French president flies to New York for UN general assembly

PARIS- 18 Sep 2017: French President Emmanuel Macron headed on Monday for New York to participate in the 72nd session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, according to sources with the presidency.

Macron’s visit to New York will underscore the central role of multilateralism, especially in light of the ongoing international crises and the risk of terrorism in Syria, Libya and the Sahel region, in addition to threats to collective security, including the North Korean threat, the sources said.

The French president’s program will focus on the issues of security, environment, climate and education, the sources added.

While in New York, Macron will hold meetings on the sidelines of the UN general assembly with a number of leaders and officials, notably US President Donald Trump, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Chief Coordinator of the Syrian opposition's High Negotiations Committee (HNC) Riad Hijab.

Also, the French leader will convene with leaders of the Sahel group comprising Chad, Niger, Mauritania, Mali and Burkina Faso.

Furthermore, he will hold talks with UN Secretary General António Guterres, Chairman of the African Union (AU) Alpha Conde and European Union Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini.

Moreover, he will meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and will deliver his country’s speech at the UN general assembly.

On Wednesday, Macron will convene with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe and attend a meeting on Libya, as well as participating in an event on prohibiting the use of internet for terrorism purposes.