KATHMANDU, Nov 5: The election of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) put off earlier due to the devastating hurricane Sandy in New York has been rescheduled for November 8. The ECOSOC election was originally scheduled for Wednesday.
Nepal has also filed its candidacy for the board member of the council.
Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) Arjun Bahadur Thapa informed that the UN has rescheduled the election for November 8 as the regular businesses at the UN headquarters have now come to normalcy. “As of now, our position is very strong,” Thapa said.
Nepal has filed its candidacy for the membership of the UN ECOSOC for the year 2013-2015. Of the total 11 seats allotted to the Asian States, four seats are vacant this year and five countries namely, Kyrgyz Republic, Turkmenistan, Kuwait, Nepal and Saudi Arabia are vying for the position.
Nepal requires support of at least 128 countries of the total 194 UN member states to make it to the board members of the UN principal organ. While 111 UN member states have informed in writing that they would vote for Nepal, many others have assured to vote for Nepal during the ECOSOC election, officials said. Nepal´s Permanent Mission to the UN in New York has also been lobbying hard for ECOSOC membership.
Foreign Secretary Durga Prasad Bhattarai and Joint Secretary Dipak Dhital, who heads UN Division at the ministry, are in New York for the past one month to solicit support for Nepal´s membership.
ECOSOC as one of the principal organs of the United Nations coordinates the economic, social and environmental issues. Since the issues such as sustainable development, MDGs and improvement of the status of the poorer countries fall under its ambit, Nepal, once elected, can play an instrumental role in furthering the cause of the least developed and landlocked countries.
Seats on the council are allotted based on geographical representation with 14 allocated to African states, 11to Asian states, 6 to Eastern European states, 10 to Latin American and Caribbean states, and 13 to Western European and other states.
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