Bangladesh’s permanent representative to the United Nations Rabab Fatima has been unanimously elected the president of the Unicef Executive Board, the Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.
The elections were held at the UN Headquarters in New York.
With this election, Bangladesh will be able to contribute further to the work of the United Nations, this time in providing strategic guidance to its agency specializing in children’s causes, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
It said the Permanent Representatives of Lithuania and Morocco, and Deputy Permanent Representatives of Brazil and Switzerland were elected as the vice-presidents, Xinhua news agency reported.
Bangladesh was earlier elected to the executive board for the 2019-2021 term, representing the group of Asia-Pacific countries.
Ambassador Fatima recently took over as the Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations.
She succeeded Ambassador Masud Bin Momen as the Permanent Representative, who served as the vice president of the Unicef Executive Board in 2019.
In her acceptance speech, Fatima thanked the Board members for electing her, and for their confidence in Bangladesh’s leadership to address the challenges that continue to affect children across the globe, and for a meaningful and impactful 2020 for Unicef.
She assured Unicef that the new executive board will work hard to bring new ideas to uplift the wellbeing of children and fight for their rights.
Unicef Executive Director Henrietta H. Fore welcomed the new president and said that the organisation looked forward to benefiting from her experience and wisdom.