President Pavel leaves for UN General Assembly

President Petr Pavel departed for the USA on Sunday, where he will lead the Czech delegation during the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Along with the president, the delegation will also include Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský, who will deliver a speech regarding the upcoming Summit of the Future. The main topics at the assembly are expected to be the war in Ukraine and climate change.

The President's program will begin on Monday when he is due to give a speech at a summit about the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. He will also speak the following two days, as part of the General Debate of the UN General Assembly on Tuesday and during an open debate at the UN Security Council meeting on Ukraine on Wednesday. A tense atmosphere is expected at the latter event as Russian and Ukrainian representatives will likely both be there. It has been announced that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will also attend the General Assembly; however, it is not yet certain whether he will participate in the Security Council meeting.

Pavel also has about a dozen bilateral meetings planned on the sidelines of the assembly, including with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, UN Secretary-General António Guterres, and Liechtenstein's Grand Duke Hans Adam II. He will also meet with members of the American Jewish community and with General John Allen.

A gala dinner will be held on Wednesday on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the creation of the independent Czech and Slovak Republics, at which Pavel and Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová are due to give short speeches. The president will end his trip with a tour of the American branch of the Czech arms holding company Colt CZ Group in Hartford, formerly the well-known American arms manufacturer Colt, which was bought in 2021 by Česká zbrojovka Group SE.