Author Name: Carribean Channel, Cuba TV.
This story was originally published on canalcaribe.ict.cu. [1]

Nigerian diplomat, new president of the UN General Assembly
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Nigerian diplomat Tijjani Muhammad-Bande sworn in on Monday as president of the General Assembly of the United Nations at its 74th session, which officially begins tomorrow.

Muhammad-Bande received during a ceremony the mallet with which he will preside over the meetings of the largest United Nations agency with the hand of his predecessor, the Ecuadorian diplomat María Fernanda Espinosa.

In addition, he pledged to defend the pillars of the multilateral organization.

The UN Secretary General, António Guterres, highlighted how the General Assembly addresses the most important issues for humanity, the global issues that need global solutions.

The Assembly, he insisted, is the platform to generate consensus for the common good.

Guterres also highlighted the work done by the Ecuadorian diplomat María Fernanda Espinosa, the fourth woman president of the Assembly and the first Latin American.

With her leadership she has been a great advocate of multilateralism and has made the UN more relevant to all, Guterres said.

Similarly, he expressed great interest in working with Muhammad-Bande and fighting to build a peaceful world for all, on a healthy planet.

For his part, Espinosa referred to the need for the Nigerian diplomat to continue promoting the gender equality agenda, as well as the revitalization of the General Assembly.

As Muhammad-Bande already reported, during his presidency at the head of the largest United Nations agency he will focus mainly on three issues: poverty eradication, quality education and inclusion.

He also pledged to continue making progress on gender parity issues within the multilateral organization.

The diplomat, 62, became the second Nigerian to take office, after Joseph Nanven Garba, who headed the General Assembly in 1989.

The presidency of that UN agency changes every year through an established rotation between the five geographical groups that comprise it: Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Western Europe.

(C) Cuba TV, Cuban state owned media.
[1] Url: https://www.canalcaribe.icrt.cu/en/nigerian-diplomat-new-president-of-the-un-general-assembly/