Eurasia Press & News
Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic will be among the first speakers to address the UN General Assembly at the opening ceremony later in September.President Nikolic is flying to New York at the end of September to address the United Nations General Assembly.
Vuk Jeremic, the former foreign minister and the new chairman of the UN General Asembly, has confirmed the information.“The opening of the UN General Assembly is a formal ceremony, and the tradition established in 1946 is that the first speaker to address the participants is the representative of Brazil, after whom the president of the host country addresses the UNGA (Barack Obama of the US), and this year, after them, the Assembly will be addressed by Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic,” he said.
Jeremic said this was a first for Serbia and an indication of the respect that the country has obtained in the UN after it won the UNGA chair.
On June 8, Jeremic became the first Serb to preside over the UN General Assembly.
He is to leave for New York in early September to prepare for the official beginning of his task as General Assembly chairman on September 18.
His team includes four diplomats, led by Dejan Sahovic, Serbia’s ambassador to Hungary, who was Serbian ambassador to the UN when the late Zoran Djindjic was Prime Minister.
Jeremic is also having talks with former foreign ministers of Italy and Spain, Franco Frattini and Miguel Angel Moratinis, as he is considering including them among his advisors.
The debate at the General Assembly is to start on September 24.
Jeremic confirmed that the high council of the UNGA chairman will comprise former Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov and other experienced diplomats from Spain, South Africa, Turkey and Switzerland.
