Secretary-General António Guterres (left) and Volkan Bozkir, President of the seventy-fifth session of the United Nations General Assembly, speak ahead of the start of the General Assembly high-level meeting to commemorate the seventy-fifth anniversary of the United Nations. UN Photo

UNGA 2020: UN General Assembly schedule



The 75th United Nationals General Assembly kicked off on September 15 under unprecedented circumstances.

This year’s event will be marked by a number of new Covid-19 protocols, including video addresses, silent voting, face masks and social distancing.

The highlight of the assembly is the week-long general debate, which provides all 193 member states with a platform to address the United Nations body.

Each day of the General Assembly general debate runs in two parts. The morning session starts at 9am (Coordinated Universal Time-5), and runs until 2.45pm. The afternoon sessions start at 3pm and run until 9pm.

Ahead of the general debate, The National has compiled the provisional schedule of speakers:

Tuesday, September 29

Morning 

1. Iceland

2. San Marino

3. UAE

4. Germany

5. Belize

6. Romania

7. Eritrea

8. Myanmar

9. Maldives

10. Montenegro

11. Mauritania

12. Oman

13. Israel

14. Benin

15. Nicaragua

16. Guatemala

17. Dominica

18. Tunisia

Afternoon

1. El Salvador

2. Grenada

3. Barbados

4. Cameroon

5. New Zealand

6. North Korea

7. Uganda

8. Togo

9. Tanzania

______________________

Already spoken

Tuesday, September 22:

Morning

1. Brazil

2. United States

3. Turkey

4. China

5. Chile

6. South Africa

7. Cuba

8. Russia

9. Jordan

10. South Korea

11. Qatar

12. Philippines

13. Iran

14. France

Afternoon

1. Colombia

2. Turkmenistan

3. Egypt

4. Tajikistan

5. Mexico

6. Uruguay

7. Seychelles

8. Rwanda

9. Angola

10. Argentina

11. Latvia

12. Lithuania

13. Nigeria

14. Costa Rica

15. Guatemala

16. Sri Lanka

17. Indonesia

18. Peru

19. Congo

Wednesday, September 23

Morning

1. Bosnia And Herzegovina

2. Uzbekistan

3. Hungary

4. Kazakhstan

5. Saudi Arabia

6. North Macedonia

7. Ghana

8. Benin

9. Mozambique

10. Iraq

11. Finland

12. Kyrgyzstan

13. Palau

14. Moldova

15. Algeria

16. Honduras

17. Lebanon

18. Slovakia

19. Kenya

20. Zambia

Afternoon

1. Ecuador

2. Bolivia

3. Ukraine

4. Nicaragua

5. Suriname

6. Switzerland

7. Serbia

8. Guyana

9. Paraguay

10. Afghanistan

11. Poland

12. Dominican Republic

13. Venezuela

14. Panama

15. Mongolia

16. Togo

17. Chad

18. Liberia

Thursday, September 24

Morning

1. Niger

2. Cote D'Ivoire

3. Albania

4. Cyprus

5. Slovenia

6. Monaco

7. Yemen

8. Burkina Faso

9. Estonia

10. Malawi

11. Congo

12. Dominica

13. Bahrain

14. Botswana

16. Guinea

16. Gambia

17. Gabon

18. Libya

Afternoon

1. Sierra Leone

2. Azerbaijan

3. Namibia

4. Equatorial Guinea

5. Haiti

6. Brunei

7. Zimbabwe

8. El Salvador

9. Timor Leste

10. Mali

11. Sao Tome and Principe

12. Comoros

13. Tanzania

14. Nauru

15. Guinea-Bissau

16. Somalia

17. Central African Republic

18. Marshall Islands

Friday, September 25

Morning

1. Micronesia

2. Holy See

3. Palestine

4. European Union

5. Netherlands

6. Nepal

7. Georgia

8. Czech Republic

9. Greece

10. Croatia

11. Italy

12. Armenia

13. Pakistan

14. Kuwait

15. Tuvalu

16. Spain

Afternoon

1. Portugal

2. Bulgaria

3. Ethiopia

4. Denmark

5. Luxembourg

6. Thailand

7. Canada

8. Antigua and Barbuda

9. Australia

10. Bhutan

11. Japan

12. Malta

13. Papua New Guinea

14. Eswatini

15.Tonga

16. Chad

Saturday, September 26

Morning

1. India

2. Mauritius

3. Andorra

4. United Kingdom

5. Bangladesh

6. Fiji

7. Malaysia

8. Cambodia

9. Norway

10. Solomon Islands

11. Jamaica

12. Samoa

13. Lesotho

14. Sweden

15. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines

16. Lao

17. Belgium

18. Ireland

19. Morocco

Afternoon

1. Saint Kitts and Nevis

2. Saint Lucia

3. Trinidad and Tobago

4. Bahamas

5. Sudan

6. Vanuatu

7. Cabo Verde

8. Madagascar

9. Syria

10. Singapore

11. Senegal

12. Liechtenstein

13. Austria

14. Belarus

UAE jiu-jitsu squad

Men: Hamad Nawad and Khalid Al Balushi (56kg), Omar Al Fadhli and Saeed Al Mazroui (62kg), Taleb Al Kirbi and Humaid Al Kaabi (69kg), Mohammed Al Qubaisi and Saud Al Hammadi (70kg), Khalfan Belhol and Mohammad Haitham Radhi (85kg), Faisal Al Ketbi and Zayed Al Kaabi (94kg)

Women: Wadima Al Yafei and Mahra Al Hanaei (49kg), Bashayer Al Matrooshi and Hessa Al Shamsi (62kg)

How does ToTok work?

The calling app is available to download on Google Play and Apple App Store

To successfully install ToTok, users are asked to enter their phone number and then create a nickname.

The app then gives users the option add their existing phone contacts, allowing them to immediately contact people also using the application by video or voice call or via message.

Users can also invite other contacts to download ToTok to allow them to make contact through the app.

 

In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe

Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010

Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille

Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm

Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year

Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”

Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners

TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013 

Keep it fun and engaging

Stuart Ritchie, director of wealth advice at AES International, says children cannot learn something overnight, so it helps to have a fun routine that keeps them engaged and interested.

“I explain to my daughter that the money I draw from an ATM or the money on my bank card doesn’t just magically appear – it’s money I have earned from my job. I show her how this works by giving her little chores around the house so she can earn pocket money,” says Mr Ritchie.

His daughter is allowed to spend half of her pocket money, while the other half goes into a bank account. When this money hits a certain milestone, Mr Ritchie rewards his daughter with a small lump sum.

He also recommends books that teach the importance of money management for children, such as The Squirrel Manifesto by Ric Edelman and Jean Edelman.

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At a glance

Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.

 

Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year

 

Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month

 

Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30 

 

Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse

 

Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth

 

Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

The White Lotus: Season three

Creator: Mike White

Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell

Rating: 4.5/5