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She has not yet taken her first steps or said her first words, but the "first baby" of New Zealand can already boast of having visited the UN General Assembly.
On Monday, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, one of the two world leaders elected to give birth during his tenure, was the first to bring his baby into the UN meeting room to tow.
Little Neve even got her own temporary U.N. badge to identify her as "Mrs. Neve Te Aroha Ardern Gayford". In her photo ID, she seems deeply asleep, comfortably seated in a blue cap.
Ardern partner Clarke Gayford, who also accompanied them on the trip, said a Japanese delegation had entered a meeting room while Neve was being swaddled.
"I would have liked to capture the surprised look," Gayford tweeted. "Super wire for her 21st."
Aside from this incident, the visit appeared to be smooth. Ardern was to deliver a speech at the Nelson Mandela Summit for the 73rd session of the US General Assembly.
You could see the 38-year-old prime minister rocking Neve when she was not speaking. While Ardern was on the podium, Gayford held Neve on his lap. At other times, people sitting around the family were photographed smiling and loving the baby.
"I can not stress enough that the United States – and the governments that make it up – need it," tweeted Samantha Power, a former United States ambassador to the United Nations.
Ardern gave birth to Neve in June and returned to work six weeks later. She often spoke about her desire to find a balance between her job and her personal life, stating during her pregnancy that she was "not the first woman to work and have a baby". Nevertheless, Ardern received some criticism earlier this month for making a separate flight from his deputy to a Pacific Island summit in order to breastfeed Neve.
Prior to the trip to the United Nations General Assembly, Ardern told the New Zealand Herald that taxpayers would not cover the cost of Gayford's trip – and that they would "play it at the ear" with the baby, who could simply end up at the hotel. with her father, depending on how she managed the jet lag.
"There is no spouse program for this, so we just made a judgment that we would cover his trip for this trip. [Gayford] will go to some things, but he travels mainly to take care of Neve, "Ardern told the newspaper." There is no plan laid out; it's just to know if she's sleeping enough, where I'm for food. . . . [Neve is] a good sleeper, and we do not know if that means that she will end up sleeping a lot in the day rather than at night. "
Gayford said the baby seemed oblivious to the jet lag after their 37-hour trip from New Zealand to New York – until the middle of the night.
"Arrived at 1am tired but everything is settled," he tweeted Sunday. "Neve until 15:45: what is the time zone?"
In her address to the United States General Assembly, Ms. Ardern paid tribute to Mandela's fight for equality, freedom and human rights and reiterated New Zealand's commitment to these values. . Mandela spent 27 years in prison in his native South Africa, then was the first black president of the country in the 1990s after the dismantling of apartheid.
Benazir Bhutto was the first elected world leader to give birth during his tenure. In 1990, he gave birth to his daughter Bakhtawar Bhutto Zardari when she was the first of two terms as Pakistani Prime Minister.
Ardern, Gayford and the young Neve could be seen returning to the US General Assembly on Tuesday morning.
