This year’s United Nations General Assembly will be held virtually next week with President Moon Jae-in set to be one of the first state leaders to deliver a speech. 

South Korea’s Permanent Mission to the U.N. announced on Tuesday that the 75th session of the U.N. General Assembly will open next Tuesday.  

This year, the General Assembly will be held virtually for the first time ever due to the COVID-19 pandemic. State leaders were encouraged to submit a pre-recorded video which will be played in the General Assembly Hall. 

The General Debate, which is considered the highlight of the assembly, will be held from September 22 to 26, as well as the 29.  

The debate, which involves speeches delivered by state leaders, will be held under the theme “The future we want, the United Nations we need: Reaffirming our collective commitment to multilateralism – Confronting COVID-19 through effective multilateral action”. 

U.S. President Donald Trump is the only state leader who is set to personally attend the debate and deliver his speech.  

President Moon’s speech is scheduled to play on the first day of the debate. He’s expected to introduce South Korea’s response to COVID-19 and call for a united, global response and cooperation to combat the pandemic. 

Moon is the ninth in terms of the order of speakers. In current practice, the representative of Brazil speaks first followed by the representative of the United States, the representative of the country where the assembly president is from, and then representatives of the five regional groups.