Today's episode was recorded on Wednesday, September 21 and under normal circumstances the President of the United States, as host of the UN, would have addressed the General Assembly yesterday. But because of the Queen’s funeral in London at the start of the week, the United States traded speaking slots with Senegal. Meaning today was the day of President Biden’s much anticipated address to the General Assembly.
Shortly after President Biden’s speech concluded, we spoke with Richard Gowan, the UN Director of the International Crisis Group and Anjali Dayal professor of International Relations at Fordham University and Senior Scholar in residence at the US Institute of Peace. We kick off discussing highlights from Biden’s address before turning to other key speeches and events driving the diplomatic agenda at UNGA this week.
Next, we speak with Kate Dodson, Vice President for Global Health at the United Nations Foundation. She had just come from a key meeting on Pandemic preparedness and response, which we discuss.