Over 150 world leaders are taking part in the UN General Assembly’s annual General Debate where issues like sustainable development, climate change, refugee crisis, terrorism and tackling ISIS are likely to be discussed.
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Speaking for the first time at the U.N.in 10 years, Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to focus on Syria.
Vladimir Putin played it cool, Barack Obama was earnest but firm and Iran’s president walked in smiling.
The United Nations chief insisted on a political solution to the conflict in Syria, now well into its fifth year with more than a quarter of a million people killed.
“We must close the gap between the world as it is and the world as it should be”, he said.
Also present will be leaders of Japan, which is rapidly moving to remilitarise and reassert its great power ambitions in East Asia and beyond, and the Philippines, which is serving as Washington’s cat’s paw against China in the South China Sea.
Several world leaders, include Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pope Francis arrived in the city days before the opening of the General Debate to attend the UN Sustainable Development Summit hosted by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon where the ambitious post-2015 development agenda was adopted.
The official said that the president will highlight the nuclear deal with Iran, reached in July of this year, as an example of worldwide cooperation in order to hold states accountable for flaunting global laws.
The European Union last week agreed to inject $1 billion to United Nations relief efforts in Syria’s neighboring countries, but Ban said more should be done to ensure that the migrants are treated with dignity.
Raul Castro, president of Cuba’s Council of State and the Council of Ministers, speaks at the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly, at the United Nations headquarters in New York, the United States, on September 28, 2015.
After Obama, Chinese President Xi Jinping took the podium and urged members of the worldwide community to adopt measures to combat climate change.
The “dangerous currents” in Syria and other nations threaten to bring “a darker, more disordered world”, Obama said.
Meanwhile, Obama announced that more than 30,000 new troops and police have been pledged to United Nations peacekeeping missions from more than 50 countries. “We have to fight them not only in the media, but also on the ground”.
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Turning to specifics, Mr. Obama said the USA imposed sanctions on Russian Federation when Ukrainian sovereignty is “flagrantly violated” since doing nothing would encourage the violation of the territorial integrity of any UN Member State.
