Maldives' foreign minister Abdulla Shahid elected president of UN General Assembly

India announced its support for Abdulla Shahid during the visit of foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla to the Maldives in November 2020.

Foreign minister of the Maldives Abdulla Shahid was elected as the President of the 76th United Nations General Assembly with an overwhelming three-fourth majority, with143 in favour, 48 against and no abstentions and no invalid votes.

Abdullah Shahid with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (File photo)

This is a post held on an annual basis, rotated amongst various regional groupings. The 76th session (2021-22) is the turn of the Asia-Pacific group. This is the first time that the Maldives will be occupying the office of the President of the UN General Assembly.

The Maldives had announced Shahid’s candidature in December 2018. At that time, no other candidate was in the fray. Shahid is eminently qualified to hold the top office of UN General Assembly, with vast diplomatic experience and strong credentials, especially in the multilateral fora.

India announced its support for Shahid during the visit of foreign secretary Harsh Shringla to the Maldives in November 2020. Even at that time, he was the only candidate in the fray.

Union external affairs minister S Jaishankar on Monday took to Twitter to congratulate Shahid on his selection.

In mid-January 2021, in a surprising development and with less than six months before the elections, Afghanistan's foreign minister Zalmai Rassoul entered the fray. While Rassoul also has strong credentials, by the time his candidature was announced, the Maldives had already garnered extensive support. Moreover, the island nation has never held the office of General Assembly, while Afghanistan held this post during the 21st GA session in 1966-67.

In response to media queries on remarks made by President of the United Nations General Assembly with respect to Jammu and Kashmir, the official spokesperson said, "We express our strong opposition to the unwarranted references made with respect to the Indian Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir by the President of the United Nations General Assembly (PGA) Volkan Bozkir during his recent visit to Pakistan.

His remarks that Pakistan is "duty bound” to raise this issue in the UN more strongly are unacceptable. Nor indeed is there any basis for comparison to other global situations.

When an incumbent President of the UN General Assembly makes misleading and prejudiced remarks, he does great disservice to the office he occupies. The UNGA President's behaviour is truly regrettable and surely diminishes his standing on the global platform."

Both the Maldives and Afghanistan have excellent relations with India, and both candidates are friends of India. However, since India had already committed its support to Maldives at a time when no other candidate was in the fray, India voted in favour of Maldives.

The office of UNGA President is the highest office in the UN System, and reflects the collective goodwill of the 193 Member States of the UN. India remains committed to supporting the office, as it has consistently done in previous years.