MALAYSIA TAKES OVER ECOSOC REINS IN NEW YORK

NEW YORK, Jan 20 (Bernama) -- Malaysia was on Tuesday unanimously elected as
the new president of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United
Nations (UN).

Before a large gathering of ambassadors and diplomats from 54 ECOSOC states,
Hamidon Ali, Malaysia’s permanent representative to the United Nations,
was elected the Council’s 66th president.

The outgoing ECOSOC president, Sylvie Lucas, the permanent representative of
Luxembourg, opened the session with a plea to help earthquake-destroyed
Haiti.

Asia was unanimous in its nomination of Hamidon for the ECOSOC presidency,
according to the principle of geographical rotation.

In his first statement upon taking over the presidency, Hamidon made it a
point to thank his predecessor Lucas for her "remarkable leadership
and contributions" to ECOSOC’s work over the past year.

"She has set very high standards, which I hope to emulate," he said.

"We have several important challenges ahead of us.I view them as
opportunities to capitalise on and create new momentum to advance development,"
he added.

ECOSOC assists the UN General Assembly in promoting international econonic
and social development.

-- BERNAMA