It’s America America next week for Tsipras

Greek PM Alexis Tsipras will be on a nearly week-long visit to the United States next week, heading first to New York City for the annual UN General Assembly and the inevitable “elbow-running” with international leaders.

He departs recession- and election-plagued Greece on Saturday and returns on Oct. 2. Sovereign debt abatement and the migration/refugee crisis are expected to dominate an address he’ll give at the UN on Oct. 1

Officially, he set to meet with counterparts from Egypt, Brazil, Ecuador, the Palestine territories and Turkey’s Ahmet Davutoglu, as well as the president of fraternal Cyprus.

A meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry and UN chief Ban Ki-moon is also on the agenda. Moreover, sources close to the prime minister have gone out of their way this week to “hint” at some type of contact with US President Barack Obama on the sidelines of the UN-sponsored soirees in Manhattan.

Whether such “contacts” will be a customary handshake and well-wishing, or something more tangible, remains to be seen.

Tsipras is also slated to attend two international conferences, one on development and another on migration, two ubiquitous “UNish” themes.

Other highlights on the leftist Greek PM’s itinerary are a meeting with Orthodox Archbishop of America Demetrios, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, a leading liberal on the East Coast, as well as representatives of ethnic Greek groups of North America.

He’ll also participate in a panel discussion sponsored by the Clinton Global Initiative.