and its visiting president take centre 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.
High-level meetings on issues including pandemic prevention and universal health care are also on tap. Chinese President Xi Jinping attended last month's Johannesburg summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Russian President Vladimir Putin, sought by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes in Ukraine, didn't go to South Africa and isn't coming to New York.
He called the situation at the United Nations "bleak," saying "it feels like we are a lot closer to a cliff edge in UN diplomacy" than a year ago. "Major power tensions are having a more and more serious effect on the organization," he said. "This is a time to come together for real, practical solutions," the UN chief said. "It is time for compromise for a better tomorrow."
Recently published IMF research found that if the world fractured into different economic, financial and trade systems, "the loss is of around $7 trillion annually," Guterres said, making it crucial to have one global economy and agreement on how to govern "disruptive technologies like artificial intelligence."