UN Affairs

President Xi Jinping (on screens) of China addresses the general debate of the UN General Assembly’s 76th session.
UN Photo/Cia Pak

China headed towards carbon neutrality by 2060; President Xi Jinping vows to halt new coal plants abroad

21 September 2021
Global

China is set to provide more COVID-19 vaccines to the world and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, President Xi Jinping told the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, urging global leaders to strengthen solidarity, promote mutual respect while rejecting “forming small circles or zero-sum games.”

President Moon Jae-in of the Republic of Korea addresses the general debate of the UN General Assembly’s 76th session.
UN Photo/Cia Pak

Republic of Korea calls for UN-led ‘era of global community’

21 September 2021

The UN needs to usher in and lead a new “era of global community”, and the Republic of Korea will do all it can to support a revived world order based on solidarity and cooperation, the nation’s President, Moon Jae-in, told the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.

President Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo of the Democratic Republic of the Congo addresses the general debate of the UN General Assembly’s 76th session.
UN Photo/Cia Pak

DR Congo President asks for materialization of ‘all the promises made to Africa’ 

21 September 2021
Africa

The President of Democratic Republic of Congo, Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, asked for United Nations Member States to “materialize all the promises made to Africa in compensation for the sacrifices agreed to protect humanity against global warming.” 

Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Amir of the State of Qatar, addresses the general debate of the UN General Assembly’s 76th session.
UN Photo/Cia Pak

On Afghanistan, Qatar calls for separating aid from political differences

21 September 2021

The international community must continue to support Afghanistan, the Emir of the State of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, told the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, warning against potential boycott in the wake of the Taliban takeover.

President Joseph R. Biden Jr. of the United States of America addresses the general debate of the UN General Assembly’s 76th session.
UN Photo/Cia Pak

At UN, Biden pledges new era of ‘relentless diplomacy’ to tackle global challenges

21 September 2021
Global

In his inaugural address to the annual gathering of world leaders at the UN, United States President Joseph Biden on Tuesday called for a new era of global unity against the compounding crises of COVID-19, climate change and insecurity.

President Jair Messias Bolsonaro of Brazil addresses the general debate of the UN General Assembly’s 76th session.
UN Photo/Cia Pak

Brazilian President commits country to climate neutrality by 2050 

21 September 2021
Americas

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro highlighted this Tuesday, in New York, his country’s work on environmental preservation and the fight against climate change.  

UN General Assembly President Abdulla Shahid addresses the general debate of the UN General Assembly’s 76th session.
UN Photo/Cia Pak

‘Power of humanity’ can overcome COVID-19, climate challenges – Assembly President

21 September 2021
Global

The President of the UN General Assembly on Tuesday opened the annual General Debate, this year held as a hybrid in-person and virtual event, reflecting on the darkest days of the pandemic, “when cities were shuttered and vaccines still a dream” and how the world’s peoples “came together as never before”.  

Secretary-General António Guterres addresses the opening of the general debate of the UN General Assembly’s 76th session.
UN Photo/Cia Pak

Restore trust and inspire hope, UN chief says in message to UNGA76

21 September 2021
Global

With humanity on the edge of an abyss, and moving in the wrong direction, the world must wake up, Secretary-General António Guterres said in his keynote address to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.

UN News' Assumpta Massoi interviews Secretary General António Guterres.
UN News/Leah Mushi

UN chief's message to world leaders: ‘Wake up, change course, unite’ 

19 September 2021

In a wide-ranging interview with UN News, Secretary-General António Guterres is calling on world leaders to ‘wake up’, make an immediate course correction at home and abroad, and unite. 

Some world leaders will deliver speeches in the UN General Assembly hall in person, but it's expected the majority will not be travelling to New York.
UN Photo/Evan Schneider

From BTS, K-Pop heroes, to net zero: 5 things to look out for at UNGA76

15 September 2021
Global

The 76th session of the UN General Assembly is due to begin on 14 September, and it will be very different from 2020’s fully virtual gathering. UNGA 76 will still be overshadowed by the COVID-19 pandemic, but that won’t stop leaders (some of them in the Assembly Hall) from addressing urgent global challenges. Here are five things you should know about 2021’s “hybrid” event.