What to expect at the UN General Assembly, the biggest event in world diplomacy

Fear not, world leaders — the UN’s notorious escalator has been fixed in time for diplomacy’s biggest event of the year.

That’s what outgoing United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres told reporters at his last press conference ahead of this week’s General Assembly, which will bring hundreds of diplomats and world leaders to the UN’s New York headquarters.

Last year, US President Donald Trump accused the UN of sabotage after the escalator he was riding malfunctioned while he made his way to the General Assembly Hall. “I can tell you that we took additional measures in order to make sure that whoever goes around does not interact negatively with the escalator,” Guterres said Wednesday.

Aside from negative interactions with people-movers, the UN General Assembly has its work cut out for it, and this year’s theme is “Restoring trust, managing transformation: A United Nations that delivers for all.” The General Assembly also kicks off ahead of Guterres’ own exit from his role at year-end as concerns about emerging AI models hover over the proceedings.

Here’s what to expect as the UNGA’s “General Debate” – where leaders and officials take turns speaking from the organization’s signature stone podium – begins Tuesday.

Dealmaking and meetings

The high density of diplomats and world leaders makes the UNGA a prime spot for meetings on the sidelines of the main event. Trump is scheduled to meet with Gulf leaders on Tuesday to discuss the next phase of the war with Iran, two US officials told CNN.

There will also be a “high-level” briefing for Trump’s Board of Peace during week, a source familiar with the matter told CNN. It’s a notable juxtaposition considering Trump once suggested that the board**,** meant to oversee the reconstruction of Gaza, “might” eventually replace the UN.

Meanwhile, France plans to convene a follow-up meeting this week on the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, diplomatic sources said. France and several other Western countries announced their recognition of the State of Palestine during the UNGA proceedings last year.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he will hold a meeting with Trump in New York, as he had last year. Such a meeting would come after US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met separately with Zelensky in Kyiv and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow earlier this month. Trump has spoken only with Putin in the weeks since that visit.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said he would meet with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to Russian state media.

The General Assembly is also a place where deals are struck or formalized. Months after threatening to annex Greenland by force, Trump is expected to sign an agreement negotiated with Denmark and Greenland that would hand the US “permanent control” over Greenlandic security. It’s unclear how the deal would differ from current arrangements, which grant the US a large military presence on the island.

Who’s speaking?

The speeches delivered from the General Assembly podium often attract attention for the behavior of the audience as much as the speakers themselves. Last year, numerous delegates left the auditorium while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke. In 2018, laughing delegates interrupted Trump’s speech as he outlined his administration’s achievements.

Daniel Forti, head of UN affairs at the International Crisis Group, told CNN that the speakers list will set the tenor for this year’s assembly.

“While it seems like we have over 130 heads of state or government coming, it’s actually going to be a much more mixed picture in terms of the signals that world leaders are providing to the UN,” Forti said.

One big question is whether Chinese leader Xi Jinping will make a surprise appearance in New York. Xi is due to appear in Washington for a state visit while the General Assembly is underway.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping is seen on a video screen as he addresses the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly on September 21, 2021. The virtual address was the last time Xi spoke at the UN General Assembly.

Mary Altaffer/Pool/Getty Images

“It’ll be a very difficult split screen for the organization if you have Trump and Xi meeting in Washington, and you don’t have both of the world’s biggest powers engaging in UN diplomacy during High-Level Week,” Forti said.

Asked about Xi’s schedule, Guterres told reporters that while he “would like to have President Xi Jinping with us,” he met with him “twice last month” and is unconcerned about the Chinese leader’s commitment to “a world order based on multilateralism with the UN at its center.”

Other headline speakers include Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who will speak first Tuesday, and Netanyahu, who will speak Thursday, according to a preliminary list.

Venezuelan acting President Delcy Rodríguez will make her UN debut on Thursday while her former boss, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, sits in jail mere miles away in Brooklyn. Rodríguez is expected to meet with Trump ahead of her address.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is slotted for a Thursday speaking time before Netanyahu. However, the Trump administration has again refused Abbas a visa, so he will almost certainly address the chamber via video.

