Male’, Maldives – Saudi Arabia has backed the candidature of Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid in the Maldives’ bid for the United Nations General Assembly’s presidency.
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.
While work to gain backing of more UN member countries are ongoing, Indian Foreign Secretary, Harsh Shringla, during his recent trip to the Maldives assured India’s backing for Minister Shahid’s candidature.
“RaajjeMV” reports that the Saudi backing was pledged through a letter sent to the Maldivian Government last week. The letter was signed by diplomat Adil Jubair, who is the Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. The Foreign Ministry has not officially announced Saudi backing as of yet.
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.
