Prime Minister Imran Khan will virtually address the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Friday, September 24, APP reported on Sunday.
The session opened on Tuesday, September 14 amid tight security in New York, and will conclude on Monday, September 27.
The coronavirus crisis, situation in Afghanistan and climate change would dominate the agenda in the high-level debate, to be attended in person by 83 heads of state, 43 prime ministers, three deputy prime ministers and 23 foreign ministers.
Others will either join the session through video conferencing or will send pre-recorded messages, as requested by the United States.
Each delegation is permitted to bring a maximum of seven members to the general debate, including the chief delegate.
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Khan along with the presidents of Iran, Egypt, France, Indonesia, South Africa and Zimbabwe will virtually address the “world’s biggest diplomatic gathering”.
On the other hand, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi will attend the UNGA debate in person along with several other events including a meeting of the OIC Working Group, a Ministerial meeting of the Uniting for Consensus group on Security Council reform, and a high-level meeting on Energy.
“The Foreign Minister will also hold a number of bilateral meetings with his counterparts, meet the UNSG, address think tanks and meet members of the Pakistani community and businessmen in New York besides the Pakistani and international media,” the state-owned news agency reported.
“We will participate actively in the General Assembly session,” Pakistan’s Ambassador to the UN, Munir Akram, told APP.
Munir noted that the world currently faces multiple challenges — the Covid pandemic, its devastating impact on the economies of developing countries and the ever-growing threat of frequent climate disasters.
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“Then there is a rising tension between the great powers, particularly the US and China, a new arms race and persisting and proliferating conflicts in the Middle East, Africa, South Asia and other regions of the world.”
He expected that these issues will dominate the general debate.
The Pakistan envoy added that the premier will deliver Pakistan’s policy statement on the major global economic and political issues as well as on the grave situation in Illegally Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) and on the fast-evolving situation in Afghanistan.
“Pakistan will draw the world‘s attention to the human rights violations in IIOJK, the need to stabilise Afghanistan, need to combat Islamophobia and counter disinformation, such as that being propagated by India, as well as to address the economic challenges confronting developing countries,” he added.