Belgium candidate for presidency UN General Assembly

Belgium is standing for the presidency of the UN General Assembly in 2010. That was announced by the Belgian prime minister Yves Leterme when he was attending the Nato summit in Bukarest.
Last Thursday in Bukarest, Belgian prime minister Yves Leterme sneaked out of an important multilateral summit on Afghanistan for a bilateral meeting with the Polish president Lech Kaczynski. During the talk, Belgium asked Poland support for its candidacy for the presidency of the UN General Assembly in 2010.

Presidency goes to a western country


‘The presidency of the General Assembly is one of the many ways to walk in the spotlight on the international level’, Marc Michielsen, spokesperson of the Belgian ministry of Foreign Affairs told MO*. ‘That is always the case when you take up responsibility within the international community –especially for a country like Belgium.’ The activities of the UN General Assembly are mainly situated in the period september-december, althoug all year through meetings take place about various subjects.
Whether Belgium has a chance of becoming president, will depend on a decision within the Western European and Others Group (WEOG). That is a regional group within the United Nations, with mainly countries from Western-, Northern and Southern-Europe as members. Also Canada, Australia and New-Zealand are part of the WEOG; the US and Israel are affiliated members.
‘Within the WEOG, Belgium has decided to stand up for the General Assembly candidacy’, Michielsen clarifies. ‘If there are no other candidates in that group, we are more or less on the road to be elected –as in 2010 the presidency of the General Assembly will go to a western country.’ In March 2008 Belgium, stood up for the candidacy within the WEOG. At that moment, no other countries had stood up.

Paul-Henri Spaak


The country that takes over the presidency of the General Assembly of the UN, has to designate a person who will become president. The current president is Dr. Srgjan Kerim, a previous minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Macedonia. He took over office on September 18, 2007.
The only Belgian who was president of the UN General Assembly, is the socialist politician Paul Henri Spaak. That was in 1946. Spaak also was prime minister and minister of Foreign Affairs of Belgium. From 1957 to 1961, Spaak was Secretary-General of NATO.
‘The president of the General Assembly is all the time in contact with the Secretary-General of the UN’, Michielsen says. ‘He chairs meetings, but can also add his own accents and give a certain direction to specific topics. In other words: his job comes down to more than hold the gavel.’

Belgium also in UN Security Council


In October 2006, Belgium was elected non-permanent member to the UN Security Council for the period 2007-2008, by 180 out of 189 members of the General Assembly of the United Nations.

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