Ecuadorean Foreign Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces was on June 5, 2018 elected as the President of the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). She will be succeeding Miroslav Lajcak, the current Assembly President.
Poet and politician, Espinosa secured 128 votes against 62 votes obtained by UN Ambassador Mary Elizabeth Flores Flake of Honduras, the only other candidate.
| Espinosa Garces becomes fourth woman to preside over UN General Assembly |
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Espinosa Garces’ agenda
• After getting elected, Espinosa Garces vowed to maintain an open-door policy during her presidency and “act as an impartial, objective and open facilitator.”
• Her priorities during the 73rd Assembly session, which starts in mid-September 2018, will include UN reforms, finalisation of the global compact on migration and implementation of the Addis Ababa Agenda on financing for development.
• Climate action, employment, inequality and peace in the Middle East, including the rights of the Palestinian people are also on her agenda.
| Election Process |
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About Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces
• Espinosa had earlier served as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility; Minister of Defence; and Coordinating Minister of Cultural and Natural Heritage of Ecuador.
• She was the first woman to be named as the Permanent Representative of Ecuador in New York, after having served as Ambassador in Geneva.
• As a writer and poet, she has published over 30 articles on the Amazon River, culture, heritage, development, climate change, intellectual property, foreign policy, integration and security.
• She has also published five volumes of poetry and received the Ecuadorian National Poetry Prize in 1990.
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