United States President Joe Biden heads to the UN General Assembly in New York next week, where he will try to consolidate international support for Ukraine. But as VOA correspondent Patsy Widakuswara reports, many countries in the global south are seeking to draw attention to development challenges and other international crises.
After his historic visit to Vietnam and the meeting of the world’s 20 most developed countries in India, President Joe Biden will again engage with world leaders, this time at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. He is expected to seek support for Ukraine, as he did last year.
“This war is aimed at extinguishing Ukraine’s right to exist as a state, and Ukraine’s right to exist as a people,” President Biden said during his address to the UN General Assembly last year.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky plans to attend this year’s meeting to drum up support for his country.
He will meet with President Biden at the White House on Thursday.
Although Ukraine is the main concern, President Biden will also deal with Southern Hemisphere concerns, including the climate crisis, poverty and the plight of refugees.
“These are related issues because Russian aggression in Ukraine has caused consequences that affect food security, energy security and other damage to countries around the world. Ending this war fairly, on the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity, would serve not only the Ukrainian people, but peoples everywhere,” said Jake Sullivan, US National Security Advisor.
Mr. Biden also plans to meet with the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Chinese leader Xi Jingping met with Central Asian leaders earlier this year.
“We do not see this as competition with China for influence in these countries. We see it as strengthening a relationship we already have,” says Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US ambassador to the UN.
President Biden will hold bilateral meetings with several world leaders, including the incoming president of the G20, Brazilian President Lula da Silva.
He will also meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The US has criticized the hard-line policies of Mr Netanyahu’s government, including a plan to reform the judiciary, which critics say is a danger to Israel’s democracy.