UN General Assembly 2026: Schedule, Speakers and Speaking Order
The UN General Assembly's yearly general debate opens September 22, 2026, in New York, with all 193 member states invited to speak. Al Jazeera
The debate runs September 22 through September 26 and resumes on September 28. There are no sessions on Sunday. The UN's official debate calendar lists the same dates as Tuesday, September 22 through Saturday, September 26 and Monday, September 28, 2026.
The larger annual session started earlier. It began September 8, 2026, when Khalilur Rahman of Bangladesh took office as president of the General Assembly. That role chairs meetings and guides procedure.
The Assembly meets twice each day, from 9 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. and from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. New York time. Speakers are asked to keep statements to 15 minutes, though the limit is voluntary. For most delegations, speaking order is set by rank of the speaker, stated preferences, and geographic balance.
The opening follows a fixed order. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the UN's top official, presents his annual report. Assembly President Rahman then formally opens the debate. Guterres is expected to give his final address as secretary-general at this session.
By custom, Brazil speaks first. The practice dates to 1955. The United States, as host country, usually speaks second. President Donald Trump is expected after Brazil on Tuesday morning around 9:45 a.m. local time.
Participation goes beyond the 193 members. The Holy See, the State of Palestine and the European Union are also invited to take part. Nearly 130 heads of state and government are expected at the podium when the high-level debate opens. The UN calls the General Debate the annual meeting of Heads of State and Government. UN High-Level Week
The published entries show the range of rank. The UN debate site lists Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva as president of Brazil, Abdullah II ibn Al Hussein as king of Jordan, Recep Tayyip Erdogan as president of Turkiye, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani as amir of Qatar, and Emmanuel Macron as president of France. It lists Guillaume of Luxembourg as grand duke of Luxembourg, Takaichi Sanae as prime minister of Japan, Khurelsukh Ukhnaa as the speaker for Mongolia, Lee Jae Myung as the speaker for the Republic of Korea, and Jennifer Geerlings-Simons as the speaker for Suriname. It also lists Keiko Sofia Fujimori Higuchi as president of Peru and Jose Antonio Kast as president of Chile. UN General Debate
One statement will take a different form. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will address the Assembly by prerecorded video after the U.S. denied visas to Palestinian officials and member states voted to allow it.
The end of the week shows how the list widens beyond top leaders. The provisional list places Saint Lucia, at minister level, in the Friday, September 25 morning session from 9 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. It places Jamaica, at minister level, in the Monday, September 28 morning session from 9 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. The theme for the 81st session is "Restoring trust, managing transformation: a United Nations that delivers for all". The UN posts a daily speakers list with links to pages for each speaker as soon as possible. That list and all speaker pages appear in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.
The broader context here is that diplomats read the schedule as a signal, not only as a timetable. Rank often says as much as the speech text, because presidents and prime ministers, ministers and ambassadors do not carry the same weight. Timing matters too. An early slot on opening day brings a larger audience and more press attention, while a minister-level slot on the final Monday points to working-level engagement.
In my view, experts will watch two procedural points closely. The first is the prerecorded address, since the debate is built around physical presence and any exception needs collective consent. The second is the secretary-general's farewell report, which tends to frame how the Secretariat wants its record understood as leadership changes.
