UNGA President-elect Shahid moves to temporary office
The new PGA will take office in September
Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid has moved to the temporary offices set up for the president-elect of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA)
Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid has moved to the temporary offices set up for the president-elect of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
The Maldivian minister shared this via Twitter on Saturday, thanking the Office of the President of the General Assembly (OPGA) and the United Nations Secretariat “for facilitating the arrangements so quickly”.
Shahid won the PGA elections last Monday after competing against Afghanistan’s Zalmai Rassoul, with 143 votes in favour and 48 against.
While the new PGA will take office in September, Shahid had revealed that he will be starting work right away. As such, he appointed two members to his team on Thursday; Thilmeeza Hussain as the Special Envoy of the PGA and K Nagaraj Naidu as his Chef de Cabinet.
Thilmeeza is the Maldives Permanent Representative to the United Nations and Ambassador to the United States while Naidu is India’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN.
The UNGA president-elect noted that the two will be "instrumental” in delivering his vision for the “presidency of hope”.
Shahid had said that the opportunity “to serve for the betterment of [the] people, planet and prosperity” as the PGA is an "honour", adding that the reason for the achievement is the international community’s trust in the Maldives.
Noting that Maldives is “a small nation with few diplomats and fewer resources”, the foreign minister during his victory speech said that despite that Maldivians’ spirit has “always been strong, belief steadfast”.
He added that working “for a better tomorrow, hoping for a better tomorrow” is the Maldivian way, and that is what he will try to bring during his tenure as PGA, a presidency of hope.
Shahid said that his “ultimate objective is to strengthen multilateralism, enhance cooperation, make the UN deliver, and reign in a presidency of hope”.
With that being said, his first five main priorities are (as per order), recovering from Covid-19, rebuilding sustainably, responding to the needs of the planet, respecting the rights of all and revitalizing the United Nations.
Foreign Minister Shahid is the first UNGA President elected from the Maldives in the UN’s 75 year history and the 55 years since the Maldives became a member.
