Donald Trump arrives late for UNGA speech, misses traditional slot as 2nd speaker

United Nations, Sep 25: The US President is traditionally the second speaker after Brazil to address the General Debate in the high-level UN General Assembly session, but President Donald Trump broke the tradition as he arrived late to the UN for his speech and missed his slot to speak.

Brazil's President Michel Temer addressed the General Debate as the high-level session of the 73rd UN General Assembly opened here Tuesday. In current practice, after the opening of the meeting by the President of the General Assembly, the Secretary-General makes a statement, followed by the President of the General Assembly and then the representatives of Brazil and the United States.

The US President speaks second but Trump arrived late for the General Debate and President of the current session of the General Assembly Maria Fernanda Espinosa had to call Ecuador President Lenín Moreno to address the General Debate.

Trump’s motorcade pulled in late in the UN building and as he was headed to the General Assembly hall, he stopped for a few minutes to address reporters stationed at the delegates' entrance in the General Assembly building. At the General Debate, Member States take turns delivering speeches and are given a right of reply when required. Since the 10th session in 1955, Brazil has spoken first and the United States has spoken second, with a few exceptions. At the 38th (1983) and 39th (1984) sessions, the United States spoke first and Brazil spoke second. At the 71st session, on September 20, 2016, Chad spoke second due to the delay in arrival of the President of the United States.

According to the UN Protocol and Liaison Services, during the Organisation’s early years, no one ever wanted to be the first to speak, and Brazil always ended up volunteering to go first. This has now become a tradition. The second spot goes to the host country (the US), and then the order of speakers follows a complex algorithm reflecting level of representation, geographical balance, the order in which the request to speak was recorded, and other considerations.

PTI