PM Modi unlikely to attend UNGA session in September

United Nations, Jul 26 (PTI) Prime Minister Narendra Modi
is unlikely to attend the annual UN General Assembly session
here in September and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj
will address the high-level session, according to the
provisional agenda released by the UN.
    According to the first provisional list of speakers for
the General Debate of the 72nd session of the General
Assembly, Swaraj will address the high-level session on the
morning of September 23. She had addressed the General Debate
last year as well.
    The General Debate will open on September 19 and run
through September 25. All eyes will be on US President Donald
Trump, who will deliver his first address to global leaders
from the General Assembly hall's iconic green podium on
September 19. The US is traditionally the second speaker on
the opening day of the General Debate, after Brazil.
    According to the list of speakers, Pakistan’s Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif is scheduled to address global leaders
on September 21.
    Modi had visited Washington late last month for his first
bilateral meeting with Trump.
    Modi had given his maiden address to the UN General
Assembly as Prime Minister in 2014.
    In 2015, he had attended the high-level UN Sustainable
Development Summit ahead of the General Debate, when the world
leaders had adopted the ambitious 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development, an intergovernmental set of aspiration Goals with
169 targets.
    He had also attended the UN Peacekeeping Summit hosted by
President Barack Obama when he had announced that India will
contribute an additional battalion of 850 troops for UN
peacekeeping operation. The summit was the only forum when
Modi and Sharif had come face to face during their visit for
the UN General Assembly. PTI