MVR 4.3 Million allocated for Minister Shahid’s campaign

Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulla Shahid | Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Male’, Maldives – The Maldivian government has allocated more than MVR 4.3 Million in the 2021 budget for Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulla Shahid’s campaign for Presidency of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

The government has officially announced that they are contending for Presidency of the UN General Assembly and included MVR 4.35 Million as campaign expenses for the position in the 2021 budget recently submitted to Maldivian Parliament. The budget also estimates that upwards of MVR 6.5 Million would be spent in 2022 for Minister Shahid’s campaign

The President of the UN General Assembly, and 21 Vice presidents are elected by representatives of member countries, at least three months before the new session begins. The current and the 75th President of the UNGA is Volkan Bozkır of Turkey.

The presidency rotates annually between the five geographic groups: African, Asia-Pacific, Eastern European, Latin American and Caribbean, and Western European and other States.

FM Shahid is campaigning to be the 76th President of the UNGA, and has received pledges of support from India and Saudi Arabia.

Maldives has also declared candidacy for membership of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for the term 2023-2025. The UNHRC elections will be held in the year 2022.