World leaders gather in New York this week for the UN General Assembly, bracing for US President Donald Trump's return to the rostrum for a second year running, with talks centring on the widening conflicts in the Middle East and the Russia-Ukraine war and the risks of artificial intelligence.

Nearly 130 heads of state meet with the post-World War II order under strain and with the UN itself struggling to remain relevant.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will travel to the United States from September 20 to 23 for high-level engagements and make a speech at the "Restoring Trust, Managing Transformation: A United Nations That Delivers for All" session.

He is set to join the general debates of the 81st session of the UN General Assembly in New York, according to an announcement by Türkiye’s Head of Communications Burhanettin Duran on his social media account.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping will skip New York in favour of one-on-one talks with Trump in Washington on Thursday, fueling debate about the UN's relevance in addressing global crises.

Compounding the crisis of morale and finance are questions about the next leader of the 80-year-old organisation.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres completes his term at the end of 2026, with no clear frontrunner in the race to replace him.

The 15-member UN Security Council may hold high-level meetings on Russia-Ukraine war, AI and the conflicts in the Middle East, including talks with Arab leaders, diplomats said.

More than a year into Trump's second term, "we would no longer say that the UN is in freefall, but we would say that it's stuck in an open-ended crisis," said Richard Gowan of the International Crisis Group.

"The UN may not be in emergency care like it was last year, but it seems to be trapped in a trauma centre for the foreseeable future," Gowan said.

The US avoided losing its vote at the assembly by paying $725 million in contributions to the regular budget this week, but it still owes the organisation more than a billion dollars and makes ongoing demands for cuts and reforms.

Growing AI risks

The assembly meets shortly after several artificial intelligence industry leaders called for a coordinated slowdown of the development of the technology, warning that it could soon improve on its own and escape human control.

Guterres has said that AI will be a major topic, adding that countries pushing its frontiers should set up "common guardrails in order to avoid this race to the bottom that could lead one day to a gigantic disaster at the global level."

The secretary-general has long proposed global governance of AI.

In 2023, the UN created an advisory body on the technology, with members including tech executives, government officials and academics.

Middle East tensions

The Middle East will again be a focus of discussions, as the US-Israeli war on Iran continues to drive global inflation and destabilise the region. Recent attacks by Yemen’s Houthis threaten shipping in ​the vital Bab al Mandab Strait and could further spike energy prices.

"It's very difficult to have a military solution for that problem, and the experience of fighting in Yemen demonstrated how complicated it is to have successful interventions," said Guterres, adding that the UN's envoy on Yemen was making a "huge effort" to advance talks.

Peace talks remain stalled, however, as Iran and the US continue to exchange strikes and Trump threatens a major escalation of the war.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is scheduled to address the assembly on Wednesday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – wanted by the International Criminal Court over war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza – is to speak on Thursday.

For the second year in a row, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will not be able to attend the gathering in person. The US, an Israeli ally, denied him a visa again —leading the General Assembly to vote on Thursday to allow Abbas to address the meeting via video.

There is likely to be a high-level meeting on the conflict in Sudan on the sidelines, diplomats said, although a diplomatic breakthrough is unlikely.

Russia-Ukraine war, food security

Also on the agenda is Russia and Ukraine's more than four-year-old war.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will address the General Assembly.

Zelenskyy will likely seek to shore up Ukraine's position ahead of what is expected to be another tough winter, diplomats said.

The Security Council has been unable to take action to end the conflict because permanent member Russia holds a veto.

Trump has at times appeared frustrated that he has been unable to broker an end to the war, a goal he declared a priority when he began his second term in January last year.

The US president spoke with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin earlier this month, but it was unclear whether he plans to meet Zelenskyy in New York.

Guterres highlighted the impact the war was having on civilians but also on food security and energy prices.

"The effective blockade existing in the Black Sea is creating enormous problems that add to the problems generated by the Middle East crisis, and I think it would be very important to find a way to allow Ukrainian exports and Russian exports of food, fertilisers and energy to take place in a safe way through the Black Sea," he said.