NEW YORK – The United Nations General Assembly unanimously elected Ambassador Lana Zaki Nusseibeh, UAE’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, as one of its 21 Vice-Presidents for the 72nd session. Ambassador Nusseibeh will represent the Asia-Pacific Group of Member States.
The General Assembly also unanimously elected Ahmad Al Mahmoud, Second Secretary of the UAE Mission to the UN, to be one of the four Vice-Chairs of the Special Political and Decolonisation Committee, known as the Fourth Committee, which addresses topics related to refugees, decolonisation, peacekeeping, mine action, and outer space.
As Vice-President, Ambassador Nusseibeh will be a member of the General Assembly General Committee, which supports the work of the President of the GA. Ambassador Nusseibeh could be tasked by the President of GA to facilitate complex negotiations.
Ambassador Nusseibeh currently serves as President of UN Women’s Executive Board for 2017 and Co-Chair of the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Revitalisation of the Work of the General Assembly. On these roles, she said, “The UAE is committed to engaging in a variety of discussions taking place at the UN, and is always looking for ways to contribute to the development of the broader UN system. As Co-Chair of the Ad Hoc Working Group and President of UN Women’s Executive Board, and now as Vice-President of the General Assembly for the 72ndsession, the UAE seeks to ensure that the organisation is better equipped to meet the needs of all member states”.
The assembly also elected Miroslav Lajcak, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs and of Slovakia, from the Eastern European Group, as President for this session, which opens in September of this year.