UNGA Briefing: Biden, Zelenskyy and what else is going on at the United Nations

UNITED NATIONS -- It's Day 1 of the U.N. General Assembly high-level meeting that brings world leaders together at U.N. headquarters in New York. Here are the highlights of what happened Monday at the U.N. and what to keep an eye on today, Tuesday.

— While the General Debate had yet to start, Monday saw the beginning of a two-day summit meant to galvanize world leaders on reaching the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by world leaders in 2015. Programming around the summit included appearances by celebrities like Senegalese musician Baaba Maal and actors Natalie Portman and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.

— Meeting with media executives on the sidelines of the General Assembly, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi denied his country had sent Russia drones to use in the Ukraine war: “We are against the war in Ukraine,” he said.

— As Climate Week in New York kicked off, leaders of the World Health Organization and the upcoming COP28 climate negotiations announced that, come December, they would devote a day to public Health for the first time.

— Key speeches expected: Secretary-General António Guterres, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, U.S. President Joe Biden, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.

— In particular, pay attention to how Lula — who kicks off the cavalcade of speeches from world leaders — will try to position Brazil as a leader of the Global South and counterbalance to the dominance of China and the United States.

— Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel is slated to speak just a few slots after Lula — and Biden. Just days ago, Lula and Díaz-Canel reignited ties between the countries at the G77 summit in Havana, with the former lamenting the U.S. embargo of Cuba.

— Prince William will attend the second Earthshot Prize Innovation Summit.

“It is, for us, very important that all our words, all our messages, are heard by our partners. If in the United Nations still … there is a place for Russian terrorists, the question is not to me — I think it’s a question to all the member states.”

— Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, following a tour of a Staten Island hospital, when asked about the upcoming U.N. Security Council meeting that's to include remarks from both him and Russia's envoy.

286: The number of years it will take men and women to reach equality under the current rate of progress on Sustainable Development Goals, per a U.N. report highlighted by Secretary-General António Guterres.

___

For more coverage of this year's U.N. General Assembly, visit https://apnews.com/hub/united-nations-general-assembly