  {"id":20322,"date":"2023-12-11T03:00:05","date_gmt":"2023-12-11T03:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/about\/?post_type=futures-platform&#038;p=20322"},"modified":"2026-02-04T17:19:30","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T09:19:30","slug":"an-interview-with-the-president-of-the-united-nations-general-assembly","status":"publish","type":"futures-platform","link":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/about\/futures-platform\/an-interview-with-the-president-of-the-united-nations-general-assembly\/","title":{"rendered":"An Interview with the President of the United Nations General Assembly"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Âé¶¹Ö±²¥ was proud to host His Excellency Dennis Francis, President of the United Nations General Assembly for an online interview reflecting on the future of the United Nations and his priorities as President. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The interview, held in November 2023 was moderated by Adil Cader, Foreign Affairs Podcast host and Curtin Academic. Discussing the future of the United Nations, his Excellency also took time to offer advice to students seeking a career in diplomacy. Questions included in the interview were submitted by current students of Âé¶¹Ö±²¥.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>President Francis reflected on some of the world\u2019s most pressing challenges the United Nations has encountered. Offering an insight on how such challenges can be managed, and the way forward. Speaking not only from the view of the United Nations, but an experienced diplomat, <em>Global Futures <\/em>will benefit from hearing first-hand how senior officials handle international challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n<mimas-block \n        block-name=\"video-panel\"\n        role=\"complementary\"\n        aria-label=\"Video panel\"\n        data-variant=\"0\"\n        data-type=\"short\"\n        data-segment=\"all\">\n\n    \n\n    \n<a class=\"video\" href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/DI34WBqrSiw?si=LVNvEpGILHFhWI4H?mute=1\" target=\"_blank\" data-fancybox data-ratio=\"16:9\" data-options='{\"smallBtn\" : \"true\"}'>\n                \n        <div class=\"video__button\" data-variant=\"large\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\"\n                src=\"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/about\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2023\/12\/Dennis-Frances-Photo-2-Credit-UN-Image-e1702262051595.jpg\"\n                alt=\" - play video\"\n                srcset=\"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/about\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2023\/12\/Dennis-Frances-Photo-2-Credit-UN-Image-e1702262051595-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/about\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2023\/12\/Dennis-Frances-Photo-2-Credit-UN-Image-e1702262051595-740x370.jpg 740w, https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/about\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2023\/12\/Dennis-Frances-Photo-2-Credit-UN-Image-e1702262051595-768x397.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/about\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2023\/12\/Dennis-Frances-Photo-2-Credit-UN-Image-e1702262051595-1000x500.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/about\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2023\/12\/Dennis-Frances-Photo-2-Credit-UN-Image-e1702262051595.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/about\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2023\/12\/Dennis-Frances-Photo-2-Credit-UN-Image-e1702262051595.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/about\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2023\/12\/Dennis-Frances-Photo-2-Credit-UN-Image-e1702262051595-480x240.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/about\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2023\/12\/Dennis-Frances-Photo-2-Credit-UN-Image-1200x630.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/about\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2023\/12\/Dennis-Frances-Photo-2-Credit-UN-Image-1200x760.jpg 1200w\"\n                sizes=\"(min-width: 2560px) 2560px, (min-width: 1920px) 1920px, (min-width: 1440px) 1440px, (min-width: 1024px) 1024px, (min-width: 768px) 768px\" loading=\"lazy\">\n    <\/div>\n<\/a>\n\n    <\/mimas-block>\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-left\">Biographies<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>His Excellency Dennis Francis, President of the United Nations General Assembly<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In June 2023, Dennis Francis was elected president of the United Nations General Assembly for its seventy-eighth annual session.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>President Dennis Francis has had a career spanning approximately 40 years in the Diplomatic Service of Trinidad and Tobago. Having served as Permanent Representative of Trinidad and Tobago to the UN in New York, he has also held various senior positions in the United Nations and the Trinidad and Tobago Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This includes postings in Italy, Austria, UNESCO, Canada, and the WTO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He has co-authored the book\u00a0<em>Heads of Mission: A Handbook<\/em>\u00a0and is a visiting scholar at The University of the West Indies. As President of the seventh-eight UNGA, President Francis has set out four priorities for this term: <strong>Peace, Prosperity, Progress, and Sustainability<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Adil Cader, Moderator<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Adil Cader is an academic in the Âé¶¹Ö±²¥ International Relations Program. He is also the founder and host of <a href=\"https:\/\/talkingforeignaffairs.org\/\">Talking Foreign Affairs Podcast<\/a>, a podcast aimed at empowering young people to play an active role in diplomacy. Mr Cader has interviewed over 30 Heads of State, Nobel Prize Laureates, and leading thought leaders from around the world, as well as moderated several panels.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Adil specialises in Australian Foreign Policy &amp; Global Diplomacy, he holds Masters&#8217; Degree in International Law and International Relations and has completed executive education with the Harvard Kennedy School. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/study\/offering\/course-pg-master-of-international-relations-and-national-security--mc-intrns\/\">Learn more<\/a> about our Postgraduate Master of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/study\/offering\/course-pg-master-of-international-relations--mc-intrel\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/study\/offering\/course-pg-master-of-international-relations--mc-intrel\/\">International Relations<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/study\/offering\/course-pg-master-of-international-security--mc-intsec\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/study\/offering\/course-pg-master-of-international-security--mc-intsec\/\">National Security<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/study\/offering\/course-ug-international-relations-major-ba--mjru-intrl\/\">Learn more <\/a>about our Undergraduate Major in International Relations or, our Undergraduate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/study\/offering\/course-ug-international-relations-major-ba--mjru-intrl\/\">double degree<\/a> Major in International Relations<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Âé¶¹Ö±²¥ was proud to host His Excellency Dennis Francis, President of the United Nations [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":218,"featured_media":20308,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","wds_primary_category":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"class_list":["post-20322","futures-platform","type-futures-platform","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-global-futures"],"acf":false,"featured_image":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/about\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2023\/12\/Dennis-Frances-Photo-2-Credit-UN-Image-e1702262051595-1000x500.jpg","author_meta":{"display_name":"263716k"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/futures-platform\/20322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/futures-platform"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/futures-platform"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/218"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/futures-platform\/20322\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35667,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/futures-platform\/20322\/revisions\/35667"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.curtin.edu.au\/about\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}