Ecuador presented Wednesday its proposal for the candidacy of Foreign Minister María Fernanda Espinosa to preside over the General Assembly of the United Nations in its 73rd session, which will begin in September later this year.
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According to country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility, it has been 45 years since the country presided over the General Assembly, while for 19 years no South American nation has done so.
The presidency of the General Assembly of the United Nations is the position of democratic and universal election of a member state of greater relevance within the multilateral event, according to the institution's founding charter.
The presidency of the U.N. General Assembly is designated each year, by rotation, to a specific region, and this year it is the turn of Latin America and the Caribbean.
Espinosa's candidacy comes after an analysis process by various personalities and countries in the region who believe that the Ecuadorean top diplomat has the necessary profile and experience for the issues concerning the international agenda.
The plenary of the General Assembly will hear the work plans of the candidates in May and the elections will be held in June 2018.
Espinosa has more than 20 years of multilateral experience in international negotiations on peace, security, defense, disarmament, human rights, gender, Indigenous peoples, culture, heritage, sustainable development, environment, biodiversity, climate change, cooperation among others, according to a statement by the Ecuadorean foreign ministry.
Also Espinoza was the first Ecuadorean woman to be appointed as permanent representative to the United Nations in New York, in 2008.