Lead Editor Politics
akash.samaroo@cnc3.co.tt
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar will address the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on September 26. Before that, she confirmed that the annual Republic Day national awards ceremony will take place and that she will be in attendance.
The 80th session of the UNGA opened on September 9, 2025, at the UN headquarters in New York City. The session’s theme is “Better together: 80 years and more for peace, development and human rights,” emphasising global cooperation and the urgency of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The High-Level General Debate, where heads of state and government deliver their addresses, begins on September 23, 2025.
Earlier this week, the PM confirmed to Guardian Media that she would be in attendance; however, dates will be finalised next week.
This will mark her first overseas travel since being elected to office on April 28.
As she spoke with journalists on her way into the Parliament yesterday, Persad-Bissessar said she had many items on her agenda.
“There are several multilateral meetings that I will engage in and several bilateral. There are several where Caricom will engage with other nations: India, China, several others. We have bilaterals with Ghana, about seven or eight on the margins of the UNGA. My actual address to the UN will be on Friday the 26th,” the PM said.
Last week, the PM also confirmed a face-to-face discussion with US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau will also take place.
The PM said she would leave for the US after Republic Day (September 24).
“I will be here for Republic Day. I would have liked to go (to the UNGA) earlier because there’s a whole week of high-level meetings, but I actually have to speak on the Friday, and I’ll stay home here to participate in Republic Day and the awards ceremony. And thereafter we’ll have what I’m calling the bilaterals, multilaterals.”
The PM said a full agenda would be released in the coming days.
