United Nations, May 20 (IANS): President of the 75th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA), Volkan Bozkir, will convene a formal plenary meeting on Palestine and the Middle East on Thursday in the General Assembly Hall.

"The meeting will consist of a debate under the agenda items on 'The situation in the Middle East' and 'Question of Palestine'," Bozkir's spokesman, Brenden Varma, told reporters on Wednesday at the regular press briefing, Xinhua reported.

"The president's convening of this meeting follows a written request received from the permanent representatives of Niger and Algeria, in their respective capacities as chairs of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and Arab Group."

Talking about the speakers, Varma said there will be statements from the UNGA president and Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. "Member states, observer states and other observers are also currently inscribing themselves on the list of speakers."

"We do expect several in-person participants at the ministerial level. This would be the first time since the pandemic began that ministers would be participating in person at a General Assembly debate in New York. Given the number of delegations wishing to take the floor, we expect the meeting to last all day," said the spokesman.

According to Varma, in connection with this meeting, the UNGA president has been receiving requests for bilateral meetings from high-level participants.