Now that the election is over, Tsipras plans an UNGA visit. New York will again be the place to be…

Admittedly a very busy man these days, Greek PM Tsipras is planning to join the world’s UNGA-70 (70th anniversary of the UN General Assembly) party in New York next week.  The US program is being worked out but at this point we know he is included in a dinner President Obama routinely hosts for European leaders and is likely to have a short side meeting.  US Presidents generally spend most of the annual UNGA week in New York so additional contact would be possible.
The thing to watch is how much wider PM Tsipras’s UNGA-70 visit to New York becomes.  It is not unusual for visiting heads of state to schedule extensive side meetings and public appearances, and since Mr. Tsipras has just been re-elected this actually makes sense, assuming Athens can do without him for an extra day or so.
In the past Greek PM’s have done as much as adding side trips to Washington for photo-ops with US officials and/or the IMF (as George Papandreou did some years back) even though all eyes are generally focused on New York for the period.   If Mr. Tsipras remains in New York we still expect him to blitz the US media, to visit financial centers selling the “invest in Greece” concept and arguing for debt relief and of course to meet the local Greek-American community.   The Clinton Global Initiative also schedules its annual meeting alongside the UNGA event to attract visiting world leaders (September 26-29), so it provides a good backdrop for Mr. Tsipras to extend contacts with US presidential hopefuls if so inclined.  Stay tuned.