Bangladesh’s top diplomat was elected president of the 81st UN General Assembly on Tuesday in a vote that, unusually, featured more than one candidate.
Khalilur Rahman won 99 votes in the secret ballot compared to 91 for Cypriot diplomat Andreas Kakouris.
He will succeed the outgoing president — Germany’s former foreign minister Annalena Baerbock — in September.
Rahman became foreign minister in February, following Bangladesh’s first elections since the 2024 ouster of longtime premier Sheikh Hasina.
During the interim government of Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, Rahman served as national security advisor and point person on the country’s huge population of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar.
Rahman holds degrees in law and economics from US universities and has participated in trade talks with Washington.
The president of the UN General Assembly is elected annually for a one-year term based on a geographical rotation, but there is rarely more than one candidate, who is usually accepted by unanimous consent.
This year, the position was allocated to the Asia-Pacific region, which includes Cyprus.
A third diplomat who had declared his candidacy — Palestinian Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour — withdrew after it was strongly criticized by Israel.
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