The United Nations announced that the high-level discussion sessions of its General Assembly at its 76th session, which ended on Monday, witnessed the participation of 191 countries out of a total of 193 member states of the United Nations.
“191 member states participated in the high plenary session this year, out of the 193 member states,” said Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General, at a press conference held on Tuesday at the organization’s headquarters in New York.
Afghanistan and Myanmar were absent from those meetings.
Haq added, “This included 99 heads of state, 3 vice presidents, 51 prime ministers, and one deputy prime minister, and 34 member states were represented at the ministerial level and 3 at the level of heads of delegations.”
He continued, “18 women were among the high-level participants, while 81 statements were recorded from previously recorded data, including those of 42 heads of state, 30 heads of government, one vice president and five ministers.”
With regard to bilateral meetings, the Deputy Spokesperson explained that “Secretary-General Antonio Guterres held 113 meetings this year, starting from last weekend until Monday.”
During this week, the Secretary-General held 113 high-level bilateral meetings with leaders and leaders of world countries, compared to 135, 130 and 139 bilateral meetings in 2017, 2018 and 2019, respectively. While all meetings and sessions of the high-level week last year (2020) were held remotely due to the outbreak of the Corona pandemic.
