Laos has taken office as the Vice-President of the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, which began in New York on Wednesday.
According to the official page of the Permanent Mission of the Lao PDR to the United Nations, Laos has been elected for a one-year term as vice-president of the upcoming 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) from the Asia-Pacific Region.
Laos was elected as Vice-President of the 76th United Nations General Assembly Session in June, represented by Mr. Anouparb Vongnorkeo, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Lao PDR to the United Nations.
Twenty-one members of the 76th UN General Assembly were elected, representing each region, of which four were from the Asia-Pacific region: Bangladesh, Kuwait, Laos, and the Philippines.
Maldives Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid was elected president of the same session of the UNGA.
The 76th United Nations General Assembly’s president and vice presidency will be held from September 2021 to September 2022, a critical period in an ever-changing and unpredictable international context, particularly in the crisis of the Covid-19 outbreak and environmental change.
The theme for the 76th session is “Building Resilience through hope to recover from COVID-19, rebuild sustainably, respond to the needs of the planet, respect the rights of people, and revitalize the United Nations.”
The UN General Assembly is one of the six main organs of the United Nations, established under the UN Charter in 1945, which has the role of deciding and approving major global issues, as well as a policy forum for the 193 UN member states.
In the past, Lao PDR has been elected Vice President of the UN General Assembly once during the 50th session of the UN General Assembly in 1995.
