South Asia’s Sunshine Moment at UN

On June 8, South Asia acquired a rare salience at the United Nations after the Maldives Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid was elected as the new President of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) for a one-year term beginning in September. The importance of the region gained further notice with Bangladesh being elected as one of the Vice-Presidents of the UNGA from the Asia-Pacific region. These posts are held on an annual, rotational basis among various regional groupings and the 76th session (2021-22) is the turn of the Asia-Pacific group. In January this year, India was elected as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.