months into his second term, marked by sharp foreign aid cuts that have triggered humanitarian crises worldwide and raised questions about the organization’s future. He has slashed U.S. funding for the U.N., pulled out of several U.N. agencies, including UNESCO, and announced plans to quit the Paris climate agreement and the World Health Organization.
“He enjoys the General Assembly. He enjoys the attention of other leaders,” said Richard Gowan, U.N. director at the International Crisis Group. “My suspicion is he is going to be using his appearance to boast about his many achievements and perhaps once again, make the case he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize.”
Trump has maintained a wary stance toward multilateralism, describing the U.N. as having “great potential” but insisting it “has to get its act together.” Guterres acknowledged that while the U.N. plays a central role in peace mediation, it lacks enforcement power. “The U.N. has very strong efforts in peace mediation … but we have no carrots and no sticks,” he said.
Guterres and Trump are expected to meet formally next week for the first time since Trump returned to office in January, one of more than 150 bilateral meetings the U.N. chief has scheduled. Guterres described the upcoming week as “the World Cup of diplomacy.”
The gathering comes as the war between Israel and Hamas nears its second year. A global hunger monitor has warned that famine has already taken hold in Gaza and could worsen by the end of the month. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes charges that Israel denies, will address the assembly on Friday. “We will remind the world once again that this war will not end with the hostages left behind in Gaza,” said Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon.
Before the speeches begin, France and Saudi Arabia will host a summit on Monday aimed at building momentum for a two-state solution. Several Western nations, including Australia, Belgium, Britain, Canada, and France, have pledged to recognize a Palestinian state, though some with conditions. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to join via video after being denied a U.S. visa, a decision that drew criticism at the U.N. “Palestine is going to be the huge elephant in this session of the General Assembly,” said Palestinian envoy Riyad Mansour.
The war in Ukraine will also be high on the agenda. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov are set to speak, though Russian President Vladimir Putin is not expected to attend. Diplomats said the U.N. Security Council is likely to convene meetings on both Gaza and Ukraine during the high-level session.
Meanwhile, last-minute negotiations are expected in New York over Iran’s nuclear program as Tehran seeks to avoid the reimposition of full U.N. sanctions on September 28. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi are both expected to attend.
Edgardo Hernal started college at UP Diliman and received his BA in Economics from San Sebastian College, Manila, and Masters in Information Systems Management from Keller Graduate School of Management of DeVry University in Oak Brook, IL. He has 25 years of copy editing and management experience at Thomson West, a subsidiary of Thomson Reuters.
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