President Irfaan Ali heads a Guyanese delegation to the 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York this week. The assembly, which convenes annually, serves as a platform for global leaders to address pressing international issues.
According to a press release from the Office of the President, Ali is set to deliver an address during the General Debate on Wednesday, September 25, where he will share Guyana’s perspectives on critical global challenges. His agenda includes a series of bilateral meetings with Paraguay’s President Santiago Peña and Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa among others.
In addition to engaging with fellow leaders, President Ali plans to meet key figures such as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, UN Secretary-General António Guterres, World Trade Organisation Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and USAID Administrator Samantha Power, the release added.
The President will also participate in significant discussions at the UN’s Summit of the Future and the High-Level Event on the Global Coalition to Address Synthetic Drug Threats, hosted by US President Joe Biden, the release said. His participation extends to several panels, including an Executive Roundtable led by former US president Bill Clinton, focusing on sustainable land management, and a health panel organized by Concordia with Mount Sinai and industry leader John Hess.
Highlighting Guyana’s commitment to education and sustainable development, President Ali is scheduled to speak on “Creating a New Narrative for Agriculture in Latin America and the Caribbean” at Columbia University, upon invitation from the Columbia Climate School and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), his office informed.
Moreover, the President will attend a high-level event centred on Sustainable Development Goal 4: Educating for the Next Generation, hosted by former UK prime minister Gordon Brown and his wife, Sarah Brown, the release added.
Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Hugh Todd is part of the local delegation, which arrived in New York yesterday and will return to Guyana on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the OP release said that following the UNGA, President Ali will travel to the United Kingdom at the invitation of Concordia and Oxford University to address climate studies’ students on the Guyana case study and its Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS). During his UK visit, he is expected to meet with newly appointed Foreign Secretary David Lammy and receive the Caribbean Global Leader 2024 award.
Prior to attending the UNGA, President Ali was hosted by the UK’s King Charles III at Balmoral Castle in Scotland, where discussions centred on climate action and the successes of Guyana’s LCDS, the release said.
