UNGA 2026: Wars, AI fears and UN reform dominate as world leaders gather in NYC – What else in on the agenda?

Nearly 130 global leaders are attending the high-level meeting at the United Nations in person this week to deliver their message to the world.

From 22 to 28 September these leaders, including India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, will speak at the General Debate of the 81st session of United Nations General Assembly. The theme this year is “Restoring trust, managing transformation: a United Nations that delivers for all”.

The general debate is the annual meeting of global leaders at the beginning of the General Assembly session. It is usually the first debate of the session and – with the exception of the high-level meetings – the only one in which Heads of State and Government regularly participate, the UNGA website says.

The general debate takes place in the General Assembly Hall at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, US.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is leading the Indian delegation at the debate. Jaishankar is scheduled to address the High Level Session on 26 September.

Under the global cloud of wars.

The UNGA meeting of world leaders is taking plae under a global cloud of wars and bitter divisions amid new fears that runaway artificial intelligence could threaten humanity even as climate shocks and escalating prices are already making life much tougher for hundreds of millions of people, news agency AP said.

The week-long annual gathering is expeceted to be consumed with major wars in Iran, Gaza, Ukraine,Sudan, Congo and Myanmar and a persisting question.

Other issues to feature include the rise of global warming threatening the future of the planet, the growing inequalities within and among nations, and shocks to the global economy as blocked shipping routes and supply chains increase the cost of living and slow growth, the news agency said.

The future of the United Nations will also definitely be on the agenda.

81st Session of UNGA

At 81, its powers are still the victorious nations from World War II, not the 21st century’s major global players. The UN’s 193 member nations have agreed to a wide-ranging reform package that includes updating key institutions such as the powerful UN Security Council, where the US, Russia, China, Britain and France hold inordinate sway because of their veto power. Reform, however, is easier said than implemented.

There will be speculation about who will lead the United Nations next. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ second five-year term ends December 31 and no clear successor has emerged, AP said.

Prominent speakers and schedule

US President Donald Trump and French President Emanuel Macron are scheduled to speak on Tuesday, 22 September, after Guterres’ opening “state of the world” address. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian speak Wednesday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom New York Mayor Zoran Mamdani wanted arrested for his treatment of Palestinians in Gaza until he learned he has no such authority, will address the assembly on 24 September .

For a second year, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas won’t be coming to the UN because the US has refused to give him a visa. He will nonetheless address the assembly by video the same day.

Trump-Xi meeting on the sidelines

On the UNGA sidelines, China’s President Xi Jinping is meeting Trump in Washington on Wednesday. Some diplomats quoted by AP suggested that President Trump is skipping the UN gathering and sending a vice president JD Vance instead. Russian President Vladimir Putin isn’t coming either, and India is being represented by EAM Jaishankar.

France’s UN ambassador, Jerome Bonnafont, said it is “extremely critical” for world leaders this week to support the UN as the place where the world’s nations meet — especially at a time of such polarization.

“We believe in multilateralism,” he said, “and we believe that the high-level week is the occasion for countries in the world to reaffirm that they prefer cooperation and dialogue to confrontation.”

AI is pushing toward the center of the agenda

Days before the UNGA gathering, leaders of three major AI companies warned about the technology getting out of human control and called for a pause. President Trump, however, dismissed their concerns as “a hoax,” and urged continued advances to keep the US ahead of China.

This comes at a time when future of artificial intelligence has pushed to the forefront of global concerns, with its speeding advances and the dawning recognition that there are no industry controls, let alone any global guardrails for a technology that has many advantages but also many disadvantages and unknowns, AP said.

The UN Security Council added a high-level meeting on AI to its agenda on Wednesday afternoon, a sign of the growing apprehension and need to address the issue. It was already slated to hold a high-level meeting on Ukraine with Zelenskyy on Wednesday morning.

What is UNGA?

The UN General Assembly (UNGA) is the main policy-making organ of the UN. Comprising all Member States, it provides a unique forum for multilateral discussion of the full spectrum of international issues covered by the Charter of the United Nations. Each of the 193 Member States of the United Nations has an equal vote.

The UNGA also makes key decisions for the UN, including: appointing the Secretary-General on the recommendation of the Security Council electing the non-permanent members of the Security Council approving the UN budget

The Assembly meets in regular sessions from September to December each year, and thereafter as required. It discusses specific issues through dedicated agenda items or sub-items, which lead to the adoption of resolutions.

Last UN assembly for chief

For the UN chief, this will be his last assembly meeting with global leaders. He previewed his speech last week, telling UN reporters that power is shifting in “an era of deep uncertainty.”

“At a time when the world faces three existential threats,” he said, “international cooperation is more necessary than ever.”

Others will be vying for the spotlight on issues from rising sea levels and funding education to the fight for gender equality. Hundreds of private meetings will also convene in UN cubicles, hotels, diplomatic missions and restaurants.

Esther Brimmer, a senior fellow in global governance at the Council on Foreign Relations and former US assistant secretary of state for international organization affairs in the Obama administration told AP that in-person meetings can help countries hash out ideas that get implemented months later.

She called the situation in 2026 “much more serious and complex than in decades past.”

“With that said, I’m also not without hope as well,” Brimmer said. “Over the past decades we’ve learned a lot about international cooperation.”

US TV networks boycott Trump

US television networks staged a protest on 21 September (local time)when they effectively boycotted coverage of President Donald Trump in protest at his decision to ban three leading outlets from the White House.

CNN, MS NOW and Politico also went to court after Trump on Friday ordered them to be barred, as the 80-year-old Republican stepped up his years-long assault on the US media.

The move means there will be no television coverage of Trump’s trip on Monday (local time) to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where he is due to meet a series of foreign leaders.