Maleeha Lodhi elected vice president of UN Economic and Social Council

Norway's Mona Juul chosen as president; Armenia's Mher Margaryan, Mexico's Juan Mendiolea elected vice presidents

Pakistan's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Dr Maleeha Lodhi was unanimously elected as one of the four vice presidents of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) on Thursday.

Ambassador Lodhi’s candidature was endorsed by the 54-member body and she shall now assume the Asia Pacific seat of the Bureau of ECOSOC.

 

Pakistan's election as Vice President of the Economic and Social Council ( ECOSOC) is a vote of confidence from the global community.ECOSOC is at the heart of implementation of the 2030 agenda for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and mobilising financing for SDGs pic.twitter.com/7JiijyC9Bc

— Maleeha Lodhi (@LodhiMaleeha) July 25, 2019

Speaking to reporters after the vote, Ambassador Lodhi said her election to such an important UN organ is a testament to the international community's faith in Pakistan and the competence of its diplomats.

Besides Lodhi, Permanent Representative of Armenia Mher Margaryan, and Deputy Permanent Representative of Mexico Juan Sandoval Mendiolea were elected vice presidents of ECOSOC.

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The election of the vice president from the African States will be held at a later date.

In accordance with the principle of geographical rotation among the regional groups, the Western European and Other States nominated Norway's Permanent Representative to the UN Mona Juul as candidate for president.

Juul was elected ECOSOC president and replaces Rhonda King of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

All four candidates were approved by acclamation at the opening of the 2020 session of ECOSOC.

The ECOSOC bureau is elected by the council at large in July every year. The bureau's main functions are to propose the agenda, draw up a programme of work and organise the session with the support of the UN Secretariat.

It is the principal body for coordination, policy review, policy dialogue and recommendations on economic, social and environmental issues, as well as for implementation of the internationally agreed development goals.

Pakistan was re-elected as a member of the ECOSOC in May this year.