UAE announces candidacy for UN Security Council seat

AFP , Wednesday 30 Sep 2020

In June 2021, the UN General Assembly will elect five member states to serve on the Security Council, which has a total of 10 non-permanent members who serve overlapping two-year terms

Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan
United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan meets Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, June 26, 2019. (Photo: Reuters)

The United Arab Emirates has announced its candidacy for a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council for the 2022-2023 term, state media said.

In June 2021, the UN General Assembly will elect five member states to serve on the Security Council, which has a total of 10 non-permanent members who serve overlapping two-year terms.

"My country will follow the same steps and principles upon which it was founded to maintain international peace and security in cooperation with the members of the Council," Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan said in New York.

"We affirm that the UAE will work towards solving the important issues confronting states with resolve and determination," he said, according to a report on official Emirati news agency WAM on Tuesday.

The UAE's role on the global diplomatic stage has been heightened in recent months with its announcement that it will normalise relations with Israel, a major policy shift that was also adopted by neighbouring Bahrain.

The US-brokered accord takes in four countries that share a common hostility to Iran, which Washington has put under crippling economic and diplomatic pressure.

WAM said that the UAE's campaign for the seat would focus on "efforts to advance inclusion, spur innovation, build resilience and secure peace".

It last served on the Security Council in 1986-1987.

Five nations -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- hold permanent seats on the world body's most powerful institution, which give them the right to veto draft resolutions.

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