UN General Assembly wraps up 80th session marked by high-level debates on global crises

New York: The United Nations has released its report on the 80th session of the General Assembly, which concluded after a week of intense high level d...

New York: The United Nations has released its report on the 80th session of the General Assembly, which concluded after a week of intense high-level debates and meetings at UN headquarters in New York.

The report highlighted the key topics on the agenda that included the situations in Gaza and Ukraine, climate change, and UN reform.

The session coincided with the UN's 80th anniversary and was presided over by former German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, the fifth woman to hold the position since the UN's founding.

A total of 12,296 participants - including official delegations and UN agency representatives - attended the high-level week. The General Debate featured 194 speakers: 189 from UN member states, the UN Secretary-General, the President of the General Assembly, and representatives from the three permanent observers - Palestine, the Holy See, and the European Union.

Four countries - Afghanistan, Myanmar, El Salvador, and Seychelles - were absent. Afghanistan and Myanmar did not attend due to unresolved representation issues; Seychelles cited a scheduling conflict with its national elections, while El Salvador abstained for political reasons. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas addressed the Assembly via video after being denied a US visa.