About UNCPGA

The Council of Presidents of the United Nations General Assembly (UNCPGA) was founded in 1997 with the purpose of advising the President of the General Assembly (PGA), strengthening the Office of the President of the General Assembly (OPGA), and advancing multilateralism through a revitalized General Assembly. It serves as a repository of diplomatic expertise and a platform of support for the OPGA. The UNCPGA endeavors to promote recognition of the principles outlined in the United Nations Charter and to strengthen the work of the General Assembly with a view to fostering greater understanding, cooperation, and consensus. The UNCPGA is composed of all living former PGAs and is chaired by the former Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea, H.E. Dr. Han Seung-Soo, who served as the President of the 56th session of the UN General Assembly. H.E. President Jan Kavan, former Deputy Prime Minister of the Czech Republic and President of the 57th Session of the GA serves as Vice Chairman.

Since the UNCPGA Secretariat was established in June 2023 in New York, its Secretary-General, Dr. Jehangir Khan, has been leading a small team in supporting the work of the President of the General Assembly in mutually identified priority areas, and through him, the UNCPGA works toward advancing multilateralism and supporting the revitalization of our General Assembly. The UNCPGA Secretariat has been particularly working to increase its visibility towards the realization of its goals. Its activities range from highly visible diplomatic engagements and the institutionalization of the UNCPGA to the establishment of the “Group of Friends of the PGA” and the UNCPGA Foundation. Other activities include building partnerships with other global leadership forums and special projects.

Meetings

Since the revitalization of the UNCPGA at its meeting at UN Headquarters in New York in October 2022, the Secretariat has organized three formal meetings of the UNCPGA in Bahrain in March 2023, the Republic of Korea in October 2023, and most recently in Doha, Qatar in May 2024. These meetings have been attended by the largest number of former PGAs in UNCPGA’s history and in the case of Seoul, the current PGA attended our meeting overseas for the first time, and will be doing so again in Doha. These meetings achieved high visibility and resulted in concrete Political Declarations on major world issues.

Activities of the Group of Friends of the President of the General Assembly

In September 2022, the UNCPGA Secretariat established the “Group of Friends of the PGA,” composed of Ambassadors of all living former PGA member states, in close collaboration with the President of the UN General Assembly and the Ambassadors of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, who each hosted working luncheons for the Group of Friends, together with the President of the UN General Assembly in September 2023 and December 2023. The next working luncheon of this “Group of Friends” will be hosted by the Ambassador of Qatar in the near future and will focus on the UNCPGA Chairman’s initiative to a permanent observer status for the UNCPGA in the UN General Assembly during its forthcoming 79th session.