Optics on Day 4 of UNGA , why it is important to speak earlier and vamoose!
The ultimate audience of the United Nations General Assembly ( UNGA)’ s General Debate is not the people inside the auditorium alone but in this 21st century the entire globe connected virtually to the proceedings through various application tools including cellphones . The earlier one speaks and goes back to National business the better , because whether the room is full or not the President’ s Speech must be placed as a matter of record , virtually or physically.
The most subscribed segment is the official opening ceremony in which the President of the General Assembly, a foreign minister in this case ,the 81st Session - Bangladesh leads the proceedings followed by the traditional first Speaker , Brazil , the United States as the Host and back to the President of the Session to invite Countries to present .
Countries express their revulsion of each other’ s policy thrusts by walking out on a Speaker , and this visibly happened in the case of Israel not for the first time but has been a recurrent trend over the years over its conduct towards the Palestinian question . Cuba , Zimbabwe in the past have experienced this treatment . It’s not coincidence with these three because of various sanctions dispositions towards them , Iran itself included .
It is not unusual to address what may appear like an empty auditorium as it is a function of timing of a running order , tea and lunch breaks or especially the room emptying after the official segment which is accompanied by lots of hustle and bustle as delegates corner each other for unavoidable contact , photo opportunities and scheduled meetings - lots of corridor diplomacy and meetings and very disruptive to the running order itself .
The value of attendance by a Country , is often counted as the number of bilateral meetings it participates in & outcomes / decisions often requiring State visits and elaborate planning if it was done outside the General Assembly. It is also in multilateral conferences and meetings running concurrently to the General Debate itself . So many countries plan well ahead to kill two birds with one stone during the GA and avoid the attendant costs of bilateral State and Official visits . This often informs the composite and diverse nature of UNGA delegations , multi sectoral and inter ministerial.
Countries often stay on before and after their Principal’ s presentation led by the Foreign Minister to pursue meetings , lobbying their policy thrusts and generally discussing their country business interests and opportunities .
The UNGA is by all accounts the largest meeting under the MICE strategy of any Nation and very multifaceted and its success can therefore not be measured by a singular variable which is auditorium audience during its Principal’ s Debate slot .