Record 173 world leaders to virtually address UN General Assembly next week

A record number of 119 heads of state and 54 heads of governments will virtually deliver their messages at the UN General Assembly high-level event next week, the spokesperson for the President of the 75th session of the UN General Assembly, Brenden Varma, told reporters on Thursday.

"As of right now, according to the list, we have 119 heads of state and 54 heads of government," Varma said when asked about the number of leaders who confirmed their participation in the UN General Debate.

This year, the annual UN General Assembly high-level gathering will be held online due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

World leaders will submit their pre-recorded messages, presented by a country's delegate, who is already in New York.

In previous years, the General Assembly event would see the participation of leaders from over 100 countries speaking at the UN headquarters in-person.

According to the President of the 75th session of the General Assembly, Volkan Bozkir, initially, several high-level officials, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the country's Foreign Minister, had confirmed their in-person participation at the upcoming event planned for September 22-29.

However, Bozkir explained that due to New York State rules, requiring all visitors from abroad to quarantine for 14 days, all officials had to cancel their visits.

Varma said that as of Thursday, he did not have information about any country leader coming to the UN General Debate in-person.