Watch live: President Donald Trump to deliver address Tuesday at U.N. General Assembly debate
Sept. 22 (UPI) — The General Debate of the 75th United Nations General Assembly begins Tuesday morning and President Donald Trump will be one of the first leaders to make their address.
The first session of the high-level debate starts at 9 a.m. EDT and Trump is scheduled to speak in the morning bloc.
This year’s debate, like many other high profile events in the COVID-19 era, will largely be held remotely. Trump will deliver his address from Washington, D.C.
Others scheduled to speak in the Tuesday morning session are Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russian President Vladimir Putin, South Korea President Moon Jae-in, Iran President Hassan Rouhani and French President Emmanuel Macron.
Many of the leaders, including Trump, will address the assembly in pre-recorded remarks.
The United Nations itself will also be a central figure at the unconventional assembly this week, which marks the 75th anniversary of the organization’s founding.
During a high-level meeting commemorating the anniversary on Monday, General Assembly President Volkan Bozkir acknowledged that the United Nations was born out of the “smoldering wreckage” of World War II.
“The founders recognized that the three pillars of the United Nations — peace and security, development and human rights — are equally important, interrelated and interdependent. One cannot advance without the other,” he said.
The General Assembly is the first since Trump decided earlier this year to withdraw from the World Health Organization, the chief U.N. health agency.
A pre-recorded message from Trump scheduled to play during Monday’s event was absent, without explanation from U.S. or U.N. officials, The New York Times Reported.
There have been simmering tensions recently between Trump and the leaders of Iran and China, all of whom will deliver their remarks in the opening session.
In all, 170 heads of state and government leaders will take part in the General Debate this week — the most ever for the event. However, most will not travel to the U.N. headquarters in New York City amid 14-day quarantine regulations due to the pandemic.
Trump originally suggested he would travel to Manhattan to deliver his speech at the Assembly Hall, but the White House confirmed last week he would not.
U.N. spokesman Stephan Dujarric estimated that about 200 people will be present in the hall during the speeches — diplomats from all member states who will introduce the pre-recorded speeches.
