More than 130 state, government heads expected to attend UNGA meetings

UNITED NATIONS

This year's UN General Assembly (UNGA) meetings might see more than 130 state and government leaders, outgoing President Volkan Bozkir said Thursday.

The 76th session of the General Assembly will open on Sept. 14 and the first day of the high-level General Debate will be Sept. 21.

They include 83 state leaders and 55 government leaders. Twenty-six leaders will send a video message to the debate. Twenty-three foreign ministers are also expected to attend the session.

Bozkir said he presided over 101 meetings and passed more than 320 resolutions during his tenure as well as held 16 high-level meetings.

He recalled that an electronic voting system was rolled out during the coronavirus pandemic to allow the UN to work uninterruptedly in case of an emergency.

During his presidency, Bozkir visited Qatar, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Kuwait, Kenya, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Russia, among others.

Abdulla Shahid, the foreign minister of the Maldives, will succeed Bozkir as president of the 76th session of the General Assembly.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is set to pay a four-day visit to the US to attend the session on Sept. 19.

*Servet Gunerigok in Washington contributed to this story