The 81st session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA 81) will open on Tuesday, 8 September 2026. The general debate of the 81st session of the General Assembly will open on Tuesday, 22 September, continuing through Saturday, 26 September, and concluding on Monday, 28 September 2026.
The general debate of the UN General Assembly is the opportunity for heads of state and government and ministers to come together at the UN Headquarters and discuss world issues, such as climate change, sustainable development, and international peace and security.
The presidency of the 81st session will be held by a representative from the Asia-Pacific Group, following the customary regional rotation.
The 6th United Nations World Data Forum (UNWDF) will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from 9 to 12 November 2026, bringing together representatives from governments, international organisations, academia, the private sector, civil society, and the wider data community. Established to strengthen the role of data in sustainable development, the Forum serves as a global platform for discussing innovations in data, fostering partnerships, and advancing the use of high-quality data to support evidence-based policymaking and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The 2026 edition is structured around four thematic areas: innovation for more inclusive data ecosystems, maximising the value of data for decision-making, building trust through ethics, privacy, cybersecurity, and data protection, and strengthening partnerships and investment in resilient data ecosystems. Discussions will address topics including emerging data technologies, FAIR data principles, data and statistical literacy, ethical data governance, and international cooperation on data infrastructure and capacity development.
The UN World Data Forum has been held since 2017 and has produced a series of outcome documents, including the Cape Town Global Action Plan, the Hangzhou Declaration, and the Medellín Framework for Action on Data for Sustainable Development, which have helped shape international efforts to strengthen statistical systems and data governance in support of sustainable development.
The 2026 dedicated thematic groups of the Global Mechanism on developments in the field of ICTs in the context of international security and advancing responsible State behaviour in the use of ICTs will be held on 7-11 December 2026.
The two groups are:
An integrated, policy-oriented and cross-cutting dedicated thematic group drawing on the five pillars of the framework to address specific challenges in the sphere of ICT security in the context of international security in order to promote an open, secure, stable, accessible, peaceful, and interoperable ICT environment, with the participation of, inter alia, technical experts and other stakeholders. (DTG 1)
An integrated, policy-oriented and cross-cutting dedicated thematic group drawing on the five pillars of the framework to accelerate ICT security capacity-building, with the participation of, inter alia, capacity-building experts, practitioners, and other stakeholders. (DTG 2)
The Global Mechanism on cybersecurity will convene in different formats.
It will hold two dedicated thematic groups each year—one addressing general substantive issues and one focused on capacity building—intended to enable more in-depth discussions, building on the outcomes of the plenary.
In addition, the mechanism will convene a review conference every five years to assess progress and guide its future direction.
