The United Nations General Assembly is one of the six main organs of the UN. With all 193 member states represented in the UNGA, the diplomats discuss and work together on a wide range of international issues covered by the Charter of the United Nations, such as development, peace and security, international law, etc.

Each year in September, all the Members meet in this extraordinary event at the Headquarters in New York for the General Assembly session. The 75th session of the General Assembly, opening on Tuesday 15 September 2020, will be presided over by H.E. Mr. Volkan Bozkir. For the first time in the history of the United Nations, in the very first time from all the 75 years, this summit will take place in an online mode due to the global pandemic that has put a halt on daily human activities due to the norms of social distancing and staying indoors. The president of the U.N. General Assembly said on Monday that world leaders will not be coming to New York for their annual gathering as it is physically and practically far from possible this year.

But the General Assembly’s president, Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, told a news conference that he hopes to announce in the next two weeks how the 193 heads of state and government will give their speeches on pressing world issues during the assembly’s so-called General Debate.

“World leaders cannot come to New York because they cannot come simply as individuals,” he said. “A president doesn’t travel alone, leaders don’t travel alone” and “it is impossible” to bring large delegations to New York during the pandemic.

“We cannot have them in person as we used to — what happened in the last 74 years — but it will happen,” Muhammad-Bande said of the annual event.

Mr. Guterres suggested in a letter to the General Assembly president that heads of state and government deliver pre-recorded messages instead, with only one New York-based diplomat from each of the 193 U.N. member nations present in the assembly hall.