New York, 10 January 2023:
Ambassador Muhammad Abdul Muhith, Bangladesh’s Permanent Representative
to the United Nations, has been elected as the Vice President of
the UNDP/UNFPA/UNOPS Executive Board for 2023 at the elections held today in
New York. The Ambassador of Kenya was elected as the President of the Board. The
other Vice-Presidents are Ambassadors of Costa Rica, Ukraine and Türkiye. This will
enable Bangladesh to work closely with the other board members and the leaderships
of these three vital UN organs and provide them strategic guidance to their work.
The UNDP, UNFPA and UNOPS have specific mandates to advance UN’s
development agenda in the field level in realizing Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs). UNDP is the largest UN agency with primary focus on poverty alleviation and
sustainable development. The UNFPA covers population and family planning issues,
while UNOPS works in cross-cutting areas across peace, development and humanitarian
matters.
This election comes as a demonstration of the trust and confidence that
Bangladesh enjoys due to her strong legacy of working together with the UN entities
and their Executive Boards for the implementation of the global development agenda
under the leadership of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
It may be mentioned that Ambassador Muhith is serving as the current Chair of
the UN Peacebuilding Commission and served as the President of the Executive Board of
UN-Women last year.