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India Breathes Easy With a Maldivian Becoming UNGA President

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The Pulse | Diplomacy | Opinion | South Asia

India Breathes Easy With a Maldivian Becoming UNGA President

India expects the coming year at the UNGA to be tension-free.

India Breathes Easy With a Maldivian Becoming UNGA President
Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Maldivian Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid has been elected as the 76th president of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). His election is significant; he is the first Maldivian and only the sixth person from the 52-member Small Island Developing States (SIDS) to hold the prestigious post. Shahid’s rise to the top post in the UNGA will boost the stature of Maldives in global affairs and provide focus to issues like climate change and sustainable development.

Shahid won the UNGA presidency by a large margin. Of the total 191 votes cast in the election, he secured 143 votes, while his only rival, the former foreign minister of Afghanistan, Dr. Zalmai Rassoul, got 48 votes.

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