The General Debate marches on today, giving us another opportunity to provide a rundown of speakers for you. Thursday has some marquee addresses in the morning session, including a pair separated by only one name on the list that will draw the vast majority of the attention today.
Amazingly enough, yesterday’s session managed to be even more behind schedule than the first day. As of 10:20 p.m. last night, the final speaker, the Foreign Minister of the Central African Republic was still at the rostrum. The tired diplomats who staff the dais will surely be seen lingering around the U.N.’s Viennese Cafe in their time not on duty.
To watch the debate as it happens, the UN will be livestreaming the speeches here; session opens at 9:00 AM EDT. As before, below is a partially annotated list of the speaking order for the morning and afternoon sessions.
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09:00 12th plenary meeting General Assembly Hall
1. Address by His Excellency Bakir Izetbegović, Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina
[The Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina is held by three members: a Serbian, a Bosniak, and a Croat, among whom the Chairmanship rotates.]
2. Address by His Excellency Elbegdorj Tsakhia, President of Mongolia
3. Address by His Excellency Moncef Marzouki, President of the Republic of Tunisia
4. Address by His Excellency Donald Rabindranauth Ramotar, President of the Republic of Guyana
5. Address by His Excellency Thein Sein, President of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar
[This is President Thein Sein’s debut at the United Nations. In the wake of the somewhat stunning reforms that have been put into place in Myanmar, his speech will be closely watched for signs of further progress or backsliding. Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was present at the U.N. last week and will not be in attendance today.]
6. Address by His Excellency Gjorge Ivanov, President of The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
7. Address by His Excellency Jorge Carlos De Almeida Fonseca, President of the Republic of Cape Verde
8. Address by His Excellency Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, President of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea
[President Obiang has been causing controversy for the United Nations for the last year as he seeks to rehabilitate his image. Earlier this year, UNESCO member states, over the objection of the director-general, agreed to name a Life Sciences award after him due to the large sum of money he donated for its creation. Human rights activists were appalled, given Obiang’s horrible record.]
9. Address by His Excellency Ikililou Dhoinine, President of the Union of the Comoros
10. Continuation of the general debate [item 8]
Address by His Royal Highness Prince Haji Al-Muhtadee Billah, Crown Prince of Brunei Darussalam
Address by Her Excellency Portia Simpson Miller, Prime Minister, Minister of Defence, Development, Information and Sports of Jamaica
Address by His Excellency Mahmoud Abbas, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organization and President of the Palestinian Authority
[As he did last year, President Abbas is expected to call for the United Nations to upgrade Palestine’s membership in the body. Unlike last year, however, it is extremely likely that he’ll manage to get that upgrade, though not until after the U.S. elections.]
Address by His Excellency Janez Janša, Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia
Address by His Excellency Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of the State of Israel
[Speaking almost directly after Abbas, Prime Minister Netanyahu will likely spend less of his speaking time focused on Palestine than one would assume. Rather, he will take the opportunity to warn once more of the dangers of a nuclear Iran.]
Address by His Excellency Thomas Motsoahae Thabane, Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, Police and National Security of the Kingdom of Lesotho
15:00 13th plenary meeting General Assembly Hall
1. Address by His Excellency Emanuel Mori, President and Head of Government of the Federated States of Micronesia
2. Address by His Excellency Mohamed Waheed, President of the Republic of Maldives
3. Address by His Excellency Luis Federico Franco Gómez, President of the Republic of Paraguay
4. Address by His Excellency Bujar Nishani, President of the Republic of Albania
5. Address by His Excellency Salva Kiir, President of the Republic of South Sudan
[In his second address to the General Assembly, President Kiir will face a much more critical audience than last year. South Sudan and its northern neighbor have been making progress towards a peaceful co-existence, but don’t expect any major breakthroughs to be announced today.]
6. Address by His Excellency Mohamed Yousef El-Magariaf, President of the General National Congress of Libya
[While Qaddafi’s lengthy speeches will always live on in legend, the new government of Libya will have decidedly more issues of substance to discuss. President el-Magariaf will likely touch upon the free speech vs. blasphemy issues that other Islamic states have throughout the debate and his country’s efforts to increase security.]
7. Continuation of the general debate [item 8]
Address by His Excellency Thérence Sinunguruza, Vice-President of the Republic of Burundi
Address by His Excellency Danny Faure, Vice-President of the Republic of Seychelles
Address by His Excellency Khudayr al-Khuzai, Vice-President of the Republic of Iraq
Address by His Excellency Winston Baldwin Spencer, Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Antigua and Barbuda
Address by His Excellency Najib Mikati, President of the Council of Ministers of the Lebanese Republic
Address by Her Excellency Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh
Address by Her Excellency Yingluck Shinawatra, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand
Address by His Excellency Gordon Darcy Lilo, Prime Minister of Solomon Islands
Address by His Excellency Asylbek Jeenbekov, Speaker of the Parliament of the Kyrgyz Republic
Address by His Excellency Abdiweli Mohamed Ali, Prime Minister of the Transitional Federal Government of the Somali Republic
[This will be the last year that the Transitional Federal Government is represented at the General Assembly. Now that elections of a new Parliament have been concluded, Somalia will be ending its transitional period.]
Address by His Excellency Rashid Meredov, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan
Greece
[Why the lack of a speaker’s name in this section? At the time of print, the speaker for the following countries wasn’t known to the General Assembly staff, and so not to us. It is likely that the Foreign Ministers of these countries will be speaking.]
China
[President Hu Jintao is skipping out on what would have been his final address to the General Assembly. Hu has enough issues to worry about in China, as preparations are being made for a transfer of power to the likely new President Xi Jinpeng.]
Norway
Bahrain
Guinea
Peru
As with yesterday, any speakers in the afternoon that don’t make it to the podium will continue on after 6 p.m. Should you happen to miss a few, the full speeches will be posted here following the conclusion of the session.