Foreign dignitaries will descend on New York City beginning Tuesday for this week’s United Nations General Assembly, tackling topics including the powderkeg situation in the Middle East and ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and Sudan.
The 79th UNGA’s theme is “advancing peace, sustainable development, and human dignity.” It will include a Summit of the Future to address challenges in global governance, geopolitical competition and worldwide conflicts.
While climate and economy are expected to be major topics at the gathering, along with new technologies like artificial intelligence, foreign policy will likely take center stage. Expected at the forefront of that are conversations around how to stem wars in Gaza, Ukraine, and Sudan, as well as prevent wider regional conflict in the Middle East and quell aggression from China.
For the event, President Biden is set to undertake an intensive stretch of diplomatic engagements, including meetings on the sidelines of the assembly. This will be Biden’s last major UN meeting as president, and he will be closely watched throughout the week.
Biden, who will deliver opening remarks on Tuesday around 9 a.m., is expected to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday.
The commander-in-chief may also meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu amid escalating tensions between Israel and Hezbollah in the Middle East.
A senior administration official told reporters on Monday that Biden and other world leaders will discuss the “need to strengthen our systems for providing humanitarian assistance to end brutal wars in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan.”
A big part of Biden’s Tuesday speech will be on how to tackle global challenges, from wars to the climate crisis, the official said.
“We’re going into a General Assembly this year with the world facing many steep challenges, problems so big, no one country can solve them on their own, “the official said, “but that’s why the president feels so strongly the world needs strong and effective global institutions, including an adapted United Nations.
“This is his vision of countries working together. That’s been a theme of his presidency and an important part of his legacy.”
Here are five things to watch for at the assembly.
Ukraine
Zelensky is making an urgent appeal to both presidential candidates and Biden for sustained help in combating Russia’s invasion.
The Ukrainian leader is expected to press the U.S. and Western leaders to lift a policy that prohibits deep strikes into Russia. The Biden administration has yet to budge on the restraint amid fears of escalation with Moscow and whether lifting the policy would have any practical effects.
But Ukraine, some members of Congress and some Western leaders have argued it could help Kyiv target Russian airfields and help stop punishing glide bombs.
Zelensky will also reportedly present Biden with a victory plan, which he has claimed includes Ukrainian operations in the Russian region of Kursk.
Ukraine invaded Kursk in early August with some success, but the goal of diverting a large number of Russian troops from the frontlines, where they are pressuring Ukrainian forces, has not been met.
Vice President Harris does not plan to travel to New York for the assembly, but she is set to meet with Zelensky in Washington on Thursday.
And on Wednesday afternoon, Biden is expected to meet with world leaders to discuss reconstruction in Ukraine.
The Middle East
National security spokesperson John Kirby said Sunday that cease-fire talks with Israel and Hamas have not been “achieving any progress” in recent weeks, and the Biden administration appears to be growing impatient.
Biden has grown frustrated with the inability of both Israel and Hamas to agree on a ceasefire and hostage release deal to begin phasing out the war in Gaza.
The U.S. also is trying to resolve another crisis in Lebanon, where Israel and the militant group Hezbollah have been exchanging fire for more than 11 months.
The senior U.S. official said Biden is expected to address the tough year since the war broke out in Gaza and that the Middle East conflict will be an “important theme” across the assembly.
Tensions have dramatically escalated in the region this past week after Israel ramped up airstrikes – with shells and bombs landing Monday across southern Lebanon, killing at least 490 people, according to the country’s health minister – and the detonation of pager and handheld radios in the country last week.
Netanyahu, a former ambassador to the UN, is expected to attend the assembly this week, and he may meet with Biden on the sidelines.
The Israeli prime minister may also speak to the General Assembly later this week, either Thursday or Friday, which is sure to lead to at least a few walkouts from those who have criticized Israel’s war in Gaza. Netanyahu has been accused of war crimes in the conflict, with a panel of judges from the International Criminal Court currently considering whether to charge him.
China
Tensions with China in the South China Sea could also lead to talks this week at the assembly.
Recently, Beijing has been clashing with the Philippines, a major U.S. ally, in disputed areas of the South China Sea. Also looming over the region is a potential Chinese invasion of the self-governing island nation of Taiwan.
Under the Biden administration, the U.S. has been shoring up support across the Indo-Pacific region. Over the weekend, Biden hosted leaders from Australia, Japan and India at his Wilmington, Del., house, as part of a cooperative partnership in the region called the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue.
Biden is expected to meet Wednesday with Vietnamese President Tô Lâm to discuss Southeast Asia issues.
The senior administration official said “an important part of the president’s legacy has been thinking about how we responsibly manage our competition with China,” which will be referenced in his speech.
But trade disputes are also expected to take center stage. The Biden administration announced on Monday a proposed ban on certain Chinese-made hardware and software in cars.
Biden has also kept tariffs on some Chinese goods from the Trump administration, and he slapped a 100 percent tariff on Chinese-made electric cars earlier this year.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to skip the assembly, sending a high-ranking minister to speak in his stead.
Sudan
The war in Sudan has become one of the deadliest conflicts in the world and the worst global humanitarian crisis since it broke out in April 2023, making it poised to be a key talking point.
Millions have been forcibly displaced, with roughly 25.6 million people facing famine in the country, according to UN agencies.
The U.S. has long pushed for an end to the war, setting up ceasefire talks last year and in August that ultimately failed to end the war.
This week’s meetings will likely center among U.S. allies and other partners who want to see an end to the war.
Biden met with United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan on Monday, and the two discussed efforts to end the war and protect civilians.
The UAE, however, has been accused of supporting the paramilitary force, the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), in the war. A White House readout did not provide any details about whether the issue was brought up in Monday’s meeting.
Other nations have also meddled in the conflict, with Iran supporting the Sudanese armed forces and Russia playing both sides.
Biden’s legacy
After deciding not to seek re-election in July, Biden will leave the Oval Office in January, making the UN assembly one of his last big stages to cement his legacy and foreign policy goals.
Much of Biden’s presidency has centered on foreign policy after a disastrous Afghanistan pullout, the eruption of Russia’s war in Ukraine in 2022 and the Gaza war in October 2023.
“I’ve been clear that human rights will be the center of our foreign policy,” he said hours after the last U.S. troops and officials were flown out of Afghanistan, pledging continued support for Afghans left behind.
The message, an often repeated campaign promise, has reappeared in speeches throughout his presidency.
But Biden’s record reveals that human rights concerns have on numerous occasions been pushed aside in favor of continued engagement with foreign powers, national security priorities or simply have not been prioritized.
The U.S., in particular, has come under intense criticism for its support for Israel in the war in Gaza, where more than 41,000 Palestinians have died in nearly a year of the conflict.
The senior administration official said Biden’s “engagements this week reflect his vision for a world where countries come together to solve big problems.”
“When President Biden came to office nearly four years ago, he pledged to restore American leadership on the world stage, and given that this is the president’s last General Assembly, it’s a chance for him to talk about how this approach has produced results, real achievements for the American people and for the world,” the official said.
“That vision has produced results. And there are many opponents and critics of that vision, not just internationally, but at home,” the official added. “It has been the president’s view that he needs to explain why this vision of working together with countries to solve these big challenges actually produces results.”
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One en route to New York, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said as it relates to Biden’s legacy, he has been able to “reaffirm American leadership at the UN and restore America’s standing at the world’ stage.”
She added: “He looks forward to building on that progress this week.”
Updated at 7:33 a.m. EDT