Maldives foreign minister elected as UN assembly president
Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid of the Maldives won election as the next president of the UN General Assembly.
He pledged to push for equal access to coronavirus vaccines, a stronger and greener economic recovery, and stepped up efforts to tackle climate change, according to The Associated Press.
He defeated a former Afghan foreign minister, Zalmai Rassoul, in a 143-48 vote by secret ballot, with two of the assembly’s 193 member nations not voting.
According to The Associated Press., diplomats from member nations, all wearing masks because of the pandemic, were called to the front of the assembly chamber one-by-one to deposit their ballot in a large wooden box.
Turkey’s Volkan Bozkir, the current assembly president, said Shahid brings to the job “extensive experience in multilateral diplomacy,” serving his Indian Ocean island nation twice as foreign minister and for 10 years before that as chief of staff to the president.
Shahid has been “a strong voice in calling attention to the impact on small island developing states” by the pandemic and by climate change, which threatens people’s lives and livelihoods, Bozkir said.
Shahid, 59, said he was “deeply humbled” by the trust shown by the UN members and the honor given to his island nation of 26 atolls, population about 550,000.
Saying he has “an undying belief in multilateralism with an ardent desire to serve the international community,” Shahid said his aim is to launch “a presidency of hope” and “to hit the ground running on day one in September as soon as I take my oath of office.”
“This is a crucial time for the United Nations and for the world,” Shahid said. “There is very little time to spare.”
He pointed to the past year’s “disease, despair and devastation” as a result of the pandemic, along with increasing “inequality, injustice and instability” and the “suffering” of the planet from climate change.
Shahid said his priorities during his year-long presidency of the 76th session of the General Assembly are to recover from the pandemic, both by making vaccines available to all people everywhere, and rebuilding economies stronger and greener and “and ensuring no country is left behind.”
He said it can also be “a super session for nature” and to “seize momentum on responding to the needs of our planet,” citing upcoming conferences and meetings on climate change, the oceans, biodiversity, sustainable transport and food systems as examples. This is a major priority for the Maldives, whose leaders have warned that the country’s existence is threatened by rising seas from climate change.
Shahid said he will also focus on “respecting the rights of all,” revitalizing the United Nations, and engaging the media and civil society.
“I will raise my voice against gender discrimination, advocate for gender equality … (and) not participate in any panels that are not gender balanced,” he said.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres congratulated Shahid, saying the General Assembly is the UN’s most representative organ, the foundation of its work, “and essential to our effectiveness as an organization.”