As world leaders descended on the UN this week, some heads of state found time to speak at Columbia as well.

President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner kicked off the events on Monday in Low Library. Her speech focused on the economy, but also touched on media freedoms in South America, as well as the political upheaval in Honduras.

She told the crowd, "The day that President Zelaya was arrested in his pajamas in his house, put on a helicopter, which also landed on an American military base in Honduras, before being deposited in Costa Rica, the main media channels in Honduras were showing cartoons...

I believe that really freedom of the press and freedom of expression cannot be held by big corporations, and that the big corporations cannot own the media corporations...

I believe that liberty of expression and of thought, should be in charge of their rightful owners, which are the citizens, and who have a right to know all the information."

However, there was one question which the president found difficult. Asked about the possibility of a player making it to the national team, she responded, "This is the hardest question I have received in my life."

The same evening, Martti Ahtisaari, former President of Finland and UN official spoke to an audience at the Italian Academy.

Much of the address focused on past issues he had dealt with, but the former diplomat also spoke about Turkey's struggle to enter the EU.

He told the crowd, "I have been very critical with my European friends. I say, "where is our self-confidence? Why can't we accept Turkey, which plays a very important role, and...if we can't get Turkey into Europe, what sort of message does it send to the Muslim world?"

Atassari also stressed the need to engage with Hamas. He posed the question, "How credible are we, if we say "sorry, wrong guys won; we don't want to talk to you." It can't be that way."

On Tuesday, attendees gathered in Low Rotunda to hear the Thai prime minister speak about his country, post-crisis.

The prime minister's speech focused on the future of Thailand. "We have to remind ourselves", he said, "in these days where we tend to be faced with day-to-day problems, sometimes even day-to-day crises and forget the bigger picture, and I believe that you have to know where you want to go before you know what you have to do."

The session's moderator, Joseph Stiglitz heaped praise on the prime minister for his economic acumen, commenting to the audience that he "didn't think there are many political leaders who had to suffer through reading through [his] papers on credit rationing and who really understand the limits of market fundamentalism."

Boris Tadic of Serbia also spoke on Wednesday. His speech, as well as the question and answer session, focused on the Kosovo conflict and reconcilaition. "The most important contribution we can make to securing regional stability is increasing efforts at regional reconciliation. Reconciliation corrects the twisted, false view of the other side. The Kosovo UDI case is currently before the court. let me emphasize that its deliberations should not be prejudged and its work should not be obstructed."

Kofi Annan, former UN secretary general and Nobel peace prize winner, spoke to a packed house on Wednesday. His speech focused on climate change, and its effect on other pressing social issues.

Before showing a video to the crowd, he told them, "Climate change is of course not the only grave threat we face. Conflict, famine, disease, the endless scandal of over a billion people living on less than $1 a day should spur all of us to action. Each of these conflicts will be made worse by climate change.

In advance of the Copenhagen meeting in December, [we must] create the political momentum required for complex and detailed negotiations to succeed. By success, I mean establishing a strong political framework for ambitious, cooperative action to confront climate change."

The new prime minister of Nepal, Madhav Kumar Nepal spoke to students on Wednesday. Although the prime minister did speak about the economy and the integration of Mao dissidents into the democratic process, a large portion of his speech was taken over with praise for Columbia.

He pointed out that "Columbia is one of the few universities in the United States where there are several faculty members who are specialists on Nepal. [Columbia] even offer[s] Nepali language courses, and many Nepalese have acquired quality higher education from this great university."

Guyana's president, Baharrat Jagdeo wrapped up the week's events on Friday morning although he departed from tradition, telling the audience, "I have deliberately stayed away from a prepared statement, so that we can have an interaction, so that we can learn from each other today."

The president devoted his address to global warming and the need for developed and developing nations to work together to reverse the effects of climate change.

Of the ongoing talks he said, "It is because of a set of underlying principles or mistrusts between the developed world and the developing world, and this lack of concord between the two groups is affecting the negotiation."

President Bharrat outlined the four primary causes of climate chance, but focused his attention on deforestation, explaining "about 20% of greenhouse gases come from deforestation and forest degradation. That's more than the entire European Union emission; that's more than all the vehicles across the world. So, it's a big source of emission. We also know that it's the cheapest abatement solution and that it can deliver immediate results."

Although most of the world focused on the events at the General Assembly in midtown, the world leaders forum allowed Columbia students to widen their perspective on global affairs.