New York - The United Nations on Wednesday released a list of world leaders scheduled to attend the General Assembly in September, which is shaping up to be the largest such gathering at a UN conference. When the UN General Assembly opens its 64th annual session on September 23 in New York, a total of 28 presidents are to speak on the first day, many of them first timers. The list includes US President Barack Obama, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Libyan President Muammar al Gaddafi. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will speak on September 24.
Gaddafi's presence is likely linked to the fact that the new president of the 192-nation assembly is Ali Treki, the former Libyan ambassador to the UN. Gaddafi shunned the world organization after his government was implicated in the bombing of a Pan American plane over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, in which more than 250 people died.
The large number of presidents is because of two major events in addition to the assembly session.
A summit on climate change will be held on September 22 at UN headquarters, during which world leaders will be called on to agree to demands in a draft new Kyoto Protocol before the final meeting in Copenhagen in December.
Many heads of state and government will go to Pittsburgh on September 24 for a two-day meeting of the Group of 20, a follow-up to its London meeting in April.
