Qatari diplomat Al-Nasser elected as President of UN General Assembly

[News_Editor]

Qatari diplomat Al-Nasser elected as President of UN General Assembly

2011-06-23 06:16:48 GMT+7 (ICT)

UNITED NATIONS (BNO NEWS) -- A Qatari diplomat, Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, on Wednesday was elected by the United Nations' 192 Member States to be the next President of the General Assembly.

Al-Nasser, 57, is an experienced Qatari diplomat who has served as his country's Permanent Representative to the UN for more than a decade. He said he accepted the post with "great honor."

"I will become President at a time when the world is facing enormous political, social, economic and environmental challenges," said Al-Nasser. "Not a month goes by that we do not hear about a natural or a man-made disaster and the subsequent food, security, health and education crises that follow inevitably."

Al-Nasser was elected this afternoon by acclamation and will succeed Joseph Deiss of Switzerland when he takes over the presidency in September as the 66th session of the General Assembly begins.

The newly president-elect proposed Member States the role of mediation in the settlement of disputes by peaceful means as the theme for the debate that will open the upcoming September session.

Furthermore, Al-Nasser pledged to work as a bridge between rich nations and least developed countries to help build consensus on key issues such as hunger, poverty, disarmament, combating international terrorism, and climate change.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon congratulated Al-Nasser on his election and acknowledged his accomplishments on a range of issues including human security and the green economy.

The election of the new president came one day after the General Assembly adopted by acclamation a resolution to re-elect Ban as Secretary-General for a second consecutive term which will run from January 1, 2012 until December 31, 2016.

Al-Nasser has been a Qatari diplomat since November 1972, having served in various postings in Beirut, Islamabad and Dubai among others. His longest posting has been in New York as Qatar's Permanent Representative to the UN since September. During this period he had a stint in 2002-03 as Vice-President of the General Assembly and a separate stint as President of the Security Council in December 2006.

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