Ukraine is the spotlight at UN leaders' gathering, but is there room for other global priorities?
Ukraine and its visiting president take center stage at the United Nations this week, but developing countries will be vying for the spotlight as well as they push for faster action on poverty and inequality at the first full-on meeting of world leaders since the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted travel three years ago.
The annual meeting at the U.N. General Assembly takes place at a polarizing and divisive juncture in history — the most fraught and dangerous since the Cold War, according to many analysts and diplomats.
They point to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, which upended already difficult relations among major powers as well as the ongoing impact of the pandemic, high food prices, the worsening climate emergency, escalating conflicts, and the world's failure to tackle poverty, hunger and gender inequality.
For developing countries, the top priority is the U.N.'s two-day summit starting Monday aimed at generating action by world leaders to achieve 17 wide-ranging and badly lagging global goals by 2030.
In addition to ending extreme poverty and hunger, the goals include ensuring quality secondary education for all children, achieving gender equality and taking urgent action to combat climate change. At current rates, not a single one will be achieved.
High-level meetings on issues including pandemic prevention and universal health care are also on tap.
«We find ourselves at a critical juncture in human history,» former Liberian president and Nobel peace laureate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf said last week.
LOTS OF LEADERS ARE ON THE WAY — AND SOME ARE NOT When the annual high-level meeting of the 193-member General Assembly begins Tuesday, presidents, prime ministers and monarchs from 145 countries are scheduled
