Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar on Tuesday attended the 78th opening session of the United Nations General Assembly.
The prime minister will present Pakistan at the high-level moot on the Global Development Initiative and will address the participants, PM Office Media Wing said in a press release.
Besides, he will also attend and address a high-level meeting on Sustainable Development Goals.
“Feel honoured to represent Pakistan at the opening session of the General Debate of 78th UNGA session at the UN headquarters, New York,” PM Kakar wrote on his official X handle.
The premier is expected to meet Iranian President Sayyid Ebrahim Raisi and President of Turkiye Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the session.
The prime minister will also attend a reception hosted by US President Joe Biden in the honour of the global leaders.
Kakar, the first-ever caretaker prime minister of Pakistan to address the 193-member UNGA, reached New York on Monday to join nearly 150 world leaders in deliberations on key peace and security issues as well as Global South’s concerns over growing poverty, inflation, and debt burden.
Around 145 heads of state and government, six vice presidents, four deputy prime ministers and 38 ministers or chiefs of delegations are expected to address the gathering.
This year’s theme of the UNGA is ‘Restoring Trust and Reigniting Global Solidarity’, but the credibility of the UN is currently being undermined by geopolitical conflicts, divisions, and paralysis at the Security Council, as economic, humanitarian, and climate-related crises continue.
“The General Assembly is meeting in a complex international environment, marked by conflicts, especially in Europe and Africa, growing great power tensions in Asia, a slowing global economy and 60 developing countries in financial distress,” Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Munir Akram said.
“As yet [there is] no clear strategy on how to address these challenges,” Akram – who has served twice as the chairman of the Group of 77 [developing countries] plus China – told APP, underscoring the need for a plan to counter the grim challenges facing the world.
Russia’s war in Ukraine, well into its second year, will again be a focus of the debate with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attending in person for the first time since the conflict started in February 2022. The war is exacerbating food price inflation, adversely impacting some of the poorest and most vulnerable countries.
Meanwhile, Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar held a bilateral meeting with the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, H.E Mr. Ebrahim Raisi, on the sidelines of the 78th Session of the UN General Assembly in New York, today.
Underscoring the close fraternal relations between the two neighboring countries, the Prime Minister reaffirmed Pakistan’s strong commitment to further strengthen and deepen these ties, with particular focus on enhancing cooperation in the economic domain.
