Saudi Arabia has expressed support for the bid of Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Maldives Abdulla Shahid to become the President of the 76th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
Saudi Arabia expressed support for the bid in a letter sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Maldives by the State Minister of Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia Adil bin Ahmed Al-Jubair.
In addition to Saudi Arabia, India has also announced it will support the Maldives bid for UNGA Presidency. As such, Foreign Secretary of India Harsh Vardhan Shringla pledged to support the Maldives for UNGA Presidency, during his official visit to the Maldives earlier this week.
The President of the UNGA is a position voted for by UNGA representatives on a yearly basis. The President is the chair and presiding officer of the General Assembly.
The presidency rotates annually between the five geographic groups: African, Asia-Pacific, Eastern European, Latin American and Caribbean, and Western European and other States. In this regard, Presidency of the 76th session of UNGA has been allocated to the Asia-Pacific region.
The 76th Session of UNGA is scheduled to begin on September 14, 2021.