UN Assembly elects Maldives FM for its chief post

(MENAFN - Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) NEW YORK, June 7 (KUNA) -- Maldives'' Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid defeated Afghanistan's former foreign minister Zalmai Rassoul in an election Monday for the next president of the United Nations General Assembly.Volkan Bozkir, the current assembly president, announced the 143-48 result of the secret ballot vote in favor of Shahid, with two of its 193 member nations not voting.Diplomats from member nations, all wearing masks because of the COVID-19 pandemic, had been called to the front of the assembly chamber one-by-one to deposit their ballot in a large wooden box.Bozkir, a Turkish diplomat and politician, 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, who began his career as a diplomat, said he was "deeply humbled" by the trust of member nations and the honor to his small country.He said he aims to bring "a presidency of hope" when he assumes the one-year post in September, just before the annual meeting of world leaders. Last year, there were video speeches from leaders because of the COVID-19 pandemic but no announcement has been made yet of this year's arrangements.Shahid, 59yrs, said the 76th session of the General Assembly, which he will lead, will take place "in challenging times," pointing 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. (end) asf.mb MENAFN07062021000071011013ID1102227532