Even as it denies visas to Palestinian officials, the administration will allow Iran’s “core delegation,” which will include President Masoud Pezeshkian, to come to New York.

“Consistent with our host country obligations, the core delegation from the Iranian regime will be able to attend UN General Assembly High Level Week,” a State Department spokesperson said Thursday.

“The delegation will be under travel restrictions and will face prohibitions on the purchase of luxury and other goods per our (sanctions) policy,” they said. “The delegation is smaller than last year.”

Pezeshkian speaking in New York while his country is actively engaged in combat with the United States is virtually unprecedented. The closest international equivalent might be Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s 1977 visit to Israel while the two countries were technically at war — but even that was part of a larger peace process.

Pezeshkian will travel to New York on Tuesday, a representative from his office said Monday, according to Iranian state media.

Goodbye, UN

There will be a few notable goodbyes at the UN this year: France’s Emmanuel Macron is making his final appearance at the General Assembly, as is Guterres.

The race to replace Guterres before the end of the year will be front of mind for many attendees, Forti said. The current secretary-general is the “last of a previous era of globalist leaders” and spent much of his 10-year tenure focused on development financing, climate change and girding the UN for the rise of artificial intelligence.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres speaks during the United Nations General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York on September 23, 2025.

Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images

The last point is especially important to the outgoing leader; Guterres spent more than half of his last press conference speaking about AI.

“Artificial intelligence will certainly be a major topic in my discussions with world leaders next week — and the United Nations will continue to explore practical ideas and approaches in the immediate days ahead,” Guterres told reporters.

After several weeks of apocalyptic warnings about the technology, AI is a top-billed issue for the UNGA this year. On Monday, tech industry figures, diplomats and the actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt are meeting for a conference on “Digital Cooperation.” The Security Council is slotted to meet about AI on Wednesday, and the US is hosting another event the same day.

Guterres has been outspoken on AI since 2021, and his focus on the emerging tech may have come at the expense of his traditional role in promoting UN peacekeeping efforts, Forti said.

“Guterres has certainly been very conservative and cautious on the UN’s role in peace and security,” he said. “He certainly has not made the most of the mandate and legitimacy that the UN carries to try and inject the organization into more peace-making efforts.”

The secretary-general’s last speech is his opportunity to defend his tenure as the UN’s leader, Forti added.

“It may fall on deaf ears,” the analyst said, “but in the long run, there may be more positive reflections on how he fought through a very difficult period.”

An informal UN Security Council straw poll for Guterres’ successor was held Friday, with sources telling Reuters that Costa Rica’s former Vice President Rebeca Grynspan has a narrow lead.

The US has yet to formally back a candidate. However, a State Department spokesperson said candidates must “publicly commit to the changes we require.”

“Any new Secretary General must return the UN to its primary purpose of maintaining peace and security in the world, rather than the absurd, politicized, woke ideology that has undermined the institution’s effectiveness,” they said.

Money, money, money

The 2026 General Assembly finds the UN on firmer financial footing than last year, when it faced a severe budget crisis as the US threatened to cut the organization off entirely.

The Trump administration appears to have reconsidered at least some of its UN skepticism. Ahead of the General Assembly, the US government sent the UN $827 million in dues — a fraction of the approximately $4 billion that the US owes the UN but a not-insignificant amount for a body that in January was facing “imminent financial collapse.”

President Donald Trump speaks during the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 23, 2025.

Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Yet the UN General Assembly has also increasingly served as a forum for its critics to question whether it matters at all. Last year, Trump asked the assembly point-blank: “What is the purpose of the United Nations?”

“It has such tremendous, tremendous potential, but it’s not even coming close to living up to that potential, for the most part,” Trump said. “At least for now, all they seem to do is write a really strongly worded letter and then never follow that letter up. It’s empty words, and empty words don’t solve war.”

Despite questions about the UN’s legitimacy and its increasing marginalization, Forti insists that the United Nations still matters.

“At this moment in world affairs, where we have more wars than in previous decades … everyone still needs a place to come together, to deconflict, to hash out the rules of the road,” the analyst said. “And quite frankly, the UN is the only organization with the legitimacy, with the legal mandates, the ability to convene every state around the world to actually tackle those things.”

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