SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Iraqi President Barham Salih arrived in New York on Monday to attend the U.N. General Assembly.
Salih left Baghdad for New York early on Monday to participate in the 76th session of the U.N. General Assembly.
Iraq’s president will deliver the country’s speech at the general assembly, according to the Iraqi presidency.
World leaders are returning to the United Nations in New York this week with a focus on boosting efforts to fight both climate change and the coronavirus pandemic.
As the coronavirus still rages amid an inequitable vaccine rollout, about a third of the 193 U.N. 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, according to Reuters.
Demonstrating U.S. COVID-19 concerns about the U.N. gathering, U.S. President Joe Biden will be in New York only for about 24 hours, meeting with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday and making his first U.N. address on Tuesday.
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 U.N. summit – that kicks off in Glasgow, Scotland, on Oct. 31 – from failure.
As scientists warn that global warming is dangerously close to spiraling out of control, the U.N. COP26 conference aims to wring much more ambitious climate action and the money to go with it from participants around the globe.
“It’s time to read the alarm bell,” Guterres told Reuters last week. “We are on the verge of the abyss.”
