79th UNGA: Prof Yunus set to speak at biggest global platform since becoming CA

Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus is set to attend the 79th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York next week which is seen as a big opportunity for him to share his government’s economic plans, including what areas specifically the international community can be helpful in strengthening and stabilising Bangladesh’s economy.

The interim government chief adviser will lead a “small and functional” delegation to the 79th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, said Foreign Adviser Md Touhid Hossain who will accompany Prof Yunus during his brief stay in New York.

Hossain said only those with direct responsibilities at the UNGA will accompany the chief adviser.

There might be some meetings on the sidelines, but due to his limited stay in New York, the scope will also be limited. Bilateral meetings on the sidelines usually get finalised at the last moment.

The chief adviser is likely to leave Dhaka for New York early morning Tuesday, a senior official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told UNB.

However, details will be shared on Saturday when Foreign Adviser Hossain will brief the media, he added.

South Asian affairs expert Michael Kugelman said Prof Yunus’ participation at the 79th UN General Assembly (UNGA) will be a big opportunity for him to share his government’s economic plans, including what areas specifically the international community can be helpful in strengthening and stabilizing Bangladesh’s economy.

“He would be speaking in New York on the biggest global platform since he took over the role of adviser leading the interim government,” said Kugelman, Director of the South Asia Institute at Wilson Center in Washington, DC.

Kugelman said there are several things that Prof Yunus could do, several things that he could say.

“I think that above all he should lay out a vision for governance, the goals of the interim government, his plans for reforms and his efforts to push for the restoration of democracy.”

Kugelman said he thinks that Prof Yunus’ platform at the UNGA would give him an opportunity to weigh in on what is arguably Bangladesh’s biggest humanitarian challenge, the Rohingya refugee issue.

“I think that it would be useful for him to make a pitch for international assistance or more international assistance for Rohingya refugees, which would be an especially important pitch for two reasons,” he said.

The 79th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA 79) was opened on September 10. The first day of the high-level General Debate will be held on Tuesday, September 24.

Meanwhile, the Heads of State and Government will gather at UN Headquarters in New York on September 22-23 to address the critical challenges and gaps in global governance exposed by recent global shocks.

The Summit of the Future, the first of its kind, will bring together leaders, advocates, and activists of all ages to determine how our international system can better meet the needs of current and future generations.

Countries must use a once-in-a-generation UN summit to address current and emerging global challenges and reform outdated international institutions, Secretary-General António Guterres said in New York.

Guterres was speaking as negotiations for the Summit of the Future, which opens at UN Headquarters on Sunday, enter the final stretch.

“I have one overriding message today: an appeal to Member States for a spirit of compromise. Show the world what we can do, when we work together,” he said.

‘An essential first step’

The two-day Summit of the Future is “an essential first step towards making global institutions more legitimate, effective, and fit for the world of today and tomorrow,” Guterres told journalists.

He said work already done in the lead-up reveals “potential breakthroughs on a number of important fronts”.

This includes “the strongest language on Security Council reform in a generation – and the most concrete step towards Council enlargement since 1963”, the first-ever governance measures for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other technologies, and advancements in reforming the international financial architecture.

Other items cover financing for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and commitment to advance an SDG Stimulus to boost financial support to developing countries.  

“It would be tragic if all of these would be lost,” he warned.

Challenges, crises and conflict

Guterres said the Summit is “so critical” because “international challenges are moving faster than our ability to solve them.”

He pointed to “out-of-control geo-political divisions and runaway conflicts – not least in Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan and beyond,” in addition to “runaway” climate change, inequalities and debt, and the development of AI and other technologies that lack guidance or guardrails. 

“Crises are interacting and feeding off each other – for example, as digital technologies spread climate disinformation that deepens distrust and fuels polarization,” he said.

Reform multilateral institutions

Meanwhile, multilateral institutions “born in a bygone era for a bygone world” simply cannot keep up.

Guterres said so many of the challenges the world is facing today were not on the radar 80 years ago when these institutions were created.  

“Our founders understood that times would change,” he said.  “They understood that the values that underpin our global institutions are timeless – but the institutions themselves cannot be frozen in time.”

An ever-changing world

He said the peacebuilders back then could not have predicted the changes that have occurred over the past eight decades.

They include the independence movements, the economic and geopolitical rise of many developing countries, catastrophic climate consequences, space exploration, and the development of the Internet, smartphones and social media, which are boosted by AI.

“Like our founders, we cannot know precisely what the future holds,” he acknowledged. 

“But we don’t need a crystal ball to see that 21st century challenges require problem-solving mechanisms that are more effective, networked and inclusive; that serious power imbalances in global institutions must be adjusted and updated; and that our institutions must draw on the expertise and representation of all of humanity.”

Although change will not happen overnight, “it can start today,” he insisted.

Finish the job

Member States attending the Summit are expected to adopt a Pact for the Future, with a Global Digital Compact and Declaration on Future Generations annexed to it. 

Guterres expressed hope that they will “do everything possible” to get these documents “over the finish line”. 

“We can’t create a future fit for our grandchildren with systems built for our grandparents,” he said, stressing that the Summit “cannot fail”.

World leaders

More than 130 Heads of State and Government are scheduled to attend the Summit of the Future, which is taking place from 22-23 September – just ahead of the annual debate in the UN General Assembly.

The Summit will be preceded by two “action days” where non-governmental organizations (NGOs), academics and private sector representatives will engage on the main themes.