Modi not scheduled at UN high-level meeting; Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistani leaders to attend

September 4, 2023

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Instead of Modi, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar is to speak on behalf of India, according to the latest roster of speakers. Jaishankar is set to speak on Tuesday, September 26, morning at the last session of the high-level Assembly meeting.

Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi addresses the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S., September 27, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan Mcdermid

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has already visited the UN once this year, is not scheduled to be at the high-level General Assembly meeting of world leaders this month. But the heads of government of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan are scheduled to attend.

Sri Lanka’s President Ranil Wickremesinghe is on the roster at the UN for September 21. Pakistan’s Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar is on the schedule next morning, along with Prime Ministers Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh and Pushpa Kamal Dahal of Nepal.

An earlier schedule of speakers released by the UN in July had listed him as one of the speakers, but the latest version issued on Friday substituted the minister for the prime minister.

Modi led the International Day of Yoga celebrations at the UN in June before his state visit to Washington.

He has a packed schedule this month with a visit to the ASEAN summit in Indonesia from Tuesday to Thursday, which will be followed by the G20 summit of major emerging and industrialised countries that he will preside over in New Delhi on September 9 and 10.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky is to speak at the opening session on September 19. According to Albania’s Permanent Representative Ferit Hoxha, who is this month’s Security Council president, Zelensky will also address an open meeting of the Council the next day.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin will not be at the high-level meetings, nor will China’s President Xi Jinping.

Both of them will not be attending the G20 summit in New Delhi either.

The only leader of a Security Council permanent member to attend the high-level UN meeting will be US President Joe Biden as British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and France’s President Emmanuel Macron are not on the roster.