Diyar Guldogan
23 September 2025•Update: 23 September 2025
NEW YORK
World leaders will gather in New York City on Tuesday for the 80th session of the UN General Assembly, an annual summit that comes at a time of heightened tensions and shifting diplomatic tides.
The heads of state and government of member states will take to the podium in front of the gilded backdrop to the Assembly Hall to elaborate on their priorities to a global audience.
The General Debate of the 80th session of the assembly opens Tuesday and is set to close on Sept. 29.
Former German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock becomes only the fifth woman in history to preside over the General Assembly.
Each start of a General Assembly session has a theme.
This year, the theme for the General Debate is "Better together: 80 years and more for peace, development and human rights.”
Brazil has been the first member state to speak in the General Debate since the 10th session of the General Assembly in 1955, except in 1983 and 1984.
After Brazil, the host country, the US, will take the floor.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will represent Türkiye and be the fourth speaker on the first day.
President Erdogan, who will address the General Assembly for the 15th time, is expected to draw attention to Israel's ongoing war in the Gaza Strip, the recognition of Palestine as a state, and international actions to be taken against Israel.
Two non-member observer states -- the Holy See and the state of Palestine -- and an observer member, the European Union, have also been granted the opportunity to address the General Assembly.
However, this year, Washington refused to grant Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas a visa to travel to New York in person.
Recently, the General Assembly overwhelmingly adopted a resolution enabling Abbas to address its annual gathering of world leaders by video link.
Meanwhile, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa will make a notable debut at this year’s General Assembly in his first appearance before the UN after the US granted him an entry visa to attend. He will be the first Syrian leader at the assembly since 1967.
The notional and voluntary time limit for each speech is 15 minutes, but it is rarely faithfully adhered to.
The leaders may acknowledge the official theme in passing, but most are expected to focus on their own national priorities or pressing global issues.
They are meeting at a time when the number of crises, conflicts and wars is increasing. Thus, several crises are expected to be on the agenda, including Gaza and Ukraine.
As Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 65,100 people since October 2023, the leaders are expected to highlight Israel’s violations of international law and UN resolutions, as well as the difficulties in delivering humanitarian aid to the region.
Leaders are also expected to hold consultations on various issues such as Sudan, climate change and the advancement of women's rights and security.
