PM to join 75th UN General Assembly virtually

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, like other global leaders, will join the 75th UN General Assembly (UNGA) virtually due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The prime minister is likely to deliver her pre-recorded speech on September 26, apart from her virtual presence in other high-level events.

Bangladesh continues its efforts to keep the Rohingya issue on the table in the UN, an official told UNB.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Dr AK Abdul Momen said he will brief media virtually on Monday on various aspects of the UNGA and Bangladesh’s virtual presence.

The 75th UNGA session began on September 15. This year, due to the ongoing global pandemic, it will be unlike any other in the organisation’s existence of three quarters of a century.

This month, there will be no occasional bumping into presidents or any global celebrity in the corridors at the UN Headquarters in New York.

There will be no marvelling at seemingly endless presidential motorcades on First Avenue and no “standing-room only” moments in the gilded General Assembly Hall, as the organisation’s busiest time of the year is reimagined in the time of Covid-19.

The centrepiece of any new General Assembly session is undoubtedly the General Debate, which starts on September 22, a week after the official opening.

It is a globally unique occasion at which presidents and heads of state (or sometimes their deputies or foreign ministers) take to the dais, and address a global audience on an issue of their choosing.

This year, because of the pandemic, world leaders will be staying away and have been invited to send in pre-recorded videos of their speeches which will be broadcast “as live”, the UN said.

Speeches are expected to be introduced by a New York-based representative of each state, who will be physically present.

Daily Star