UN General Assembly preview; Mina Al-Oraibi’s postcard from New York,

And we are off. Delegations from all over the world have arrived in New York for a week filled with speeches, meetings and glitzy receptions.

The UN says there will be 81 heads of state and 47 heads of government in town, with 342 meetings scheduled during the week and 741 requests for bilateral meetings between member states.

And that is not counting the dinners and side conversations between diplomats and journalists.

Peace is a key word being tagged on to several of this year’s meetings while concerns are raised about heightened tensions on the world stage. Issues ranging from the US-China trade war to fears about the future of Palestine have increased concerns as multilateral co-operation dwindles.

At an event on Friday commemorating the late UN Secretary General Kofi Annan’s life, which coincided with Peace Day, his successor Antonio Guterres quoted Annan in saying that the UN is “the last best hope of humanity”, adding “we vow to carry forward his ideals and his peace-making spirit”.

The championing of peace seems to be resting on two dead international figures – Annan and Nelson Mandela, whose memory will be celebrated tomorrow with a Nelson Mandela Peace Summit. World leaders are expected to renew their commitment to peace, organisers say.

How that commitment is translated into action will be seen over the course of the week. Hopes for an India-Pakistan summit have been dashed before the week even starts, and Iran has refused to respond to any of the concerns raised about its support of militants in the Middle East.

One important development this year is a positive turn of events concerning North Korea. Only a year ago, there were fears at the UN of a possible military confrontation.

This year, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is scheduled to meet his North Korean counterpart after a successful summit between Korean leaders. While the US continues to perceive a threat from North Korea, it regards that as reduced after Pyongyang stopped its nuclear tests and missile launches.

But it was the UN’s efforts late last year that helped to pave the way for talks. Former Undersecretary General Jeffrey Feltman made several trips to Pyongyang to promote them.

UN peace efforts in Syria and Libya are being challenged but remain crucial, while the UN Special Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths is the lead contact on the push for diplomatic progress in that country.

Mr Guterres has made strengthening the UN’s secretariat and political arm a priority and these envoys are integral to that effort.

But much remains to be done to enable the UN to play an effective role in peace-making. The international organisation continues with its own internal reform process, expected to feature heavily in Mr Guterres’s meetings with senior officials this week. Reforms include making the UN more representative across the board.

It is quite fitting that in the era of #MeToo, this year’s President of the General Assembly is a woman – Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces, the Foreign Minister of Ecuador.

The fourth woman to hold the presidency in the assembly’s 73-year history, Ms Garces is the first since 2006 and the first from Latin America.

She has said that her priorities this year will be to “revitalise and boost multilateralism, revitalise the General Assembly, revitalise the UN system”.

“We all need and we will all benefit from a strong, rulesbased international system,” Ms Garces said.