UNITED NATIONS, Jan 21 (NNN-BERNAMA) — Malaysia has been unanimously elected as the new president of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

Before a large gathering of ambassadors and diplomats from the 54 ECOSOC member states, Malaysia’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Hamidon Ali, was elected the Council’s 66th president on Tuesday.

The outgoing ECOSOC president, Sylvie Lucas, the permanent representative of Luxembourg, opened the session with a plea to help earthquake-devastated Haiti.

Asia was unanimous in its nomination of Hamidon for the ECOSOC presidency, according to the principle of geographical rotation.

In his first statement upon taking over the presidency, Hamidon made it a point to thank his predecessor for her “remarkable leadership and contributions” to ECOSOC’s work over the past year. “She has set very high standards, which I hope to emulate,” he said.

“We have several important challenges ahead of us. I view them as opportunities to capitalise on and create a new momentum to advance development,” he added.

ECOSOC assists the UN General Assembly in promoting international econonic and social development. The 54 member states are elected to three-yar terms while its president serves a one-year term. — NNN-BERNAMA

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