Jakarta. President Prabowo Subianto is set to be the third world leader to address the 80th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) later this month, speaking right after his Brazilian counterpart Lula da Silva and Donald Trump.

Brazil has always been the first traditional speaker in the debate. In the organization’s early days, Brazil had stepped up and volunteered to be the first to address the nations. The US is the second to speak by default as the host country. 

Senior diplomat Tri Tharyat revealed that Prabowo got picked as the third speaker through a draw system. This annual gathering is set to take place at the organization's headquarters in New York on September 23.

The Indonesian leader will have 15 minutes to deliver his speech, which will mainly revolve around the current global dynamics, according to Tri. This includes Israel’s recent airstrike on Qatar and the issue of Palestinian statehood. 

“We [Indonesia] will bring up our country’s priority programs in our national statement,” Tri told the press in Jakarta on Thursday. He declined to elaborate on the priority programs Prabowo will outline in the forum.

According to Tri, Indonesia will highlight the Global South, a term that refers to a group of developing economies -- a common pattern in Jakarta’s international interactions. 

The UNGA is the organization’s main policy-making body.

This will mark the first time for Indonesia to send its leader to the UNGA’s high-level session in a decade. Prabowo’s predecessor, Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, had always skipped the talks, except during the pandemic when he addressed the forum virtually. 

The upcoming New York visit sparked questions on whether Prabowo would have separate bilateral talks with Trump. Not long after the two countries announced a tariff deal, Prabowo claimed that Trump, whom he called a “tough negotiator”, wanted to have the talks in September or October. Umar Hadi, a director-general at the Foreign Affairs Ministry, neither confirms nor denies whether Prabowo would meet Trump.

“If there is any meeting, we will announce it when the time comes,” Umar said.

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