At disparaged UNGA, moments of progress and common ground
For Maimouna Dieye, Minister of Senegal of the Family and Solidarity, the annual rally in New York of hundreds of world leaders and thousands of diplomats at the United Nations is a question of cooperation, dialogue and to resolve the pressing challenges of the world.
“Like everyone, I hear about the failures of the UN and the decreased relevance, but for me, it turns attention from the important work that is happening here,” she said.
Ms. Dieye had just chaired a ministerial conference on women, family and development on Wednesday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, simply known as Unga, before offering this journalist his thoughts.
Why we wrote this
The United Nations Annual General Assembly attracts usual grotes to the usefulness and focus of such a giant gathering. But a quick glance behind the curtain finds cooperation, dialogue and a commitment to “a better life for many”.
“In Unga, we share ideas and practices that have improved people’s lives in our countries, and over time, this exchange leads to a better life for many. This is perhaps not what attracts a lot of attention, “she adds,” but it is cooperation and dialogue that have an impact. “
Complaints concerning the relevance of the United Nations, the usefulness of a giant rally like Unga, and the groan on a disproportionate focus on the speeches of some leaders – the more attention – the more common – is common – are common on the first global diplomatic observations.
This year was not different.
The prolonged discourse of the prolonged flow of consciousness of President Donald Trump on Tuesday, in which he ridiculed multilateralism and the key problems in folding the global climate change agenda to the fate of refugee populations, distant the spotlight from other UNGA events.
Echoing the feelings of his boss, Secretary of State Marco Rubio did not do much to harm his contempt for Unga so Tuesday, he described the American role in the activities of the week on Fox News.
“It’s just a place [where] Once a year, a bunch of people meet and say speeches, and write a lot of letters and statements, but not many good and good deeds that happen, “he said.
And yet on Wednesday only Wednesday, the Unga of Mr. Rubio’s UNGA included nearly a dozen bilateral meetings with leaders and chief diplomats – including one with the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov – a ministerial meeting on Indo -Pacific Maritime Security (China, listen?) And a work dinner with transatlantic colleagues.
And it was only the American Secretary of State.
During a press conference last week, this year’s UNGA preview, Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UNUS Secretary General António Guterres, said 193 delegations, including 89 heads of state, 43 heads, a crown prince and five vice-presidents, were planned. More than 1,640 bilateral meetings were planned for the hall of the building of the General Assembly.
Indeed, it sometimes happens as long as some other remarkable moments go almost unnoticed.
One occurred on Monday on the sidelines of UNGA on Monday when the retirement of General David Petraeus interviewed Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa on the scene of the Concordia summit, a high-level annual dialogue in downtown Manhattan.
What made the event so striking is that General Petraeus commanded American forces in Iraq who imprisoned Mr. Al-Sharaa when he was an Al-Qaeda fighter.
“We went from war to speech,” Al-Sharaa told General Petraeus.
The first Syrian president to attend the United Nations Rally in six decades, Mr. Al-Sharaa took his case to relieve the sanctions for his country to the UNGA scene.
And he had one of these bilateral meetings “not many good and important” with secretary Rubio.
Press office for the Syrian Presidency / AP
It is easy to make fun of Unga – although New York certainly does not do it, the event would have strengthened the city economy by $ 5 billion – with exempt and innumerable conferences like that that Ms. Dieye has chaired.
President Trump Lambast The UN to no longer fulfill one of his main missions, that of resolving international conflicts. But perhaps one of the attributes of UNGA is in its best, it has the capacity to arouse fortuitous moments which reveal common ground between the world leaders who, otherwise, seem to have little use for each other.
Trump acknowledged that he had such a moment when he changed his Unga speech to tell his audience that he had just crossed behind the scenes with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva – and he had immediately loved the guy.
American-Brazil relations deteriorated strongly during Mr. Trump’s second term and following the conviction of former president Jair Bolsonaro, a friend of Trump and a soul mate, to have tried to foment a military coup. The United States has slapped punitive prices on Brazilian products and imposed sanctions on the judge in the Bolsonaro case and his family.
“At least for 39 seconds, we had excellent chemistry,” said Trump about the meeting of the Brazilian president, known popularly under the name of Lula, adding that the meeting included an embrace. “It’s a good sign.”
Indeed, Trump said that the meeting of half a minute had included an agreement of the two ideological opposites to meet soon – a little news confirmed during a press conference on Wednesday.
“What seemed impossible, now is possible,” said the Brazilian chief, adding that a meeting could occur next week.
Note that he felt an opening to the dialogue when Mr. Trump appeared before he looked “friendly, very pleasant,” continued Lula: “I said to President Trump:” We have a lot to say, and a lot of common interests. … there is no limit to our conversation. ” »»
It was a common ground, found graciousness of the Unga.
