UNITED NATIONS— President Barack Obama and the leaders of some of America’s closest allies are addressing a major United Nations summit on its last day Sunday as Syria’s conflict threatens to push the stated topic, global development, onto the sidelines.
The global meeting is focused on fixing some of the world’s greatest problems through a 15-year road map to eliminate poverty and hunger. Endorsed by the U.N.’s 193 members, the plan includes fighting climate change.
Also speaking Sunday are Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and President Francois Hollande of France, who swept into a hastily arranged press conference a few minutes before the day of speeches to announce his country’s first airstrikes in Syria.
Hollande didn’t take questions after giving details about the strike on an Islamic State group training camp in eastern Syria — but when asked afterward whether this was the beginning of the end of the war in Syria, he smiled.
World leaders have already begun a whirlwind series of closed-door meetings on Syria on the U.N. sidelines. The focus of around 150 world leaders and diplomats turns Monday to the annual General Assembly high-level debate, which gives countries a chance to lay out their vision before the world.
A meeting on the sidelines Monday between Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin, who hasn’t shown up to the U.N. meeting for a decade, is one highlight.
