Vuk Jeremić, President of CIRSD and former President of the 67th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, participated in a meeting of the Council of Presidents of the United Nations General Assembly (UNCPGA), held in New York on September 19, 2026.
As part of the meeting, Professor Stuart Russell of the University of California, Berkeley, briefed Council members on the increasingly critical situation surrounding the rapid development of artificial intelligence and the risks associated with Artificial General Intelligence (AGI).
The meeting, chaired by H.E. Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, President of the 66th Session of the UN General Assembly, brought together 12 current and former Presidents of the General Assembly. Discussions focused on the crisis of multilateralism, ongoing conflicts in Europe and the Middle East, nuclear security, UN reform, the selection of the next UN Secretary-General, and the global challenges posed by advanced AI.
Particular attention was devoted to AI governance. The Council’s New York Declaration called for stronger international mechanisms to address AGI-related risks, including a global AGI observatory, a certification framework for secure and trustworthy AGI, a UN convention on AGI, and the establishment of an international agency dedicated to its governance.
The Council also expressed concern over the weakening of multilateral institutions, the erosion of nuclear arms-control mechanisms, and the risk of further escalation of ongoing conflicts. It called for a stronger role for the United Nations and reaffirmed support for a democratic, transparent, inclusive and merit-based process for the selection of the next UN Secretary-General.
