Biden will use last speech to UN to say he has restored US leadership on world stage

Biden will deliver his final address to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday

U.S. President Joe Biden walks to Marine One as he departs for New York, at the White House in Washington, U.S., September 23, 2024. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein (REUTERS)

President Joe Biden will use his final address to the United Nations General Assembly to highlight how his efforts to “restore American leadership on the world stage” have produced “results” and “real achievements for the American people and the world,” according to a senior administration official.

Biden is set to address the UN gathering on Tuesday at 10 a.m., the second day of the 79th annual gathering of the international organization. Because he has withdrawn from the 2024 presidential election and is not seeking a second term, it will be his last chance to deliver remarks before the yearly assemblage of world leaders.

He is also set to speak leader in the day to the Bloomberg Global Business Forum and deliver an address that is expected to make the case for a future that focuses on building up US manufacturing and infrastructure and rebuilding the American middle class.

On Monday, he dropped by the Clinton Global Initiative where he was awarded the CGI’s Global Citizen Award from former president Bill Clinton. He is also scheduled to speak to the Global Coalition to Address Synthetic Drug Threats later on Tuesday.

A senior administration official told reporters that Biden’s schedule for the General Assembly “reflect[s] his vision for a world where countries come together to solve big problems.”

U.S. President Joe Biden and former U.S. President Bill Clinton gesture on the day that Biden is presented with the Clinton Global Citizen Award during the Clinton Global initiative in New York City, U.S., September 23, 2024. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY (REUTERS)

“This stands in contrast to some of our competitors, who have a more cynical and transactional worldview,” the official added, in what appeared to be a thinly veiled swipe not just at the Republican presidential nominee, former president Donald Trump, but the leaders of authoritarian countries for whom Trump has expressed admiration.

Those countries, he said, “interpret their self-interest very narrowly and don’t work together for the common good.”

The official also said the “overarching theme” of the General Assembly this week “will be the need to reform and strengthen global institutions — including the UN — to make them more effective and inclusive.”

“We’re going into a General Assembly this year with the world facing many steep challenges, with some so big, no one country can solve them on their own. That’s why the President feels so strongly. The world needs strong and effective global institutions, including an effective United Nations,” the official said. “This is his vision of countries working together. That’s been a theme of his presidency and an important part of his legacy.”

In addition to his speech to the General Assembly on Tuesday morning, Biden is also expected to meet with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to discuss “how the United States and the United Nations are working together to advance peace, safeguard human rights and help countries develop.”

The next day, he is set to meet with the president of Vietnam for what an official described as “an important opportunity for the two leaders to talk about our shared interest in stability and prosperity in Southeast Asia,” as well as participate at a meeting focused on the reconstruction of Ukraine alongside other world leaders.

Later on Wednesday, he will host a reception at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art for world leaders and senior UN officials.

The senior administration official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity, said the engagements described are “just a small slice of all the diplomacy and business that we’re doing here at the UN General Assembly.”

“There’ll be high-level meetings on the future of multilateral cooperation, sea level rise, antimicrobial resistance, really every big, major challenge will be addressed here, and we’ll have senior US representatives at all of these main events on issues such as the impact of emerging technology and specific meetings on global crises such as the difficult situation in Haiti … Venezuela, Ukraine, Syria, and the Rohingya refugee crisis,” they said.

“We’re going to use this high-level week, the President’s last UN General Assembly, to get as much done for the American people in the coming days.”